CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Fifteen students, parents and faculty members from Wildwood Middle School traveled to the Spruce Knob Moutain Center in Pendleton County, W.Va., Oct. 29 and 30 to study stream and watershed ecology.
The goal of the educational field trip was to provide students and teachers living in the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay watersheds an opportunity to engage in inquiry-based outdoor science.
The trip was the first in a yearlong study of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
While at the Sruce Knob Mountain Center, at the highest point in West Virginia, students assessed the biological, chemical and physical conditions of Big Cherry Run, a mountain stream that flows into the Potomac River. Two weeks later, students applied their knowledge when they met with staff from The Mountain Institute and studied the conditions of Town Run, a Jefferson County, W.Va., stream that also flows into the Potomac River.
A spring trip to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay is planned.
