Snowmelt: How it gets into our creeks

Animation by Brook Bauer 

 Science Friday! Today we will be exploring how snowmelt gets into our creeks, streams, and rivers. 

The life that snow lives is typically determined by weather systems, vegetation and terrain. However, weather systems (specifically temperatures) are the most important factor that determines when snow will melt. Once it gets above freezing (32 Degrees Fahrenheit /0 Degrees Celsius), it’s time for that snow to turn to water! (1). 

Then solar radiation happens, transported by long wave radiation, along with wind transfer of heat, ground heat (conduction), and heat transferred during rainfall all impact the cooling and heating of snowpack (1). From this point, the rapid melting will need a place to go. It could slowly infiltrate into the frozen soil, runoff into streams and other bodies of water, or even freeze or pool (if in a small quantity), or maybe even a combination of everything(1).

Rapid melting can most definitely create a great deal of runoff, of which, in the winter, cannot typically infiltrate into the frozen soil as easily as in the spring. When the rapid melting makes its way into a river, two primary processes can occur: One, replenishing our aquifer and streams and rivers. Good! Two, it can cause sedimentation, meaning that a bunch of rocks, dirt, debris is getting carried downstream (which is bad in excess). Or sometimes both. 

Runoff is ultimately good, but in moderation. We live in a world with a changing climate, where we are seeing more fluctuations in temperatures in the winter months, causing changes in our snowpack, and changes in our rivers. That is why it is important to monitor these changes in our creeks, streams, and rivers. WEN is interested to see how change in snowpack will impact the Rattlesnake over the next few years, and will be keeping a keen eye on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the stream in our Stream Team Monitoring.  

A friendly note: When WEN posts a Science Friday topic, we are not claiming to be the experts on the subject or topic, this is simply a space for exploration of ideas, concepts and different systems. However, we are active participant in gauging stream health, specifically within the Rattlesnake Creek, and hold some expertise in watershed health, education, and science. We are always open to criticism/feedback, and/or if you are an expert and want to offer up some of your expertise on a topic we cover we would love to hear your thoughts! Just email us at communications@montanawatershed.org. 

What we do as scientists is gather the evidence we need to see patters to try to make sense of the complex and fascinating systems that we live in. That's the great thing about science right?!

Information sourced from (1) NOAA Flood Science/Snow Melt Process Infographic (2) NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (3) Simulation of spatial variability in snow and frozen soil, Published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (2003). 

A winter walk near the creek

looking above the beaver dam from the right 

side of the creek.

After a long day, I slowly slogged my way out of my former bar job, feeling too exhausted to go on a run, ski or bike. The skies surprised me with a radiant array of blues and whites and even a little sparkle of yellow and pink. It was at this moment that I knew I needed to be accompanied by the comfort of the creek. 

It's interesting the work I do for WEN, as their communication coordinator, especially in the winter, I find that there is a disconnect for me in connecting the work I do to the places we're working to protect.  I usually work from home, designing new graphics and writing stories about WEN and the fabulous work our team does. 

On this day, I felt a deep pull to the Rattlesnake Creek. 

When I stepped out of my car I took a deep breath and felt revitalized by the cool crisp air. Breath has an amazing way of grounding you and connecting you to the present place. I held on to this breath, appreciating the serenity of my surroundings and the vast evergreen forest beckoning me. 

Geared with a headlamp and a nice warm beverage, my partner, Carver, and I, walked towards the darkening evergreen abis. Trying to be mindful of the nordic tracks, we stayed in the middle of the trail. Things were starting to darken at this point and I heard the little voices of the forest. A hoot from an owl, the little squeaks of the chipmunks playing a game of chase up and down the trunk of a douglas fir. All of this movement was accompanied by the rushing sound of the Rattlesnake Creek.

On and on we went, and I couldn't help but feel immensely grateful to have such easy access to a place so alive. Alive in a different way from that of a city. There its a simplicity to how the natural world exists, a slowness and peacefulness that detaches you from the everyday hustle of the city. Even in a city as small as Missoula. 

Eventually we ended up at the horse bridge, our stopping point. As we looked down in the dusk of the night, a story unraveled. A complex intricate system, a beaver dam. 

You see, I have learned about beavers in school, simply learning that they have immense benefits for aquatic ecosystems. I have also  talked with my dad extensively about his home football team, the ducks biggest rivals being with the beavers, and that is about the extent of what I know about beavers. Beyond these introductions to their importance and their association with football teams, I had never gotten to really appreciate them until the WEN world fostered a sense of curiosity for all things connected in the creek. 

