COMBINING K-12 EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN THE NATION'S LARGEST CONTIGUOUS SUPERFUND SITE – THE UPPER CLARK FORK WATERSHED, MONTANA

Over 100 years of mining and smelting have created environmental damages encompased by the upper Clark Fork Superfund Complex, the most extensive in the nation. Once remedy is complete, 26 miles of Silver Bow Creek floodplain and long reaches of the upper Clark Fork and tributaries will be cleaned up at a cost of over $1 billion. This is arguably the largest stream restoration project ever undertaken, involving scientists and researchers from a wide range of disciplines in an enormous long-term experiment. The opportunities for K-12 learning and research are extensive.

The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP), based at Montana Tech of the University of Montana in Butte, gets students into the field to examine the effects of mining and settlement on the upper Clark Fork basin, and to give them and their teachers the scientific background to quantify the success of the cleanup and overall watershed health. The premise is that linking scientists, teachers and students through field-based science instills fundamental science concepts and creates a sense of watershed stewardship.

In our first year we involved over 3,000 students, 70 teachers and 39 scientists. So far, research has focused on water chemistry and macroinvertebrate populations at monitoring sites between the Continental Divide and the Milltown Dam, over 120 miles downstream. Students generally research two contrasting field sites (un-impaired reference site, mining impacted site, or reclaimed stream reach) on each field trip and are asked to record and evaluate their observations.

The long-term scientific objective of this research is to quantify biotic rebound as copper and zinc are remove from the aquatic environment. Tracking changes in nutrient levels and the resulting affects on the biota is a necessary secondary objective. CFWEP is in the process of creating a large database, accessible through the CFWEP.ORG web site, to enhance scientific collaboration between students and scientists throughout the watershed.