Friday, June 26, 2009

Greetings From Camp!

Dan River Basin Association volunteers and staff recently visited the W.E. Skelton 4H Center at Smith Mountain Lake to teach Environmental Science to Martinsville and Henry County youth attending camp. Through various activities, the 4H campers learned about watersheds and how their actions can help or hurt the environment. They performed a skit about protecting the Smith River to learn the importance of streamside trees and ways to reduce pollution such as using environmentally friendly fertilizers on lawns. The campers discovered macroinvertebrates, small aquatic creatures like crayfish, snails, and mayfly larvae that can help determine water quality and also performed tests on water samples. To see a video from camp click here.

These activities helped the youth gain a better appreciation of their local watershed and how to help protect it so that they, as well as future generations, will have clean water to drink, swim, and fish in. The Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) strives to preserve and promote the natural and cultural resources of the Dan River basin through education, recreation, and stewardship. DRBA's programs in the Martinsville and Henry County area are funded by a grant from the Harvest Foundation.

To schedule programs such as "Stream: The Movie" or "Tub-o-Bugs" for your group or to learn how you can become a certified stream monitor, please contact drba.va@danriver.org.

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