Beavers are amazing mammals, they are architects and stewards of the environment. Beavers also have interesting adaptations to endure winter conditions. They make large wood lodges where they can store their food and sleep (above the water line) so they can keep warm. Generally, they stay pretty warm due to their thick layers of fat and dense coat.

As I watched in awe, the sky suddenly became dark with the little glimmer of stars peaking out. We figured that now we should probably head back and make some dinner.

After this adventure many others followed that week up to the beaver dam, in the slightest hope to fulfill my mere undying expectation to see a little beaver friend in person. Even if I return without a sighting, which I have every time, I always walk away feeling a little bit more grounded, with a spark ignited in me about why I am so passionate about protecting these natural systems and the stories they tell. 

How do nitrates impact streams and rivers?

How do nitrates impact streams and rivers? 

By Brook Bauer

This is the question we’re asking this Science Friday...

First of all, nitrates “are a form of nitrogen, which is found in several different forms in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Nitrates are essential plant nutrients, but in excess amounts they can cause significant water quality problems (1).” On average the nitrate level in “surface water is typically low (less than 1 mg/L); in the effluent of wastewater treatment plants, it can range up to 30 mg/L(1).”

So why focus on nitrates? Versus other chemical elements? Nitrates are really interesting because they make their way to streams significantly faster than other nutrients. They additionally “dissolve in water faster, an [...] attraction for soil particles. As a result, nitrates serve as a better indicator of the possibility of a source of sewage or manure pollution during dry weather (1).”

Nitrates in excess amounts can “accelerate eutrophication” which is the excessive presence of nutrients within a water body, typically resulting from land runoff. Then subsequently “causing dramatic increases in aquatic plant growth and changes in the types of plants and animals that live in the stream. This, in turn, affects dissolved oxygen, temperature, and other indicators (1).” You can see this process at work in the chart showing the difference between the “natural river” and the “eutrophic river”. 

Naturally, nitrate levels rise in the winter due to stagnant vegetation growth (2). Plants' roots aren’t taking up the nutrients causing leaves to fall and debris to grow, some ending up in streams. This can result in eutrophication. However this is an interesting confluence between natural and unnatural causes as we see human made leaf piles which send concentrated runoff. Runoff is experiencing fluctuations due to different climatic factors from year to year. It could be hypothesized that nitrate levels will experience interesting fluctuations as well. 

Interesting right? And somewhat worrying.. However, there has been significant progress over the recent years in quantifying nitrates delivered to streams and even groundwater systems! Some techniques include hydro-graph separation paired with discrete or continuous in-stream nitrate measurements (3). Us at WEN will be keeping our eyes on these interesting techniques when thinking of our data collection in the creek for the following years. 

Read more by accessing the links below!

Information cited from:

(1)  Environmental Protection Agency. (2012, March 6). 5.7 nitrates. EPA. https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/html/vms57.html

(2) Winter season waterways information: Creek Connections: Allegheny College. Allegheny.edu.

https://sites.allegheny.edu/creekconnections/about-us-2/newsletters/winter-season-waterways/

(3) Johnson, H. M., & Stets, E. G. (2020, November 18). Nitrate in streams during winter low‐flow conditions as an indicator of legacy nitrate. AGU Journals.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019WR026996

Illustrated Chart from Front. Plant Sci., 26 April 2018.

A New Watershed Warrior: Hannah Kranz

 

Hannah volunteering at the former Dam 

Site. Here she is helping in stabilizing 

Cross Sections. 

    Hello! My name is Hannah and I’m pretty new in town. First and foremost, moving to a new place is scary! I moved from Lake Tahoe, NV to the beautiful and rich Missoula, MT. Initially, my thoughts were consumed with trepidation as friends were hundreds of miles away, I had zero leads on volunteer opportunities and a pretty chaotic schedule. I have a passion for field work that stemmed from my Biology degree and I was worried that because I’d decided to move towns, it was going to be a long process to get back into science related fun. 

    These initial worries proved to be completely unnecessary as soon as I stepped foot in the Watershed Education Network (WEN) office. Greeted by a warm smile, I was immediately  welcomed into the conversation surrounding the scientific work that they hoped to conduct. With WEN I’ve been able to continuously learn outside of the classroom setting by hands on practice of stream cross sections, water chemistry and various other stream health interpretation. I’m grateful for the experience and network of amazing scientifically driven women they have brought into my life. Sundays have become such a highlight and I’m so excited to have been apart of the interesting and important field work with the Rattlesnake dam restoration project. 

