WATERSHED WATCH

 

Watershed Watch is one of Idaho's longest-running community science events. Every fall, this one-day event connects over 400 upper elementary students with water quality testing, water scientists, and our local watershed.  

Each class is assigned an accessible site along the Boise River and is guided in hands-on water quality testing by water professionals from one of our partner organizations. Students wade into the water to test the chemical, physical and biological health of the Boise River and share their data with the public.

Please contact us if you have questions about the program.

Open Map Fullscreen

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Lesson Plans

Is the Boise River Healthy?

Explore the Boise River virtually through videos and worksheets below to assess the health of the Boise River. 

Materials:

• Teacher Packet (PDF)
• Worksheet (Word Doc)
• Worksheet (PDF)
• Worksheet Answers (PDF)

Week 1: How Does Water Management on the Boise River Affect Water Quality?

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles)
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

Week 2: Temperature and Turbidity

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles)
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)
• Use this river video if you can't get to the Boise River to answer worksheet questions.

Watch Week 3: Invasive Species 

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles)
• Assignment (PDF) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

Watch Week 4: Organisms in the River

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles)
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

Watch Week 5: Nutrients

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles)
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

Watch Week 6: Environmental Engineering 

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles) 
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

Watch Week 7: Rules and Regulations

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles) 
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

Watch Week 8: Lab Analysis

• Video (English)
• Video (Spanish Subtitles)
• Assignment (Word Doc) (Assignments designed for 5th-8th grade students)

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How-to Videos

• Watershed Watch Intro Video
• Watershed Watch Physical Parameters (video) 
• Watershed Watch Chemical Parameters (video)
• Watershed Watch Biological Parameters (video)
• Lower Boise Watershed Watch Map (PDF)

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Data

• Watershed Watch Citizen-Collected Data (Excel Spreadsheet)

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Thank you to the following organizations for your participation in Watershed Watch!

City of Boise

City of Meridian

City of Caldwell

Idaho State Department of Agriculture

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

Intermountain Bird Observatory

Partners for Clean Water

Veolia

United States Bureau of Reclamation

United States Geological Survey