Project Overview

Snake River Fund and Bridger-Teton National Forest will lead a series of service learning programs that draw underserved young people from the community, educating them on forest issues such as invasive species, fisheries/clean water, wildlife-friendly habitat, water safety, and stream restoration. The project will involve students in hands-on stream restoration projects, and control of aquatic nuisance species, together with macro-invertebrate (stream insect) monitoring and studies. This project is aimed at teaching student stewardship ethics and a better appreciation of the outdoors as well as biology out in nature. Many of the students from underserved communities can rarely afford to participate in outdoor classroom activities. Given the resources available, the unique landscape and watersheds of the Snake River/Yellowstone basin, and numbers of volunteers eager to work with youth and involve them in these activities as “junior watershed managers”, this project is designed to have a high quality community impact as well as on-the-ground restoration benefits.