Watershed Web Search
Introduction
The Task
The Process
Resources
Introduction
People and salmon and steelhead share watersheds. By studying watersheds, you will learn:
- How people affect the water and fish in your watershed -- even if they don’t get near the creek or lake.
- Who in your community is working to protect the watershed and salmon and steelhead.
The Task
Your job in this web search is to learn about your community’s watershed and how the watershed connects people to salmon and steelhead. As you conduct your search, you will answer a set of questions. Then, to show what you have learned, you will create a pamphlet that tells people in your community how their everyday actions affect the salmon and steelhead in your watershed.
The Process
- Read over the following questions. You will be looking for answers to these questions as you visit the different web sites below. Take notes so that you can write answers to these five questions for your pamphlet.
- What is a watershed?
- What watershed do we live in?
- How do people affect the water and fish in our watershed?
- How can we help to keep our water clean and safe for people and animals?
- What groups in our community are working to protect our watershed?
- Use the web sites below to conduct your search. You will need to visit several different web sites to answer these questions. Take notes in your own words.
- Use your notes on these questions to create a pamphlet about your local watershed and how people’s actions in the watershed affect salmon and steelhead. Your pamphlet should include:
- A title
- Answers to the five questions
- One or more maps of your community or watershed
- At least one other photo or illustration
Resources
Look at these web sites to help you answer the questions about your local watershed.
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What a watershed is
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What watershed we live in
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- Using the National Atlas of the United States of America, you can make a custom map of any area in the United States. Click on Map Maker and keep clicking on your area of the map to narrow the scope. Click on the “Water” button and you will be able to add to your map watershed boundaries, major bodies of water, dams, and stream monitoring stations in your area.
- Using the California Water Quality Standards Inventory Database, find a map of your local watershed. You can search by the name of your county or by the name of your local creek or river.
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How people affect water and fish in our watershed
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- Watch the Everyone Impacts a Watershed video at the Conservation Technology Information Center.
- Play a Watershed Game to see the results of decisions you make concerning watersheds and national parks, agriculture, neighborhoods, and cities.Answer the question, "What's Wrong With This Picture?" to learn how different things people do in the watershed can hurt water and fish.
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| What we can do to help keep water clean and safe |
- Take the “RiverSmart Pledge” and learn about things you can do in and around your house to help rivers.
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Groups working to protect watershed |
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