Students learn about human impacts on water quality

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Last Thursday, Stormwater SMART visited our last class of the 2014-2015 school year. Gibsonville Elementary 4th graders got a bird’s eye view of watersheds and learned more about the human impacts on our water quality as I led them through a program using the Enviroscape Model ®. 


The Enviroscape Model ® is a 3-D model of a watershed that shows how precipitation that does not soak into the ground always travels downhill to a river or lake.  As students act out different human activities such as fertilizing the farm, taking their dog for a walk, or driving a car that needs maintenance, pollutants are left behind on the surface of the model.  When rain falls on the land the pollutants are picked up in the rain fall runoff or stormwater and carried to the lake at the bottom of the watershed.  The activity shows how small incidences of pollution add up to be a big problem for our water resources.
A student rains on the watershed.

This student's action card said: you are clearing property for a new house. As a result, she had to remove trees that were on the landscape and replace it with dirt. Trees and other plants hold soil and dirt in place. Without them, soil can wash into bodies of water. In NC and much of the south, soil is the number 1 type of water pollution. 


 At the end of our lesson, we sat down together to brainstorm what 4th graders could do to reduce and prevent pollution. We had a lot of great ideas thrown around, including recycling at home, reusing or re-purposing items, picking up litter, and even writing a letter to the school to get a recycling program started. 


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About Post Author

Kalysha Clark is a recent graudate of North Carolina State University where she earned a Bachelor's of Science in Zoology and a minor in nonprofit studies. She is currently serving as a member of AmeriCorps and will return to NC State in January to begin her Master's program in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology.

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About me

I am a graduate of NC State University with a Bachelors of Science in Zoology and a minor in Nonprofit Studies.

I am currently a Master's Student at NC State studying Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. Part of my thesis will focus on how state action plans and policies look at and incorporate climate change and land use change. I am highly interested in habitat use, movement ecology and behavior, and hope to study these during my Master's and, later, my PhD.

I am currently working on my North Carolina Environmental Education Certification.

My skills include: Radio telemetry, Camera Trap Installation and Calibration, Animal Handling, Data Entry and Management, Animal Husbandry, Animal Behavior, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Raptor Handling, Project Planning, Fundraising, Public Speaking, Time Management and Organization

Classes I'm Currently Taking

-Conservation Biology
-Quantitative Methods in Education
-Wildlife Seminar
-Resource Selection Functions

Current Projects

-Evaluating Efficacy of Conservation Planning in the Southeast
-Evaluating the Household Dynamics of Wildlife Value Orientations

Honors, Awards, and Certifications

-Bachelor of Science in Zoology, 2015
-Minor in Nonprofit Studies
-Dean's List, Spring 2012, Fall 2013
-Roots and Shoots Founders' Award, $100, 2012-2013
-Basic Wildlife Rehabilitation Certification, March 2013
-Visionary Leader Certificate, Spring 2012

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