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Kids in the Creek teaches elementary schoolchildren in rural North Carolina ways to determine the health of their local rivers and streams. This innovative environment program is partially funded through a Mott Foundation-supported regranting program. Other funders include the Watauga County Cooperative Extension Service, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mott’s Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystems in North America program area supports river work in the southeastern U.S. by making grants to nonprofit groups that work at the local, state and regional levels to raise awareness among the general public and decisionmakers about water quality and water quantity issues.

The Kids in the Creek program provides schoolchildren with a simple method of assessing the long-term health of a stream by viewing and identifying its aquatic insects and observing the world they inhabit.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), through its Southeast Rivers and Streams Program, received a three-year, $171,000 Mott grant to provide small grants, ranging from $500 to $5,000, to nonprofit environmental groups.

Watauga River Conservation Partners, a small environmental group in rural North Carolina, has received three grants from WWF, including one to support its hands-on “Kids in the Creek” program.

The grant provided funds for members to develop an ongoing freshwater curriculum for all fourth-grade students in Watauga County. Using simple experiments that change water color, students enthusiastically check the health of their local rivers and streams, said Kathy Copley, a board member of the nonprofit group.

“We’re taking water issues to the public schools. The students try to find out what shape their water is in. They ask, ‘Is it healthy?’” she said.

“Then they look to see if there are any mayflies or caddisflies in the water they’re testing. These insects only live in clean water so if the insects aren’t there, they know the water is in some kind of trouble. They also are learning what they can do to keep the streams clean.”