A Resource Conservationists Take on Aspire School Rising to the Challenge of Developing a Floodplain

Radley talking to Aspire Students in the winter 

of 2021. 

 On a sunny winter’s day at McCauley Butte next to the Bitterroot River, I met with staff from the Watershed Education Network (WEN), students and their educators from Aspire High School. Aspire is an “alternative” school based on experiential education and recently acquired a good portion of land on McCauley Butte and the Flat. Our group was assembled to council with Aspire students as they investigated a community resilience topic for the RISE Challenge Big Sky, hosted by Brightways Learning and WEN. The students were confronted with identifying a real-world environmental issue and developing a solution with an action plan to address this issue. These students chose to address how to use a riparian floodplain as a year-round outdoor classroom. 

I first learned about their project when Deb Fassnacht from WEN contacted the Missoula Conservation District (CD) to ask if we had any insight on what sort of structures could be constructed in the floodplain, and if a representative from the CD could come out and meet with the students. I was happy to oblige. 

The land Aspire school owns is the riparian area between the Butte and the Bitterroot River. The riparian area is beautiful from an ecological standpoint, and I would consider it a high-value habitat. The area has beaver ponds and cottonwoods and hosts waterfowl, woodpeckers, and other wildlife.  The challenge for the students is this land is not only in the floodplain, but the floodway. The floodway doesn’t just get standing water covering it occasionally; flood water moves through these areas with a fair bit of velocity, like you-better-watch-out-for-ponderosa-pines-floating-through kind of velocity. Almost all planning and zoning regulations prohibit any development in the floodway.

The students knew they could not build a traditional structure or even a boardwalk in this area, so they were coming up with all sorts of ideas on how to create an attractive educational space on the property. As I covered some of the regulatory challenges the students faced, including a conservation easement that the previous owners put in place with the Five Valleys Land Trust, the students began discussing (more alternatives?) ideas. Their eyes lit up as they discussed solutions such as rope bridges, floating decks, and hanging platforms. While I could speak about zoning, floodplain regulation, and conservation easements generally, the Missoula Conservation District only has regulatory authority over 310 permits based on Montana’s Natural Stream bed and land Preservation Act. 

A 310 permit is required to ensure that natural rivers and streams, and the lands and property immediately adjacent to them, are protected and preserved to be available in their natural or existing state. The interesting thing about this particular permit is that there is no automatic definable jurisdictional boundary. Often time the CD generally looks at the riparian buffer within 50 feet of a major navigable river, but any project that degrades environmental life support systems or causes unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources in a riparian corridor could come under 310 jurisdiction, and yet… almost no one knows a 310 permit application is needed for work near a river.

After talking 310 permitting and wandering the land, we headed back to our vehicles. I think I left the students with more questions than answers. I felt bad about that, but that is the nature of science and exploration. It was awesome to see students engaged in place-based education and the excitement of the students as they stood on a frozen beaver pond and talking about beaver ecology will stay with me for a long time. 

What will these students propose to do to make this floodplain a year-round classroom? Will they try to suspend fellow classmates from the trees? Will they float them over a beaver pond? I don’t know, but in any case, they are going to learn a lot about rivers, flood plains, and riparian areas, and how humans interact in these changing riverine environments.

-Radley Watkins

Resource Conservationist

Missoula Conservation District

Sunday Bankful Sunday

 

Bela taking cross section measurements 

in the Rattlesnake Creek at Site 10. 

Standing waist-deep in a creek watching a tennis ball floating downstream with the ambition of a tortoise is not how I usually spend my Sundays. Since moving to Missoula in June, I've spent more time on running trails than I have just about anywhere else. Between graduate school, work, and ultramarathon training, I was feeling fatigued. Last Sunday was my first free Sunday since school began, and I wanted to do something solely for the fun of it. Enter: the Watershed Education Network. And so, I found myself with and awesome conglomerate of people eager to get into the Rattlesnake Creek. Shimmying into waders and anxiously eyeballing the clouds hovering overhead, we split up into groups to tackle the different aspects of stream monitoring. 

I was in Brook's group, taking measurements of the physical features of the stream, measuring elements like bankful, flow and stream velocity. We waddles back and forth across the stream, hesitantly stepping over underwater boulders and carefully measuring alongside the newly formed beaver dam. The dam posed more of a challenge than I initially realized. Interrupting the stream flow meant that we had to wait minutes at a time for each velocity measurement; hence, we all stood around cheering on a neon tennis ball as it we at the Kentucky Derby. 

