By Nancy Neyenhouse, Chair - Grant Screening Committee

The Mountaineer Foundation has been an ardent supporter of organizations who bring educational projects to our grant-proposal table. The Foundation’s mission to promote the study, protection and enjoyment of natural areas is perfectly suited to this project.

In 2007, the McCall Outdoor Science School asked the Foundation to approve their proposal to partner with the McCall-Donnelly High School environmental science class. The ultimate goal was to empower high school students as citizen scientists to affect change in their community. How could we resist.

Both a new housing development and a golf course are located upstream from Shiner Creek, and as a delta formed at the mouth of the creek, the local Water Advisory Board Chairman became concerned and brought those concerns to the McCall Outdoor Science School for further examination. The science school staff collaborated with the McCall-Donnelly High School environmental Science program to create a high school project that would address issues in Shiner Creek but also teach students the principles of the scientific method through a community-based and hands-on study.

Students were given an introduction to watershed science at the local Payette River which was within walking distance of the classroom. They then spent five months collecting chemical and aquatic insect data from Shiner Creek to be compared and analyzed with respect to water quality.

Citizen scientists collecting data

Results of the research project indicated decreased water clarity and increased dissolved solid load. The results were not just reported at the public forum but a discussion pursued potential causes and possible next steps. Once the forum presentation was over, one student said, “We really did it, and they cared what we had to say.”