Kids Can Become Watershed Explorers

Lake Champlain Sea Grant invites students to become certified Watershed Explorers by completing a series of fun activities designed to teach them about watershed science and the Lake Champlain basin.

The Watershed Explorer Challenge, while geared to Grades 5-8, is also suitable for upper elementary or early high school students. It includes 11 different indoor and outdoor activities with a glossary and links to additional resources to investigate a topic in more depth. Upon completion, kids can take the pledge to become an official Watershed Explorer before sending in a prepaid postcard to receive their certificate.

Free copies of the activities booklet are available at libraries and other sites throughout Vermont as well as communities in New York in the Lake Champlain basin. For a list of locations, go to the Watershed Explorer Challenge website. To request a booklet by mail, send an email to watershd [at] uvm.edu.

The self-paced activities include building a model of the Lake Champlain watershed, plotting Secchi disk water clarity measurements, and identifying the connections in an aquatic food web.

In addition, aspiring explorers will take a look at the Lake Champlain watershed's culture and history and study cyanobacteria, benthic macroinvertebrates, stream health, and climate change, among other topics.

The project was funded by Lake Champlain Sea Grant, University of Vermont Extension and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant office.