Though I spent time this summer working with the Clark Fork Coalition, I consider myself a noice when it comes to river and stream monitoring. The cool part about working with the Watershed Education Network is that I really didn't need to know anything beforehand. They taught us what we needed to know and getting hands-on experience collecting data allowed us to feel like stream scientists. It was one of the most insightful and playful Sundays I'd had in a while. Plus, we got chocolate at the end. 

Brook Reminiscing Her 1st Encounter with WEN

 

Brook setting up a cross section on Site 10 on the 

Rattlesnake Creek 

Last Sunday was another fabulous day in the creek. We had a great group

of kind, hard working people. Out there we witnessed a remarkable change

in the creek indicating that we have a new beaver friend. Deb was telling me

that she was out by the site in August and the newly built dam that we saw

this Sunday was not present. It made the data collection for specifically

velocity an interesting challenge. However, we were over the moon because

beavers are great indicators of healthy and productive ecosystems. The

excitement in the air was filled with us feeling so grateful to be collecting data

amidst such a recent change in the ecosystem.

I've started regularly attending these Sunday Stream Team outings upon me

fulfilling the role of Communication Coordinator at WEN, and I do not hesitate

to say that Stream Team is the shining light at the end of a long week.

I always look forward to meeting new faces and learning with them in the creek.

No matter what the weather looks like, I'll be there.

This site, site 10, has a lot of significance to me an my relationship with WEN.

A while back, near the end of October 2020, I had just settled into my move here

and was thrilled about all of the amazing backcountry access and mountain

biking trails. I could not stop exploring. On a chilly fall day, I was biking Snow Bowl

Overlook, with not a clue in the world that it would be one of the steepest, longest

and most agonizing climbs of my life. I wasn't quite mentally prepared to face the

sharp coldness that came with the first snowfall of winter on the way down. Now,

before I get ahead of myself, don't get me wrong, I love these types of adventures.

It was a very type two fun experience, were you don't realize that it was worth it until

much further after the event at hand. On this crazy downhill, my partner, Carver and

I stopped almost every five minutes to blow gusts of our remaining hot air in our bodies

into our gloves. It was a fun downhill, and the colors of the forest were bursting with

radiant fall colors, the type of colors that make you smile. Bright yellows, oranges, and

reds with the subtle splash of greens were constantly pulling me out of my freezing frenzy.

As we made our way down Spring Gulch we merged onto the final stretch on the

Rattlesnake Creek flowing right along side the trail. Then there they were, WEN's

Stream Team. I had no idea who they were at the time and all I knew that I was

struggling to find a job in Missoula water world (a world that I so deeply care about

and feel very passionate about pursuing a career in) so I beamed with excitement.

Carver and I immediately stopped and there was Deb, eager to talk with us. Of

course, I started my roll of scattered thoughts and questions.. "Who are you guys?

What are you doing? Are you taking samples from this stream? Oh my gosh

I want to do this!!! How can I get involved?!" I feel like I said all of these things

at once, but in real life I was really trying to play it SUPER cool. All the while

I forgot about my freezing fingers and toes.

The following week, I made it a goal for myself to not let Deb and this fabulous

non profit slip through my fingers. So Carver and I went out and volunteered

with them. My first hands on experience with Stream Team, I was assigned to

conduct cross sections with Aissa, and little did I know that around that time

this year, I would be teaching this portion of Stream Team myself. A leadership

position that would allow me to grow in ways I could've never imagined at

that time.

Thank you WEN for taking me in, and being so trusting of me even if the first

time you met me I was blanketed head to tow in dirt and was shivering, like a

crazy wild lady!

                            

Chris In The Creek: An Ethnographic Approach To Community Based Monitoring

Chris in the creek

Chris Jadallah is a PhD candidate in Science and Agricultural Education at the University of California, Davis where he works with the Center for Community and Citizen Science. Learn more about the Center and its work on their website. 

Western Montana’s Rattlesnake Creek and its many relations - human and more-than-human - are at the heart of our ongoing research-practice partnership between Watershed Education Network (WEN) and the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science. As part of this partnership, I was fortunate enough to visit Missoula this past summer to collect data that will help us document how WEN’s Stream Team and Backcountry Stream Corps programs are fostering community impacts in the Rattlesnake Creek watershed and beyond. 

Both Stream Team and Backcountry Stream Corps feature community-based monitoring - a type of citizen science - as core program features. Through these efforts, local residents and volunteers are collecting biological, chemical, and physical data relating to ongoing restoration efforts in the watershed, of which the 2020 Rattlesnake Creek Dam removal was a defining feature. Ultimately, this data will be shared with partners such as Trout Unlimited and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to adaptively manage the dam site in support of diverse social and ecological goals, from increasing fish passage to providing more recreational opportunities for Missoulians. 

