“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” Benjamin Franklin
ɫƵ’s Watershed Access Lab (WAL) equips and supports educators to recognize and address local water and other environmental issues in their communities. By partnering with local schools and communities, WAL is able to bring awareness about local watersheds concerns, including limited water resources, water pollution, land use and water management. WAL provides community leaders/teachers with the tools and resources they need to empower the next generation of watershed and environmental stewards to make sustainable decisions. We strive to have students learning about environmental issues through participating in Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE), whether it be at ɫƵ, in the field or at their local schools.
The WAL provides state-of-the-art technology for land use and water quality assessment to train teachers to work with their student teams conducting local watershed investigations. Teachers participating in the program are eligible to use equipment from the WAL in their schools to conduct watershed projects. It is only with the help of teachers that we can aspire to developing environmental stewards. We partner with teachers to implement our programs and we offer professional learning opportunities on how to teach about watersheds and engage students in hands-on science.