Adopt-A-Stream

The Anchorage Waterways Council (AWC) partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to develop an Adopt-a-Stream model for the Anchorage School District (ASD). Year one built on AWC’s relationship and experience with Polaris K-12, where a successful program similar to Adopt-a-Stream has evolved. Begich Middle School and King Career Center, both located very close to Chester Creek, participated in the pilot program along with Polaris K-12. The goals have been to train and certify a few science teachers in water quality monitoring procedures, use these science classes to collect data near their schools using standard scientific protocol, enter the data into a database accessible on the web, and use the data and other technologies, i.e. GIS and GPS, to analyze, visualize, display, and share findings in a variety of venues. The data collected will contribute to AWC’s water quality database, it will be used by and shared between the participating classes and other users and researchers, and other activities involving improvement of riparian habitat will be undertaken.  During our second year of funding by USFWS and the Bullitt Foundation, we will continue these tasks and reach out to other participant schools to assist them in using their local creeks as classrooms.

 Adopt-a-Stream Data Entry Page