As an educational researcher, I am particularly interested in both what and how people learn through participation in community-based monitoring and other environmental activities, as well as the broader role that this learning plays in supporting a thriving future for places like Rattlesnake Creek. My research examines individuals’ relationships’ both with each other and with the natural world as resources for collective learning and change, focusing on changes in the the broader community rather than solely on what individuals gain through participating. If well-designed, citizen science activities like Stream Team and Backcountry Stream Corps have the potential to set up lifelong learning and participation in and learning about science and the environment as embedded in community and in place. Ultimately, this can support communities in working better together to address social-ecological problems like dam removal as part of civic life.  

Throughout my visit to Missoula, I collected ethnographic data that we will use to describe, understand, and interpret how different people in the watershed experience and make meaning of their participation in Stream Team and Backcountry Stream Corps. On a typical day, data collection for me looked like either observations from my participation in field activities or interviews with project participants - both common methods in social science research. While observing volunteers in the field, I maintained a delicate balance of participating in the days’ activities to get a feel for the experience while also working to capture bits of conversation, landscape sketches, and descriptions of the groups’ work in my notebook. Sometimes I did this while wearing waders waist-deep in Rattlesnake Creek! Later, in the evenings and on weekends, I would process these scribbled jottings, hours of audio recordings of group conversations, and dozens of photographs into integrated narratives of each day’s happenings, with attention to how participants were engaging with each other, with the practice of science, and with the Creek. On days when I was not in the field for observations, I met with project volunteers, organizers, and scientists, ranging from high school to retirement age, for interviews. Most interviews took place at Greenough Park, where there was a natural ebb-and-flow between stories of people’s experiences participating in community-based monitoring intermixed with in-the-moment observations of the natural world around us. It was hot - so dipping our toes in the water was often a necessity, where we could also point out and observe macroinvertebrates scurrying about on the smooth rock surfaces underwater. 

Central to my commitments as a researcher is working to develop research-practice partnerships with partners like WEN. This stands in contrast to conventional and sometimes extractive modes of scholarship, in which a researcher passively observes subjects as an outsider and with little engagement otherwise. Reciprocity came to be a grounding principle in my relationship with WEN. Mundane moments that might be considered external to the research process instead proved to be a core element of the experience, from giving feedback on surveys while in the office between interviews, to chatting about program goals as we drove to and from monitoring sites, to facilitating reflective discussions with volunteers to wrap up fieldwork experiences. These conversations benefitted both WEN’s programs and my research as we learned from each others’ insights and perspectives, and deepened our relationships with each other as collaborators. 

Next steps for this work are to analyze all the observational and interview data, while inviting feedback from research participants, to identify what elements of WEN’s programs foster positive community impacts such as community science literacy and stewardship. These findings can be used to inform the design of community-based monitoring programs such as those at WEN, as well as the design of other informal learning environments in which scientists, educators, and local residents interact and engage with each other. We are so grateful for the opportunity to learn from WEN staff, volunteers, and partners, and look forward to sharing our findings. 

Primrose Macroinvertebrate Day!

Brook exploring bugs with preschoolers

Just like every day where I go into a new volunteering scenario with WEN I woke up energized and a little bit uncertain about what the rest of the day would behold. I showed up to the office and got a complete rundown of the wonderful lesson plans and various activities that Deb had prepared. As a wise teacher once told me... You always have to have back up activities for the already established back up activities... or something like that.

Al showed up. Macroinvertabrate extraordinaire! Seriously.. He looks at these little buddies for a living and is just a walking wealth of knowledge, and not to mention a super valuable asset for what laid ahead of us.

Stephie and I were sent to the creek to collect bugs. Waders on, nets and hands we were wiggling away in the creek, collecting all sorts of little friends to bring to the school. Once we were satisfied with our sampling we drove to the Primrose Monastery School. At first we were blind on where we were supposed to be going, but then we saw the WEN sign nested on the side of the street next to one of the most spectacular buildings, in my opinion, in Missoula. This school is like Hogwarts for preschoolers, I was in awe.

We walked in, bug jugs in hand and found our wonderful team; Cassie, Deb, and Al. Stephie and I assisted in setting up and then we were all funneled into the building which I so eagerly wanted to explore! And then sitting on the floor were a cluster of kiddos, eager to know who were and what we were doing at their school.

