‘Out in the wild’

HOLLIDAYSBURG - Bellwood-Antis sixth-graders put down their books and pencils Thursday for a day of fun in the mud at Canoe Creek State Park.

After rolling up the hem of their jeans or pulling on an oversized pair of wading boots, the students climbed down a slope into Mary Ann's Creek to scoop up crayfish or any other creature scurrying from underneath rocks they had overturned in the name of science.

"I like to be out in the wild," Zak Taylor, 11, said. "I just find everything very interesting. Learning can be very, very fun."

The middle school students participated in a Watershed and Wetlands Field Day, thanks to a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The $3,000 grant is paying for the travel expenses of several schools in different districts this school year.

Some schools are on a waiting list due to the demand, a press release stated. Elementary schools in Hollidaysburg and Altoona, St. Patrick Catholic School in Newry and Spring Cove Middle School, Roaring Spring, were schools chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the release.

Students participated in four stations involving streams' and wetlands' soils, plants and animals, Blair County Conservation District Environmental Educator Jody Wallace said.

Wetlands are vital parts of nature, offering homes and birth places to animals and flood control and a decrease in pollution, she said.

The students learned to spot animal tracks and scat, also known as animal waste, Wallace said. A long piece of string running from student to student showed the connection between life forms and how creatures "depend on one another for survival," Bellwood-Antis sixth-grade teacher Denna Davis said.

Students checked the pH and nitrate levels with a testing stick they dipped in the water, Altoona Water Authority lab technician Tobias Nagle said. They caught different creek critters to show how finding a bug can indicate if water is healthy, because certain bugs can only survive under specific circumstances whether good or bad, he said.

Students participate in lessons outside the park, too.

They will define wetlands, write about their value and identify a threat to a local watershed in a letter to a local government official, Wallace said.

A bigger exploration is on the horizon for the Bellwood-Antis sixth-grade class.

At the end of every sixth-grade Earth Science class, students spend three days and two nights at Camp Blue Diamond in Petersburg where they participate in workshops, B-A sixth-grade environmental education coordinator Katherine Burch said.

Learning about wetlands and watersheds have a long-lasting impact.

In the past, humans destroyed such areas without realizing the consequences, Burch said.

"They are the future stewards of our environment," Burch said. "I want them to do a good job."