DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 373 984 SE 054 706

AUTHOR Samples, Bob, Ed.

TITLE Rivers at Risk: An Activity Based Study Guide for theColorado River Basin.

INSTITUTION Fish and Wildlife Service (Dept. of Interior),Washington, D.C.

PUB DATE [94]

NOTE 43p.

PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For

Teacher) (052)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS Botany; Elementary Secondary Education; *Endangered

Species; Environmental Education; *Habitats;*Ichthyology; Integrated Activities;*Interdisciplinary Approach; Water Pollution; *Water

Resources; ZoologyIDENTIFIERS *Colorado River Basin

ABSTRACTThis activity guide is intended to increase student

awareness and understanding about the Colorado River Basin. Each

activity includes objectives, procedures, materials list, related

activities, questions for students, and related information.' Theactivities are varied to appeal to a wide range of learning styles

and modalities and are interdisciplinary in design. The first chapter

is an overview for teachers and the remaining chapters contain the

activities: (1) "Wildlife Webs"; (2) "Big Basin Blues"; (3) "Rights

and Wrongs"; (4) "Water in the Air"; (5) "Canyon Country Art"; (6)

"Counting Water"; (7) "Ancient Waters"; (8) "Invisible Passengers";

and (9) "Habitat Hazards." (MKR)

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from the original document.***********************************************************************

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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER IERICI

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RIVE S T RISKAN ACTIVITY BASED STUDY GUIDEFOR THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN

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Produced By The United States Fish and Wildlife Service

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Printing Provided: By The Sport Fish Restoration Program

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toRpS

With Thanks For GenerousCooperation

Colorado Division of WildlifeUtah Division of Wildlife ResoursesArizona Game and Fish Department

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish

Editing, Photographs And DesignBob Samples

Authors And Contributors

Janet Ady, Randy Babb, Roxanne Brickell, Carol Bylsma, CherylCharles, Sheri Fetherman, Kate Grandison, John Hamill, Angela

Kant-91a, Tom Lines, Alicia Martinez-Duran, Gary Mason, MiltonMcClaren, Patricia McQuown, Miles Moretti, Barb Poulin,

Gabriele D. Reil, Allen Russell, Bob Samples, Dan Shaw, RobynSkudlareck, Rich Valdez, Connie Young.

Endangered Fish ArtMarianne C. Filbert

All PhotographsBob Samples

Fish Drawings copyright by Marianne C. Filbert

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgementsri

Contents1

Introduction3

A VAST AND FRAGILE LANDAn Overview.Fcr Teachers

4WILDLIFE WEBS

10BIG BASIN BLUES

14.RIGHTS AND WRONGS

16WATER IN THE AIR

20CANYON COUNTRY ART

22COUNTING WATER

24ANCIENT WATERS

26INVISIBLE PASSENGERS

30HABITAT HAZARDS

32APPENDICES

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INTRODUCTION FORTEACHERSThe activities in this booklet are intended toincrease student awareness and understandingabout the Colorado River Basin. They are writtenfor teachers, with some materials to be repro-duced for student use. These instructional activi-ties are intentionally varied in order to insure anappeal to a wide r..nge of learning styles andlearning modalities. Art, field study, libraryresearch, simulated field trips, writing, oralreports, calculation and data gathering are amongthe approaches used.

The activities are aimed at students from earlyprimary to high school. As none of these mate-rials is intended for the students to use directly,teachers may adapt them for younger children,and older youth. The main focus of the materi-als is the Colorado River Basin, yet the coreideas may be adapted to other parts of NorthAmerica or the world.

The materials are transdisciplinary in design.This means that some activities may draw fromconcepts in multiple subject areas. For example,Habitat Hazards requires that the students make amodel of the Colorado River Basin and displaycurrent and original ranges for four endangeredfish species. This involves geography, art andbiology. Varied skills are called upon as well;cooperation, communication and critical thinkingare necessary for successful engagement with thisactivity.

Ideally, after experiencing these activities, stu-dents will transfer what they learn into actions intheir own lives.

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THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN: AN OVERVIEW FOR TEACHERS

UNIQUENESS OF, THERIVER SYSTEMFew places on Earth have captured the imagina-tion of people more than the vast expanses ofthe American Southwest. Our memories arefilled with tall spires and stone monuments,wide sweeping plateaus and cintse thicketscrowding the banks of the rivers. Rivers onceflowed ceaselessly from 14,000 foot peaks on thecontinental divide toward Mexico and the sea,1400 miles away. The region is a geological won-derland.

Stone dwellings of ancient civilizations are scat-tered throughout the Colorado River and itstributaries. These ruins speak to the centuries inwhich humans and the river lived side by sidebefore Europeans settled in North America.Carvings in the rock surfaces, called petro-glyphs, show us that many of the animals wefind today were common in the past. It is a landof contrasting people with dozens of indigenoustribal cultures living in the drainage of the riverthat dominates this landthe Colorado.

This has been a land of adventure and rcmance.In films and stories, the triumph and tragediesof westward expansion are often set in this vast,compelling environment. For nearly 500 years,explorers and settlers traveled across the surfaceof this region seeking cities of gold, routes to thePacific, and, for some, homesites where they

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would try to wrest a living from the land. It wasthese early visitors whd brought technologiesthat seemed innocent enough at first, but wouldchange the face of the land forever.

Settlement was the first of the major activities ofearly immigrants to the Colorado Riverdrainage. They settled and began to farm, raiselivestock and to mine. In a short time, the effectsof distant activities began to fuel changesthroughout the entire nation. In the 1800s thedawning of the Industrial Era began. With itcame rising population, established trails,wagon trains and eventually the railroad Rail-roads opened up the wildlands of the west,bringing many more people to the region. Thiswave of settlement reshaped the land. For manysettlers the only obstacle in the path of gaining alivelihood was access to water.