After all the introductions, we took the kids outside. And all of their little heads plunged into the depths of macroinvertebrates and the incredible experience of seeing them so intimately. These kids were so curious, kind, and respectful to the bugs. Asking questions like, “How do they breathe? Where do they live? What is this one? Are they all friends? Do they eat each other? What would it be like to live underwater?” All were beautifully articulated questions and made me (as someone who has a very limited knowledge about macroinvertebrates) really challenged to learn more and be excited and curious just the same as these kids.

Moving along there was lots of giggling, magnifying, running around, dancing, and chatting. In order to diversify the amount of activities Deb and Cassie led a bug lesson where we learned about movement and anatomy that acts as a way to identify the different bug species. We did the dance that went:

Head Thorax Abdomen Six Legs!

Head Thorax Abdomen Six Legs!

Head Antennas Exoskeleton

Head Antennas Exoskeleton

Head Thorax Abdomen Six Legs !

 

Then we talked about how the different bugs move…

The Mayfly does the Mayfly mambo

The Caddisfly does the Caddisfly thrash

The Stonefly does the Stonefly strut

The kids loved it. I did as well, and honestly I’m bummed that this physical way of learning really didn't show up in my college education. Being able to act a process like this out is so incredibly beneficial.

As the day came to an end there were songs sung, dancing, wiggling, crafting and loads of love and hugs were had. And I can say with a full heart that this school and the kids that make it up are truly a gem nested within Missoula. I hope these kiddos continue to bring their curiosity and kindness in their future exploration in creeks to come.

Thanks for having the WEN team Primrose Montessori Team! I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn with you all!

Rock on,

Brook

 

Stories from Supporters: Katrina

Leading up to Missoula Gives, the Watershed Education Network brings you reflections from former volunteers, teachers, staff, and long-time friends of the organization. They share the impact WEN's programs have had on them and how our mission matches their values. Here, a wonderful volunteer of ours shares her thoughts and reflections on her time with WEN.

By Katrina Thorness

What first drew you to WEN?

December 14, 2017 was the first day I stepped into WEN’s office. I had won a telescope from a raffle at Montgomery Distillery, which had hosted WEN for a Moscow Monday community night. Walking into WEN’s office sparked joy in my heart. There was so much life, art, color—and the warmest welcome from one bubbly Deb. I recall thinking, “This looks like a good place to work. I want to work in a place like this.” Later that night, I told my partner about my day and mused aloud, “I wonder if WEN would ever need somebody like me.” Fortune followed. That spring, one of my courses required logged volunteer hours, and the Professor had listed WEN as a qualifying option. I took it as a sign. Those spring volunteer hours led to a summer internship, which led to a part-time position. Reflecting on this time, I realize that I’m not sure what first drew me to WEN: a sense of belonging—or fate.

Why is WEN’s mission important to you? 

Ideally, a mission statement should “bestow an aura of being endowed with a sense of purpose—the agency is charged with an important public mission, achieving it responds to urgent needs, and past achievements are known.” Charles Goodsell, Mission Mystique: Belief Systems in Public Agencies (2010). In my mind, WEN’s mission statement checks all of these boxes. Further, WEN’s mission statement endows me with a strong sense of purpose.

Working for WEN, I knew that each task I completed helped children make it to Rattlesnake Creek, the Clark Fork River, or a wetland.  As a child, being outside calmed my heart. As an adult, I now know that these experiences can foster attachment, which provides the secure base needed to explore, learn, and relate. Through WEN’s mission to foster knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of watershed health through citizen science, youth and school engagement, and outreach to our communities, WEN is not only promoting our environment’s health—WEN is building resiliency in our children. This in itself is of vital public health importance.

Ultimately, WEN’s mission is important to me because I want children to feel valued and experience the bountiful benefits of being outside with educators and mentors. I believe that this attachment will motivate children to seek the outdoors and serve as environmental stewards in their adulthood.

Do you find hands-on science or outdoor education more engaging than standard science curriculum or in-class school?

My opinion is that hands-on science—outside—is more engaging than learning inside. Through WEN, I have experienced the difference and witnessed children and adults thrive from outdoor learning labs. 

You can help WEN provide more hands-on outdoor science education for students of all ages by donating to WEN on Missoula Gives, May 6 & 7, 2021:

https://www.missoulagives.org/organizations/the-watershed-education-network 

Stories from Supporters: Vicki Watson

Leading up to Missoula Gives, the Watershed Education Network brings you reflections from former volunteers, teachers, staff, and long-time friends of the organization. They share the impact WEN's programs have had on them and how our mission matches their values.

