The River Mile

JA is studying the ecosystem of her native land on "The River Mile".

The National Park Service sponsors a program on the Columbia River called "The River Mile". A school is given a mile of shoreline on Lake Roosevelt that is used for an inquiry based science project. Our middle school students have a mile north of the ferry that provides a hands-on site for study of water quality.

"This is a systems approach to water quality. Looking at ecosystem health in relation to water quality we will utilize habitat, wildlife, geologic features and other contributors as indicators of
overall health of the Lake Roosevelt ecosystem."

Today was the fall visit to "The River Mile". Even though the sun was shining the location was cold. A bonfire at lunch for students to huddle around as they roasted hot dogs helped a bit. Once they studied the shoreline in the afternoon it warmed up a bit. I joined the group of science teachers, parents, and students for lunch and caught a few pictures.
A highlight of my visit to the big lake was watching the boat push the net-pens up the bay where Hall Creek flows into Lake Roosevelt close to our "The River Mile" . The net-pens are brought in October with rainbow trout that are raised in the pens until spring, then released into the lake.
Even though WS was having a great day... he just didn't feel like having his picture taken.