PIONEERWEST

Middle Rio Grande  

Children's Water Festival 2002

Program of Activities

Weather or Not
Students analyze meteorological and hydrological data to determine if a flash flood might occur, issue warnings and monitor the flood event.
National Weather Service
Presented by Deirdre Kann, Phone 505-243-0702, E-mail deirdre.kann@noaa.gov

Our Cottonwood Forest
Students learn about the Bosque ecosystem of cottonwoods and willows along the Rio Grande.
Bosque School
Presented by Dan Shaw & students, Phone 505-898-6388, E-mail dshaw@bosqueschool.org

Gooey Garbage
Students will create a landfill and then watch what happens as the forces of nature turn trash into toxic stew with juices that can pollute our groundwater unless we take action to prevent it.
City of Albuquerque /Solid Water Management Department
Presented by Will Hoffman, Phone 505-761-8174, E-mail whoffman@cabq.gov

Water Olympics 
Students put water to the test! Though a series of experiments they demonstrate that water is no ordinary liquid!
Albuquerque Academy Environment Club
Presented by Karen Temple Beamish & Students, Phone 505-858-8873, E-mail beamish@aa.edu

Water and Life
Students will examine a wide variety of prehistoric and historic water related items. They will try to guess what the items are and what their uses or benefits were. Help or hints, as necessary, will be provided by the instructors.
City of Albuquerque/Public Works/Water Resources
Presented by Larry Marken & Margie Monarez, Phone 505-768-3603, E-mail lmarken@cabq.gov

Meet Water Bugs Up Close
Students will observe and identify live macroinvertebrates commonly found in local ponds and rivers and learn how biologists determine the purity of the water by which critters live there.
New Mexico Game & Fish Department
Presented by Colleen Welch, Phone 505-476-8119, E-mail cewelch@state.nm.us

Edible Aquifer
Students make an aquifer model from edible ingredients and learn about hydrogeology, pollution and pumping.
Albuquerque Academy Environment Club
Presented by Karen Temple Beamish & Students, Phone 505-858-8873, E-mail beamish@aa.edu

Who’s Got the Water?
Students demonstrate that our water must be shared among many users. They negotiate water sharing agreements when it’s a dry year and discover what might happen if they cannot agree!
City of Albuquerque/Public Works/Water Resources
Presented by Elaine Hebard, Marianne Woodard & Susan Kelly, Phone 505-768-2570, E-mail skelly@cabq.gov

Mission Impossible
The students’ mission, if they choose to accept it, is to rescue Albuquerque from water shortages that could occur in the next 10 years. Students play an interactive game and make decisions about how to manage available water resources.
Sandia National Laboratories /Geohydrology Department
Presented by Vincent Tidwell, Steve Conrad & Dick Thomas, Phone 505-844-6025, E-mail vctidwe@sandia.gov

Insectopia
Water health can be determined by the particular kinds of aquatic insects living in it. Do you know if that river, lake or pond is polluted or pristine (unspoiled)? By identifying the aquatic insects students will be able to determine water quality.
City of Albuquerque /Open Space Division
Presented by Bonnie Dils, Phone 505-452-5205, E-mail bdils@cabq.gov

El Rover’s Watershed Adventures 
Students learn about our precious water resources and how to adopt water-wise lifestyles from El Rover and his amigos.
Highland High School & US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, Water Quality Protection Division
Presented by Gale Borkenhagen & Students & Amadee Madril, Phone 214-665-2767, E-mail madril.amadee@epa.gov

Why the River Runs Brown
Students will learn about watersheds by examining and manipulating watershed models. They will learn that a watershed is the land area that drains to a water body such as a river or lake. They will see for themselves how watersheds can influence water quality.
NM Environment Dept., Surface Water Quality Bureau
Presented by Abe Franklin & Maryann McGraw, Phone 505-827-2793, E-mail abraham_franklin@nmenv.state.nm.us