Vicki Watson in front of the Clark Fork River at Milltown in Fall 2006

Vicki Watson is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. She has been a friend to our director, Deb Fassnacht, and gotten involved with WEN's activities since the organization's beginning, and frequently sends her students our way to volunteer. In reflecting on her relationship with WEN, Vicki shared the following:

"WEN helps people of all ages learn about our streams and share their knowledge with others (another good way to learn). Middle school kids have fun learning stream science -- physics, chemistry and biology. Older students and adults learn how to share their knowledge with younger stream scientists. And some citizen scientists (the Stream Team) conduct useful studies of our streams that help us assess the health of streams and the need for any protective actions.

"I have been grateful for the opportunity WEN has provided to my students to get experience in sharing their knowledge and love of streams with younger folks. And the opportunity to work on citizen science projects -- some of those students have since set up citizen science projects elsewhere.

"I have also helped with some of the class field trips, and it is always a delight to see the kids on the stream -- some run around enjoying the freedom of the outdoors, while others are quite serious and focused on the science exercise. The diversity of responses is part of the magic.

"These learning opportunities have inspired some students to become stream scientists, and have inspired many more to become stream protectors. And our streams certainly need informed stream protectors.

So many thanks to WEN for providing stream access and training and fun."

You can help WEN provide more meaningful outdoor educational experiences for students of all ages by donating to WEN on Missoula Gives May 6 & 7, 2021: https://www.missoulagives.org/organizations/the-watershed-education-network

Stories from Supporters: Jeani Adams

This spring, the Watershed Education Network brings you reflections from former volunteers, teachers, staff, and long-time friends of the organization. They share the impact WEN's programs have had on them and how our mission matches their values.

Clark Fork + Blackfoot confluence. Former site of Milltown dam,
now Milltown State Park. Photo credit: Cassie Sevigny

Jeani Adams found WEN's work incredibly valuable during the removal of the Milltown dam:

"I have always believed that pairing in-class learning with an outdoor experience really works well with many topics. I was fortunate to work with WEN and help with the Milltown Dam removal project. We provided students with some background information in the classroom and then took them on a field trip to the dam overlook, where they could observe the actual destruction/remediation efforts. We then reinforced their learning and investigation of the changes the environment would undergo with the dam removal using a series of fun activities. It was wonderful to see how excited they were to witness history and many of them told of how they brought this information home to share. 

WEN truly focuses on providing students with an experience that they are not able to get in a traditional classroom. I believe it is a very important job that they do and they do an awesome job!"

You can help more local students experience outdoor education by donating to WEN on Missoula Gives May 6 & 7, 2021: https://www.missoulagives.org/organizations/the-watershed-education-network 

Aspire School Rises to the Challenge of Developing a Floodplain

Photo by Cassie Sevigny

On a sunny winter’s day at McCauley Butte next to the Bitterroot River, I met with staff from the Watershed Education Network (WEN) and students and their educators from Aspire High School. Aspire is an “alternative” school based on experiential education and recently acquired a good portion of land on McCauley Butte and the Flat. Our group was assembled to council with Aspire students as they investigated a community resilience topic for the RISE Challenge Big Sky, hosted by Brightways Learning and WEN. The students were confronted with identifying a real-world environmental issue and developing a solution with an action plan to address this issue. These students chose to address how to use a riparian floodplain as a year-round outdoor classroom. 

I first learned about their project when Deb Fassnacht from WEN contacted the Missoula Conservation District (CD) to ask if we had any insight on what sort of structures could be constructed in the floodplain, and if a representative from the CD could come out and meet with the students. I was happy to oblige. 

The land Aspire school owns is the riparian area between the Butte and the Bitterroot River. The riparian area is beautiful from an ecological standpoint, and I would consider it high-value habitat. The area has beaver ponds and cottonwoods and hosts waterfowl, woodpeckers, and other wildlife.  The challenge for the students is this land is not only in the floodplain, but the floodway. The floodway doesn’t just get standing water covering it occasionally; flood water moves through these areas with a fair bit of velocity, like you-better-watch-out-for-ponderosa-pines-floating-through kind of velocity. Almost all planning and zoning regulations prohibit any development in the floodway.

The students knew they could not build a traditional structure or even a boardwalk in this area, so they were coming up with all sorts of ideas on how to create an attractive educational space on the property. As I covered some of the regulatory challenges the students faced, including a conservation easement that the previous owners put in place with the Five Valleys Land Trust, the students began discussing (more alternatives?) ideas. Their eyes lit up as they discussed solutions such as rope bridges, floating decks, and hanging platforms. While I could speak about zoning, floodplain regulation, and conservation easements generally, the Missoula Conservation District only has regulatory authority over 310 permits based on Montana’s Natural Streambed and land Preservation Act. 

