Flint River GREEN

Check out our new Flint River GREEN website at: http://www.flintrivergreen.org/

“Turning Students into Environmental Stewards”The Flint River Watershed Coalition, with our Flint River GREEN partners (see below) coordinates an applied curriculum for Middle School and High School students that has a positive impact on the environment, now and into the future. We currently have several classrooms in a number of Genesee, Lapeer, and Oakland County school districts involved in Flint River GREEN.

Students conducting chemical tests at the river

GREEN = Global Rivers Environmental Education Network. Using scientific methods to test local streams and rivers, area students identify an environmental problem, research the causes of the problem, and work toward a solution in practices or policies that allowed the problem to emerge in the first place. The capstone of the program is the GREEN Student Summit, held each year in May. At the Summit, students from across the watershed meet, present their results to one another, and attend various breakout sessions led by environmental professionals from a wide variety of fields. The summit provides our students with their first professional conference experience, hones their presentation skills, and allows sharing of information from school to school. Teachers participating in the program are provided a classroom mentor to assist in monitoring and data interpretation, professional development opportunities (with CEU credits awarded), and testing aterials. In addition, participating schools in Genesee County satisfy a portion of their requirements under their Phase II stormwater regulation requirements. The monitoring results gathered by students compliment the on-going benthic monitoring conducted by the Watershed Coalition. It also provides data for use by the Genesee County Drain Commissioner in fulfilling its responsibilities relative to storm water runoff concerns and abatement. The program is partly funded by the Genesee County Drain Office and General Motors, both of whom provide classroom mentors and summit presenters. The Genesee and Lapeer Intermediate School Districts coordinate classroom involvement. Earthforce is the national organization that supports the training and other aspects of the program. For additional information, contact the Flint River Watershed Coalition at (810) 767-6490.