SWEP is back in action! This fall we worked hard to reach as many students in the Tahoe Truckee area with our watershed programming that educates and promotes environmental stewardship. This important program combines hands-on learning with actual stewardship service projects to inspire students on how to take care of our environment.
This year SWEP taught this program to the entire Kings Beach Elementary student body. Each grade had a specific lesson and service project. The goal of this style is that every year students receive a lesson and by the time they graduate elementary school they are experts in watersheds!
The goal of all SWEP lessons is to offer interactive, fun learning experiences. SWEP's Wonders of Watershed utilizes games, a hands-on watershed model and visuals to inspire students to get engaged. Lessons range from What is a Watershed?, to macro-invertebrates and their role in healthy water systems, to the water cycle.
Each lesson was followed up with a service project to take action to serve our local environment. These projects included invasive weed removal, native seed planting, trash pickups, storm drain monitoring and water quality monitoring and macro-invertebrate identification in the creek.
Students also participated in an art as advocacy project where they learned about our local trout, Lahontan cutthroat trout, and created native fish art to inspire people to attend our local stewardship day: Truckee River Day & Fair. The native fish lesson also included education about Trout Creek in Truckee. Students learned the history of why this creek was rerouted and how the water quality was affected. Students were excited to learn that there is a Trout Creek Restoration project currently happening and what the potential benefits are for our local watershed.
SWEP also piloted the Wonders of Watersheds with 4th grade classes at Truckee Elementary, Tahoe Lake Elementary and Glenshire Elementary in hopes of offering this program to all students in the coming years.
Thank you to Tahoe Truckee Unified School District for supporting SWEP programing! Thank you to our partners and funders Truckee River Watershed Council, Town of Truckee and the CA Department of Water Resources.