(blogmaster's note: This story includes a really great video clip. Although this story was run in Sioux City, it covers the Yankton Missouri River Watershed Festival, an annual event drawing Yankton area students to the river to learn from experts. Missouri River Relief's Vicki Richmond was the keynote speaker and talked to students at her booth. Oddly enough, the story mentions the Yankton clean-up on May 7 but didn't mention the clean-up we were doing in Sioux City that same day. )
Originally broadcast May 6, 2011 on KMEG Channel 14 in Sioux City, IA
Click here for original link and to view video.
Click here to view video on YouTube.
reported by Jacob Heller
(YANKTON, SD) It's one of Siouxland's sources of life, and Friday hundreds of hometown students were learning all about it.
It's something we may take for granted, but the Missouri River impacts nearly every aspect of life, from the water we drink to the food we eat.
Nearly 400 students swarmed Riverside Park in Yankton, South Dakota, Friday, for the 3rd annual "Missouri River Watershed School Festival."
It's a chance for Siouxland students to get a new perspective on a major part of the landscape that may not be quite as "mighty" as the name suggests.
"If you're throwing garbage out into it you're contaminating the water, you're killing off fish. You're drinking the water, you're swimming in the water, you're eating the fish out of the water, so you don't want to contaminate what you live with," says Mary Robb, with the city of Yankton.
Kids were attending sessions ranging from boat safety to invasive species and even soil conservation.
"If you can work with the younger kids they kind of hear the message over and over, and by the time some of these children take over family farms or get into agriculture, land management positions, hopefully they employ some of these practices and principles," says Mark Brannen, with the Natural Resource Conservation Service.
The students spent the day learning about all aspects of river life, and that proper aquatic care doesn't start with the river itself, but with everything around it.
"A lot of our life depends on how we treat the soil, I mean, that's what grows our crops, that's what's feeding our livestock, it's affecting the water quality, we use the river, we fish out of the river," says Brannen.
Six schools were participating in this year's festival, up from 4 last year.
Don't forget, the 8th Annual Missouri River Cleanup is going on Saturday.
If you're in the Yankton area, you can head on over to Riverside Park and check-in at 7:30 AM.
It's free to participate and open to anyone.
Last year nearly 6 tons of garbage was gathered.
No comments:
Post a Comment