WATSONVILLE — Twenty-five Mintie White Elementary School fifth-graders walked into a bigger-than-usual classroom Thursday morning: the sprawling fields and boggy marshes of West Branch Struve Slough. As they tromped about, they stopped to inspect every critter and plant they came across — in other words, they behaved like scientists.
It’s the first trip of the year for students in the Wetland Wonders program, a partnership that began in 2016 between the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and Watsonville Wetlands Watch, an environmental restoration nonprofit. Fifth-graders at five Watsonville elementary schools visit the slough twice during the year to learn about the many creatures that call these wetlands home — and how their health can be affected by human activity.
The hope is that students emerge with a better appreciation of the value of these fragile ecosystems — while having some fun in the process.
“It’s like a walk in the park, but more naturey,” said fifth-grader Lili Rios.
Thursday’s wetlands walk focused on a single question: Are the wetlands healthy? To answer it, students split into three groups to investigate the slough’s plants, animals and water.
Seven students, clad in rubber boots, stamped down to the shore. Mud and gleeful cheers filled the air as they collected water samples.
The students then transferred their samples into glass jars and peered through magnifying glasses at the wriggling, squirming critters inside.
“Do you see that? It looks like a tiny shrimp,” said Rios.
As the students examined their catches, Watsonville Wetlands Watch educator Stephanie Rios handed out worksheets to help them identify the creatures. Among the haul: water boatmen, mosquito larvae, midges and, as Lili Rios observed, opossum shrimp.
They also found scuds — tiny crustaceans no larger than a green pea. Their presence was telling, said Rios, as scuds are sensitive to water pollution.
“If these wetlands were really dirty, would we find [scuds]?“ she asked.
“No,” multiple students shouted.
West Branch Struve Slough was once part of a dairy farm, but is now owned by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Watsonville Wetlands Watch has restored some of the native wetlands, but students will have a chance to measure the biodiversity of unrestored areas when they return to the slough in spring.
The trip was supervised by Watsonville Wetlands Watch staff, volunteers and parent chaperones — including Yolanda Guzman, who was there with her son Marcus.
“He loves nature — he loves to get muddy, dirty, all into it,” said Guzman. “That’s the way they actually learn, right?”
In August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded Watsonville Wetlands Watch, Save Our Shores and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve $60,000 to expand environmental education programs for third-graders, fourth-graders and fifth-graders. All of these programs will couple with hands-on exploration and classroom learning, with an emphasis on the former, said Emily Howard, education director of Watsonville Wetlands Watch.
“Students learn better through doing, and so it’s more of the ‘lab’ first and then the ‘blab’ after,” said Howard.
Years from now, the fifth-graders who participated in Thursday’s field trip will have the chance to go from wetlands students to wetlands teachers. Watsonville Wetlands Watch trains and pays high schoolers to run wetlands field trips for elementary and middle school students.
“A lot of the time,” said executive director Jonathan Pilch. “We get students who participate in the [Wetland Wonders] program and then become teachers in high school.”