STREAM RESTORATION THROUGH SERVICE LEARNING

Watershed groups provide opportunities for upper-level undergraduates to make substantial contributions to stream restoration as part of class projects. Two years of experience with the hydrogeology class at Ohio University have shown that student awareness of an actual client (a watershed group) elicits strong creative efforts and a high-quality performance. The 2000 class identified the cause of ground subsidence and stream capture into a coal mine, for the Sunday Creek Watershed Group, and calculated the acidity loading reduction to be gained from closing the stream capture. The report formed the basis of a successful grant application for funds to repair the subsidence. The 2001 class determined the role of a strip pit lake in recharging a high-sulfur coal refuse pile and generating acid drainage. An engineering consulting firm working with the Raccoon Creek Improvement Committee is using the report to justify the preferred restoration option of draining the strip pit lakes. The 2001 project report was compiled as a pdf file and put on the departmental web page. Projects such as these challenge the professor and students because a successful outcome within a short time cannot be guaranteed. Success depends on several factors: 1) a small study area, 2) assembly of maps and background data beforehand, 3) planning of fieldwork with military precision, 4) division of the project into tasks, 5) tasks assigned consistent with each student's skills, 6) frequent email dissemination of drafts, and 7) clear deadlines for drafts. Fieldwork was limited to two four-hour trips (excluding travel). Four class hours were required for planning and synthesis.