A 310 permit is required to ensure that natural rivers and streams, and the lands and property immediately adjacent to them, are protected and preserved to be available in their natural or existing state. The interesting thing about this particular permit is that there is no automatic definable jurisdictional boundary. Often time the CD generally looks at the riparian buffer within 50 feet of a major navigable river, but any project that degrades environmental life support systems or causes unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources in a riparian corridor could come under 310 jurisdiction, and yet… almost no one knows a 310 permit application is needed for work near a river.

Radley and a student investigate a possible beaver breathing
hole in the ice. (Photo by Cassie Sevigny)

After talking 310 permitting and wandering the land, we headed back to our vehicles. I think I left the students with more questions than answers. I felt bad about that, but that is the nature of science and exploration. It was awesome to see students engaged in place-based education and the excitement of the students as they stood on a frozen beaver pond and talking about beaver ecology will stay with me for a long time. 

What will these students propose to do to make this floodplain a year-round classroom? Will they try to suspend fellow classmates from the trees? Will they float them over a beaver pond? I don’t know, but in any case, they are going to learn a lot about rivers, flood plains, and riparian areas, and how humans interact in these changing riverine environments.

-Radley Watkins

Resource Conservationist

Missoula Conservation District

Snow Hikes, Snow Spiders, Snow Flies, Oh My!

By Cassie Sevigny

Bear Creek (Photo by Cassie Sevigny)

I went hiking this weekend with a friend who's moving away from Montana. We drove up to Bear Creek trail, expecting mud and a trail-turned-creek, but spring is not so progressed yet. Instead we found a low-traffic, barely-compressed solid snow trail that was much easier to traverse. The snow lay in heaps on rocks like pillows, hid the true edges of the creek, stuck in frozen puffs to the sides of small trees, and reflected the days brilliant cold sunshine back at us. Good thing I wore sunscreen!

As we walked I noticed little black spiders on the trail. Warming up, perhaps? Despite their dark color against the white, they blended in with all the other natural debris flecking the snow. Only their flicking legs caught my attention. I wondered if these spiders just didn't go dormant for winter, or if the sun was waking them up.

Snow pillows (Photo by Cassie Sevigny)

Then in an open snowfield I saw another bug crawling - black and winged, crawling uphill away from the creek. Two tails, wings folded neatly over each other on its back, made me guess it could be a stonefly. One fly is just a curiosity, until my friend said he's seen some earlier. And then there was another. And two more. All crawling uphill, crossing the trail a decent ways away from the creek. Perhaps a hatch? Were these the very winter stoneflies WEN featured on Science Friday?

Winter stoneflies are not very strong fliers and instead walk around on the ice and snow looking for a mate, just like the ones I saw. Their dark color may help them better absorb the heat from the sun when emerging in such cold months, though they also have their own internal antifreeze! 

Snow fly (Photo by Cassie Sevigny)

I was probably seeing the aptly named "small winter stonefly" (capniidae) since these were smaller and more delicate than most stoneflies I have seen around the Clark Fork in the summer. Missoulian Angler confirms that small winter stoneflies emerge in February and March, and have been found around the Bitterroot River, of which Bear Creek is a tributary. Missoulian Angler also informs me that they have a much cooler name, the "snow fly," which I shall use from now on!

I saw more and more spiders as we hiked too, now that I was looking for any black moving speck in our path. Were the spiders emerging too? Were they looking to eat the stoneflies? My search for information pulled up another blog where someone else wondered the same thing, but for streamside spiders catching insects in their webs. I only saw the spiders. I forgot to photograph the spiders I saw so I cannot identify them precisely, but they were small and black, like many of the spiders active during winter. (Most spiders go dormant to survive the cold.) Maybe they are black for the same reason as their potential prey - to stay warm.

While I found no definitive answer to whether the black snow spiders eat the black snow flies, I was delighted I could reasonably speculate! Working with WEN enabled me to guess that I was seeing some kind of stonefly, and also exposed me to the theoretical existence of winter stoneflies. Finding them in the wild and relating them to the environment I found them in made the cool science facts so much more real, tangible, and relevant to me. Finding small details in a landscape and being able to understand them, or hazard a guess as to their role, also enhances my experience outdoors and makes me feel more connected to the environment than if I saw hikes as "just passing through." Chance encounters with tiny wildlife can mean just as much as the sun shining beautifully between the tall thin  evergreens or the companion you talk to on the way, and I'm glad I had all three.

Photo by Cassie Sevigny