French Creek Watershed Schools

Pittsburgh Area Schools

      Welcome to the 6th year of Creek Connections!  Originating as the French Creek Environmental Education Project with 5 schools in the French Creek Watershed in Northwest Pennsylvania, Creek Connections has grown each year and each year adds new excitement and adventures to participating schools.   Throughout Western Pennsylvania and the southwest corner of New York, 59 teachers at 42 middle and high schools will be leading students on a research adventure using local waterways. 
      Creek Connections would like to welcome all the students who will be participating in water quality monitoring and watershed research projects this year.   We hope that you enjoy learning about your waterways, their health, their threats, their biodiversity, and their importance.   Take dvantage of this opportunity to spend time outside the classroom studying an important natural resource – water.     Observe how your waterway changes over the seasons and discover how easy it is for humans to impact waterways. In the year ahead, maybe you will even discover how you can protect a local stream.   But most of all, have fun with this learning experience. 
        This school year, students will have the opportunity to conduct chemical tests at their field site numerous times throughout the year.   Each time students will see how the results change because of natural and unnatural impacts on the waterway.   In addition to water chemistry, participating schools will conduct class-designed research project on various topics dealing with waterways.    They might include studying aquatic life, discovering pollution in streams, mapping creeks, learning more about the geology of the stream, or creating booklets or videos about a watershed.    Do you know what your school is going to do? At the end of the school year, schools will be invited to a Student Research Symposium, an event where students will have the opportunity to show off their research projects and monitoring results. 
          Creek Connections wants  to welcome all the new schools and classes joining the Creek Connections water testing team.  To find out what schools are participating in Creek Connections this year, check out the maps on page 3.   As you will notice, half of our schools are located in Northwest Pennsylvania and the southwest corner of New York.    Most of these schools are within the French Creek Watershed.     The other half of the schools are from the Pittsburgh area in Southwest PA.   With these two different regions participating in Creek Connections, students can hopefully teach each other about differing water quality issues in their region. 
         One of the interesting things about Creek Connections nowadays is the variety of waterways that schools choose to sample.   For instance,  a number of schools are sampling on the 117 mile-long French Creek.  Sampling the headwaters (Sherman Central) to the midway stretches (Cambridge Springs High School and Saegertown High School) to the mouth (Rocky Grove High School), schools are learning why French Creek is such a unique and biodiverse waterway.    Schools in this watershed are also studying  pristine forested streams, agricultural waterways, and those affected by suburbs and sewage treatment.  In the Pittsburgh area, sampled waterways definitely vary.   From streams running through parks, to streams running under concrete, to streams running out of abandoned coal mines, each waterway has a different story. 
       Creek Connections hopes you enjoy learning about the scientific story of your waterway this upcoming year and have the chance to compare your findings with some of the other participating schools.   Best of luck in the year ahead with your water monitoring and research. 

French Creek Watershed Schools

       Fort LeBoeuf High School fought one of the colder days we have had recently to strap on hip waders and check out the macroinvertebrates in their stream.     Having already sampled a few times for the water chemistry, it was time to find and identify some of the bugs.   A variety were found despite the cloudy, turbid water.   Students witnessed first hand how much a rainfall the night before can cloud up what was a  perfectly clear stream.  There was little turbidity during their other sample events. 

       Mr. Stack's three Environmental Science classes at Seneca High School got off to a terrific start this year with some macroinvertebrate sampling on September 14. A variety of creatures were found in their on-site stream, including scuds (sideswimmers), leeches, dragonfly nymphs, and caddisfly nymphs.  The students were well-prepared to identify these organisms, their behaviors, and their indicator status after playing the active game "Macroinvertebrate Mayhem." Once they get a feel for the biological indicators at their site, Seneca students will explore and analyze the chemical status of their stream, as well as physical aspects. Keep up the great work, Seneca!! 

      Two different groups of Meadville Area Senior High School students, some with Mr. Hootman and some with Mr. Radnich are already off and sampling in downtown Meadville.   Mr. Hootman’s students are sampling French Creek while ¼ mile away, Mr. Radnich’s students are sampling Mill Run, a tributary to French Creek that enters just downstream of the other group’s site.    Mill Run is pretty unique because it runs underneath the city of Meadville and is one of the more urbanized streams studied in the French Creek Watershed.    Their field site is also unique – right next to City Hall and the police department.    Calling all cops, we have high nitrate levels at Mill Run near Rt. 19.   All available units report.  Over and out. 

        Parker Middle School students will be sampling a stream full of sewage, at least that is what the students always suggest.   Pavkov Stream is one of 3 streams sampled by Mr. Wise’s 8th grade Earth Science classes.    It is also the stream that the school’s sewage treatment plant empties into.    The students will be able to compare chemical data throughout the year to determine if this stream is less healthy than the other two (its TDS readings were high the first time).     Their first sampling event was September 14. 

Pittsburgh Area Schools 

       North Allegheny High School had a large first sampling day recently.  37 students, with the assistance of 3 teachers, learned how to sample water and conduct the water chemistry tests.  The students also conducted the RCE (Riparian, Channel, and Environmental Inventory) for their site at a park along Brush Creek. The RCE gives a “score” to your stream based on questions you fill out about the way your stream looks.     Students also grabbed tape measures and meter sticks and figured out the physical dimensions of their stream.    Meter by meter, the students will learn  about their stream as the year goes on.