Merging technology, youthful enthusiasm, education and a watershed can only mean one thing: the Listening to the River project has arrived.
Launched in Traverse City last Thursday, the project features a range of organizations and individuals — youth and adult — who together will document the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed. Two dozen people attended the official kick off to the project, held Thursday morning at Northwestern Michigan College's University Center.
Partnering with area youth is key to the project, which will span three years. The project is funded by a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Informal Science Education Division.
"We are challenging young people to think about what's in the watershed and how they can teach about it," said Joe Vandermulen, executive director of the Land Information Access Association, one of four members of the project coalition. "We want to hear from as many young folks as we can."
The other three coalition members are Interlochen Public Radio, the Great Lakes Children's Museum and Northwestern Michigan College. Project partners are the Michigan State University Extension and 4H Clubs, Traverse City Optimists Club, Grand Traverse County Conservation District and the Girl Scouts of Crooked Tree.
The three-phase project begins with discovery expeditions to explore the watershed where area teens will be the feet and hands, eyes and ears of Listening to the River.
Students will work in teams of six to eight individuals, guided by an adult volunteer. They will fan out over the watershed and using state-of-the-art technology capture its essence for the exhibit. The teams will use GPS, digital video cameras, digital recorders and digital cameras to gather their data.
A half dozen student volunteers worked with the equipment before and after the Thursday's launch of Listening to the River, demonstrating the possibilities for attendees.
"I like the technology, this is all pretty new," said Emma Schilkey, a seventh grade student at East Junior High. "I like science, for the most part, but this is fun because you get to work with the technology.
The tangible end result of the project will be a $300,000 multi-media exhibit about the watershed that will be housed at the Great Lakes Children's Museum. Students will help design this exhibit geared to a elementary-age audience. This interpretive exhibit will provide viewers a visual and auditory record of the watershed using both still and moving images as well as recordings from the field.
In addition, all the documentation will be added to the Listening to the River website. Students will also create radio segments called soundscapes to share their findings, which will be broadcast on Interlochen Public Radio.
Bird calls, beaver dams, mist over the lake in the morning: all of this and more will be part of the three-dimensional record.
"This is an opportunity to showcase the wonderful area we live in, our beautiful watershed," said Vandermulen, noting that part of the mission of the Listening to the River project is to create a model for other communities. "This took us four years to put together and it is exciting because there's a lot of money invested, coming from the National Science Foundation to our community."
For more information on the Listening to the River project or to volunteer as either a student, classroom or adult leader, contact Joe Vandermulen, Carl Ferguson or Chris Kitzman at 929-3696. Or email ferguson@liaa.org. The website for the project is www.listeningtotheriver.org.