A Creek Runs Through It
Mark West School Steelhead Program
Mark West Sixth Graders in the Field
The Mark West School sixth graders have many opportunities to go out into the field and participate in an authentic learning experience as they study our watershed. Trips include the San Francisco Bay, Casa Grande High School, the head waters above Lake Sonoma, the main stem of the Russian River, the estuary in Jenner, as well as weekly trips to our own Mark West Creek to monitor the water.
Monitoring the Mark West Creek
Once per week throughout the school year, the students take the short walk to the Mark West Creek to conduct water monitoring tests. The tests include checking the Ph, dissolved oxygen, turbitity, and temperature. As the information is gathered and displayed on graphs in the classroom, discussions arise as to what causes the changes in our findings and how do these changes affect the steelhead.
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Robert G. Brownlee
The Robert G. Brownlee is a research vessel that takes us around the San Francisco Bay. This four hour trip allows the students to investigate the benthos layer, plankton, the salinity, as well as catch and sort fish. All of these activities allow the students to study the health of our state's largest estuary.
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Casa Grande High School
Our students are fortunate to have the dedicated high school students of the Casa Grande High Hatchery Program as "Steelhead Buddies." Our students get guided tours through their hatchery in the late fall. Later in the spring, Casa students come to Mark West to visit our classroom hatchery.
Headwaters
In January we begin the Headwaters2Ocean Program sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency. Our first field trip is to the Don Clausin Fish Hatchery at Lake Sonoma. SCWA then takes us to the ridge line to investigate the top of our watershed.
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Mirabel & Wohler Collectors
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The second part of the Headwaters2Ocean Program takes us to the collectors on the main stem of the Russian River in Forestville. The students learn how the SCWA is able to supply over 600,000 residents with water while still protecting the steelhead. The students then collect their water monitoring information to compare with the Mark West Creek. Finally, they are taught how to know the health of the river by studying the water insects under microscopes.
Our Estuary
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The final stop on the Headwaters2Ocean Program in the ocean. The students meet with the local biologist to discuss the habitat concerns of the estuary in Jenner. The balance of wildlife and people is tricky. After a year long study of steelhead and a week before we release our steelhead into the Mark West Creek, we see first hand the issues our fish will have to face to survive. Again, we conduct our water monitoring tests and conclude that all in all, our watershed is a good place for our steelhead to thrive. However, we also see the need to work hard to keep it that way.