Alberta’s Capital Region River Valley Park
Creating a legacy… for generations to come
Feature Group for December
Riverwatch
Website
http://www.riverwatch.ab.ca
E-mail
riverwatch@shaw.ca
Since 1995, the award-winning RiverWatch Science Program has worked with Alberta junior and senior high school students
to promote an understanding and interest in science and the environment.
RiverWatch helps secondary science students (Science 8, Science 9, Science 20 and Biology 20) to explore a section of their local river during a 10 km raft float trip. Along the way, students make shoreline stops to conduct water chemistry and biology tests above and below a wastewater treatment plant.
RiverWatch is a province-wide and imaginative program connecting young people with the science relevant to their local rivers. Side-byside and interacting with youth leaders aboard river rafts outfitted as mobile water quality laboratories, students work in a team environment to research and answer the question “How healthy is our river?” At the same time, accompanying teachers are provided with an experience and resources that contribute to their ongoing professional development and classroom work.
RiverWatch is now the most widely-used and in-depth environmental science program available to Alberta secondary schools.
RiverWatch has been recognized with the Prime Minister’s National Award for Teaching Excellence and has been a finalist for an Alberta Emerald Award. The RiverWatch website received an Alberta E-Business Award and the organization itself was a runner-up in thePeter F. Drucker Foundation Award for Canadian Innovative Not-For-Profit Businesses. Also, in September, the Riverwatch was awarded the Laurel Award which awards program based on their innovation and exceptional creativity.
River Valley Factoid
The history of the North Saskatchewan River Valley extends over 2 million years. Currently a shallow meandering river of 1 to 3 meters in depth, the North Saskatchewan River originates at the Saskatchewan Glacier and the Columbia Icefields in Banff National Park, now a vestige of the Cordilleran ice sheet. As the river winds through the 88 kilometers of the Capital Region River Valley Park, an interesting story unfolds.