Establishing a Research-based Interdisciplinary Watershed Program for an Environmental Studies Program

Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter MN

Investigators

Abstract

Interdisciplinary (99) This project is adapting the approaches of Furman University and Shippensburg University in using water quality and watershed assessment as an interdisciplinary learning tool across the Environmental Studies curriculum. The setting for this project is the Seven Mile Creek watershed, an area of intensive production agriculture, located just a few miles from campus in south central Minnesota. Seven Mile Creek is a sub-watershed of the Minnesota River, which was identified as the most polluted river in Minnesota. This project expands upon existing work by the Brown-Nicollet-Cottonwood Water Quality Board and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to restore wetlands, encourage farmers to use Best Management Practices, and study the effects of these measures on water quality. Water quality of a lake or stream is assessed based on the chemistry of the water, pollutant levels, and the degree of biological diversity. It is also intimately related to human activities on the land, land cover type, the interactions between surface water and ground water, and disturbances within the watershed. Thus, this watershed research project is inherently interdisciplinary in nature, requiring students to integrate what they have learned about hydrology, nutrient and chemical cycling, soils and geology, and biological responses. Through hands-on research-oriented field, laboratory, and computer projects, students are benefiting from experiential learning while producing data relevant to the restoration of the Minnesota River and other agriculturally impacted water bodies. Students are gaining skills such as stream and ground water monitoring, laboratory chemical analysis, biodiversity analysis, and spatial analysis, thus giving them the broad scientific skills necessary to serve as environmental science professionals or to pursue graduate research.