River Watch
River Watch is a watershed-based program where high school students are introduced to their local watershed, allowing them to connect to the world around them and think about their impacts both upstream and downstream. Through hands-on, field-based watershed science, River Watch enhances students understanding and awareness for future decision-making. The International Water Institute (IWI) created and implements this program with support from the Red River Watershed Management Board and local watershed districts across the Red River of the North Basin. While many schools are active throughout the Red River Basin, the Red Lake Watershed District has five active school who participate in a variety of unique opportunities.
Schools participate in:
Water Quality Montioring
River Watch teams visit assigned monitoring sites several times a year, collecting and recording conditions of local rivers and streams using state-of-the-art scientific methods. The data is then submitted into the river.watch database which is shared with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for the state’s assessment of surface waters.
Macroinvertebrate Sampling
River Watch teams get the opportunity to wade into some of their assigned sites and collect bugs! Macroinvertebrate sampling allows students to connect the importance of water quality to stream biological health. The presence or absence of a species can indicate whether a waterbody is healthy.
Monitor & Maintenance of Stroud Stations
The River Watch program utilizes continuous monitoring stations designed by Stroud Research Center to collect data (temperature, conductivity, and water depth) every five minutes. The River Watch teams are to look after their station within their sampling area and perform any needed maintenance with the help of IWI staff or Watershed District staff.
Check out the locations and data collected at each Stroud Station in the region
River Explorers
River Explorers is an opportunity for River Watch teams to kayak local streams allowing a unique perspective of watershed health, recreation, and wildlife. Following the completion of a paddling trip, students and staff work together to compile photos and observations to create a story map using Arc GIS.
Check out story maps from past paddle trips here!
Annual River Watch Forum
The 27th annual River Watch Forum was held March 1st, 2023, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND. The forum assignment was for each team to analyze their watershed based on water quality data. All information was placed on a poster and each team presented to a panel of judges while at the forum. Andy Ulven, kicked off the forum by speaking to the students about his professional journey and how River Watch impacted his life and how collecting and interpreting data is extremely important in his job. Originally from Hawley, MN, Andy joined his River Watch team as a 7th grader, graduated with a B.A. in Geography from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and later a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science from Montana State University. He worked with the International Water Institute in 2012 and 2014-2019. He now resides in Helena, Montana working as the Water Quality Planning Bureau Chief for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. After the keynote speaker, there were three breakout sessions that the kids participated in. One room was the poster judging and viewing room, another was hands-on demonstrations in Field Sciences and the last room was the River Arts project. The day ended with a Kahoot trivia game and awards and scholarships being handed out.