CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
This video is about people in a unique rural setting. If you live in an urban or suburban area, your situation will probably be a lot different, but most of the following activities also apply to watersheds there as well. It is important to start to develop watershed and ecological awareness about urban and suburban areas too. Don’t forget that we all live in a watershed. The way in which the Mattole community came to grips with the need for hands-on environmental restoration can be used as a model, and applied universally. Please see Resource section for groups involved with urban stream restoration.
STUDY YOUR WATERSHED
Map your watershed. Get a topographic map of your area like the one above and, using colored pencils, identify the major river or creek and color it. Using another color, trace all of the creeks and streams. Then, draw the boundaries of your watershed and color in the various habitat regions. Your maps will show lines for all of the waterways that feed into your main river or creek channel and you will be able to easily identify what lives in each sub-region.
See if you can find out how much of the original forest is left, and other details about resource extraction and habitat loss in your watershed. What did your watershed look like 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1000 years ago?
Where does the water go when it rains? See if you can follow it. See if you can identify the different types of trees, plants, soils, animals, etc. Examine your watershed for signs of human impact and resulting habitat loss. Take photos or videos of the watershed and discuss what you see back in the classroom.
Do a survey to find out what your friends and families know about or think about watersheds.
Arrange to show Thinking Like a Watershed to others, and survey the viewers beforehand and afterward.
Do salmon live where you live? If so, try to find groups involved in salmon enhancement and help them raise baby fish or get involved in other projects. If not, pick a fish, animal or other creature near your home or school and study it the way the Mattole people studied the salmon. If the creature is endangered, find out what you can do about it.
Plant trees in a local area, tying in with local ecological groups that do just that.
Identify companies in your area that have an interest in the natural resources of your local watershed. Expand that to the place you live.
Examine the conservation laws that affect animals, rivers, and forests. What’s the current status of those laws? Are new laws being written or discussed?
Find out about ongoing watershed restoration and protection projects in your area and see how you can get involved or start one.
ROLE PLAYING
Break up the group into foresters, fisherfolk, ranchers, residents, ecologists, and state and federal representatives. Hold a town meeting about the dying out of the salmon and what can be done about it. What are the separate ecological, economic, and political interests of each of the groups? What are their values and beliefs in this regard?