Watershed Health Program - High School Partnership

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

Clackamas County’s Water Environment Services department (WES) provides surface water and wastewater management services on behalf of Clackamas County Service District No. 1 (CCSD #1 or District). CCSD #1 has shifted its Surface Water Management Program from a utility-based approach, to a watershed health strategy to achieve its goals of overall watershed health, protection, enhancement and restoration stewardship. To reach these goals, WES in 2010 implemented an environmental education project called the WES/North Clackamas School District (NCSD) Watershed Health Program. The WES/NCSD Watershed Health Program (WHP) recruits science teachers who help WES facilitate activities that align with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) environmental education for their students within the District’s local watersheds, which include awareness through experiential learning out in the field, nowledge about watersheds and ecosystems by collecting and analyzing data, taking action in local restoration efforts, teaching others in the community about the watersheds and impacts to water quality, and becoming a lifelong steward of water quality and sustainability The results have included raising awareness of the importance of watershed health in schools and the community through reports, pledges, public service announcements and other tools.