Every Drop Counts
Students will learn how the aquifer was formed by building one of their own. They will learn about the various uses for water and why it is so important for everyone to conserve.
Intel Corporation
Presented by Andrew Moen, Phone 505-893-8784, E-mail andrew.d.moen@intel.com

Drink the Rio Grande! 
Students will learn how to build a filter and treat river water to make it usable in our homes.
City of Albuquerque/Public Works/Water Resources
Presented by Roberta Haynes-Sparks & Donna Martinez, Phone 505-768-3245, E-mail rhsparks@cabq.gov

Desert Designs
What's a desert? How do plants and animals "beat the heat" and thrive in the desert? Students will identify plants and animals of the Chihuahuan desert based on clues describing an organisms anatomical, physiological and/or behavioral adaptations. How have changes in the water sources of the desert drastically affected some of our native species like the silvery minnow and caused them to be on the brink of extinction?
US Bureau of Reclamation
Presented by Anne Janik & Gary Dean, Phone 505-248-5902, E-mail ajanik@uc.usbr.gov

Water Jeopardy
Students compete to give questions for the water answers (like the TV show).
Highland High School
Presented by Gale Borkenhagen & Students, Phone 505-265-3711 x1048, E-mail gborken@swcp.com

Runoff 101
Students learn how precious top soil can run off the land and end up in the river. They’ll find out what can be done to prevent topsoil loss.
Rio Grande River Rangers
Presented by Paula Morgan and Students, Phone 505-265-2253, E-mail thompaula_2000@yahoo.com

It’s My Aquifer!
Students learn about the water cycle underground - the aquifer, groundwater recharge, how contamination can move into groundwater, the effects of water well pumping in an aquifer, and why it’s so important to conserve water.
New Mexico Environment Dept. Ground Water Quality Bureau
Presented by Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, Sabino Rivera, Bart Faris and Jerzy Kulis, Phone 505-827-0018, E-mail pamela_homer@nmenv.state.nm.us

Swimmin’ in the Rio Grande
Students play a game to learn about the perils and challenges in the life of a Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout, New Mexico’s state fish and a native.
US Forest Service
Presented by Lisa Matlock, Phone 505-834-2200, E-mail lmatlock@fs.fed.us

Is There Water on Zork?
Students arrive on Planet Zork and ask the Zorkians for water. The Zorkians bring several clear liquids but which one is really water?
Presented by Jean Arya, Phone 505-345-9631, E-mail jeanarya@hotmail.com

The BioPark’s BioVan: Home Sweet Home
Students observe five mini-ecosystems along the Rio Grande, Gulf Coast, and Atlantic Ocean, and the living organisms that call each one home. The BioVan exhibits live plants, invertebrates, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.
City of Albuquerque/BioPark’s Rio Grande Zoo, Albuquerque Aquarium and Rio Grande Botanic Garden
Presented by Alyson Wallace, Phone 505-764-6242, E-mail azahm@cabq.gov

The Rolling River
How does the river work? Students will see a model river and watch the effects of water as it flows down stream.
Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District & NM Office of State Engineer/Water Conservation
Presented by Susan Rich & Cheri Vogel, Phone 505-761-5446, E-mail susan.rich@nm.usda.gov

The Dirt on Dirt
How does water flow through various types of soil? How do the differences impact plant root growth and whether or not a plant survives? Students will discover these answers when they add water to soil samples collected from the Albuquerque area and elsewhere. They will observe how water travels through and is retained within the soil, and learn what this means in terms of appropriate watering strategies.
Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners
Presented by Barbara Shapiro, Margo Murdock & Katie Babuska, Phone 505-243-1386, E-mail rdaniell@nmsu.edu

Water Wizard Who Knows All There is to Know About H20
City of Albuquerque/Public Works/Water Resources
Presented by Jean Witherspoon, Phone 505-768-3633, E-mail jasw@cabq.gov

 

Back to PioneerWest Homepage