Department of Ecology News Release - Nov. 20, 2000 00-225 $15,000 given for environmental education in Chehalis watershed OLYMPIA - A $15,000 grant from the Department of Ecology (Ecology) will help students learn about the Chehalis watershed while they monitor the water to see if it's getting cleaner. The grant is being issued to Educational Services District 113 (ESD), which serves public schools in Centralia and Chehalis. The grant will pay for an educational curriculum that includes fieldwork by students to monitor water quality. Students will take water samples, record measurements and log data into a shared computer system. From this, students will be able to see indicators of the watershed's health and measure local improvements. The data also will be used by Ecology to track improvements in restoration sites. "This is a good way for students to learn science while developing a real understanding of their own watershed," said Rhonda Hunter, Ecology's environmental education manager. "Everybody, especially young people, needs to understand the pollution problem because it's going to take help from everybody to clean up the river." Through the ESD's unique partnership with the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium, the curriculum will not only include kindergarten through 12th-grade students from Centralia and Chehalis schools, but also will be offered to students from Centralia and Grays Harbor colleges. The consortium includes K-12 educators, natural-resource professionals and interest groups who are promoting stewardship of the Chehalis watershed through environmental education. The Chehalis watershed has pollution problems from many sources, including failing septic systems and agricultural runoff. Much of the river is on the state's list of most-polluted waters because of fecal coliform bacteria, low levels of dissolved oxygen and warm temperatures. Ecology is conducting water cleanup planning in the upper and lower basin. The grant comes from Ecology's Coastal Protection Fund, which is dedicated to projects that restore beneficial uses of water. For more information about the project, contact Rhonda Hunter at 360-407-6147.
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