Waterford High students set sail on Tichigan Lake to study water ecology

By David Steinkraus

Friday, May 20, 2005 2:05 AM CDT

TOWN OF WATERFORD - It was threatening to rain in the classroom on Thursday

morning.

Instead of sitting in chairs in a room and listening to a teacher, more than 200 sophomore biology students from Waterford High School floated on boats on Tichigan Lake and listened to biologists discuss the river system, which forms a central part of life in western Racine County.

Marty Johnson, a biologist at the Department of Natural Resources office in Sturtevant, stood on the deck of a barge, held up a turtle shell, and talked about wildlife habitat. "A lot of the vegetation that migrating birds use is declining," he said.

Many shorelines are covered with mowed grass and trees, Johnson added. Around him, the shore of Tichigan Lake displayed plenty of mowed grass and trees.

"A lot of the Tichigan Wildlife Area has gotten overgrown with brush," he said. And he went on to describe what biologists and conservation workers might do now to preserve the habitat for the endangered Blandings turtle, how Native Americans once set fires to preserve a certain habitat, and how European settlers suppressed fires and changed the habitat.

At other learning stations around the northeastern shore of the lake, students heard about fish biology from two specialists who dropped a net in the water to see what might swim in. Buckets of varied plants illustrated biodiversity. Water quality and aquatic plants, water safety, and the invasive plant called purple loosestrife formed topics for still more sessions.

Students moved from station to station on pontoon boats, 24 of them, driven by volunteers who took a day off from work. The whole project was the result of a widespread effort, said members of the Waterford Waterway Management District, which sponsored the project. Several area businesses chipped in for transportation or lunch or t-shirts.

This outdoor learning was done last year on a smaller scale, and with only one boat. That was the work of the Fox River Cause, a local advocacy group, said Sue Pettit, a member of the group and a commissioner of the management district.

"It was much smaller. It was a Saturday, so we had about 50 kids," she said.

Getting the speakers from state agencies and private companies for Thursday's larger effort was easy, she said. The district then approached the school district with its idea, said Norm Abplanalp, another

commissioner.

"Our first meeting with the high school, the kids referred to the river as an open sewer," Abplanalp said. "That really motivated us."

The water may be brown, but that's just silt from erosion, he said. Storm water runoff and erosion were also on the curriculum for Thursday.

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