Then and now, water is the lifeblood of the west.The Colorado River drainage provides watertoday for 25 million people. Water is sought forcrops, livestock, mining, recreation, municipaland industrial purposes, as well as for hydroelec-tric power generation. Also, and perhaps centralto our exploration, the Colorado drainage ishome for fish and other forms of wildlife.

The Colorado River drainage is a unique habitat.Its watershed drains a large portion of the theUnited States. The region is largely arid.Although there is low precipitation, heavy rainsoften fall in short periods of time. This causes

water levels in the river to rise and fall in dra-matic fashion. The flow of the waters in the sys-tem varies from wide meandering stretches tonarrow explosive cascades. During springrunoff, many rivers in the system are loadedwith silt, a fine sediment that clouds the water.

In the higher reaches of the Colorado and itstributaries, water quality tends to be good toexcellent. But as one travels downstream, thereare many changes. Surprisingly, many of thechanges in water quality have little to do withhuman activity. For example, many of the sedi-mentary rocks contain salts, metals and otherelements that naturally enter into the waters.Each tributary has its own "suite" of naturallyoccurring chemicals that affect the water qualitydownstream. Yet there is little doubt that it ishuman activity that creates the major changes inwater quality in the Basin.

DRIFTING TOWARDEXTINCTIONAs abundant as life is in this region, there aremany examples of species at risk. For this explo-ration, our focus will be on the plight of fourspecies of fish indigenous to the Colorado RiverBasin. They are "indicator species" that reflectsome of the changes taking place in the environ-ment. Indicator species are those organisms thathave specific requirements for survival. Whenindicator species are found, it is correct toassume that those conditions they require existin the habitat. The occurrence of these speciesprovides a way to quickly assess the health ofthe environment. The four species for this explo-ration are the razorback sucker, Coloradosquawfish, bonytail and the humpback chub.Today all of these fish are listed as endangeredspecies by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.Why focus on these four fish as indicatorspecies? Consider the following.

In the early days of mining, canaries used to betaken into coal mines to detect signs of gasesthat were dangerous to miners. If these gaseswere present, the canaries died but gave theminers enough time to escape. Individualspecies of plants and animals often exhibit simi-lar sensitivity to changing conditions in anecosystem. For a species to become threatenedor extinct, changes must have occurred in their

life support systems with which they are unableto cope.

A. century ago these four fish were foundthroughout much of the Colorado Riverdrainage. Now the favored habitat of eachendangered fish is far more limited and theirexistence is at risk. What are the kinds ofchanges that have taken place in the Coloradoriver drainage system to bring this result? Fish-eries specialists are conducting research andmanaging resources in efforts to discoveranswers and insure their survival. What aresome of the things that are known about each ofthe fish that can extend human understanding oftheir requirements?

Note: For specific information about these fish, referto thetndangered Fish Information Cards in theappendix.

Since these species are on the edge of extinction,they are considered indicators of environmentalconditions that have changed from stability toconditions of threat. They are reference points aswe explore the various conditions that haveaffected their ecosystem.

Basic to the study of ecosystems is the premisethat all parts are connectedand importanttoall other parts. Changes in one place ultimatelyaffect other places. For a species to becomeendangered, there have to be significant changesin the conditions that support their livelihood.To understand the web of connections whichcan affect its survival it is important to examineeach species and determine the conditions itneeds to flourish.

Within an ecosystem each species has its niche. Aniche is how an organism "makes its living"how it eats, reproduces, grows and contributes tothe whole of the living environment in which itis found. Taken together, the collection of nichesin any ecosystem describes a larger system. Theentire Earth can be viewed as a single ecosystem.

In recent years biologists and ecologists haveemphasized the importance of seeing the worldas a whole. There has even been a new term toframe their emerging interestbiodiversity. Bio-diversity is an index of diversity and variety ofliving things in an ecosystem.

When we consider the role of each species in anecosystem it is impossible to isolate one organ-

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ism from another. Instead we must consider thesystem as a whole The four fish that we are cit-ing as indicator species are related to the otherspecies in the system in ways that we know toolittle about. Should they continue their journeytoward extinction, the biodiversity of the Basinwould decrease and conditions would never bethe same.

It is clear that we are witnessing a time in thehistory of the Earth when there is a severe loss inbiological diversity. Many examples exist andone of the most commonly reported is thedestruction of rainforests across the planet. Sinceall species in any ecosystem are interrelated andoften interdependent, it is clear that the removalof a particular species might affect the entire sys-tem. The conditions that have brought the fourspecies of fish to endangered status are reallysymptoms of threats to all parts of the ecosystemand the biodiversity it contains.

Within ecosystems there are certain indicatorsthat show how healthy an area is. One indicatoris the diversity, or variety, of life that is found inan ecosystem. In the Colorado River Basin thereis a wondrous diversity of interrelated lifeforms. A wide variety of plants, insects, fish,amphibians, mammals, reptiles a,-d birds makeup the list. It is important to remember that thiscondition did not emerge all at once. Biologists

believe that such diversity and abundance in anecosystem is a function of immense spans oftime, leading to a combination of plants and ani-mals in a dynamic, yet stable iabitat. It is esti-mated that the Colorado drainage has been rela-tively stable for nearly 10 million years.

Although there is remarkable biodiversity in theColorado River Basin, there is a surprising num-ber of animals and plants that are severely atrisk, including the four fish species we areemphasizing. There are scores of animal andplant species that are listed as endangered orthreatened. A close look at any of the speciesthat are at risk would provide an awareness ofthe many changes that have impacted the Col-orado River Basin in the past hundred years. Insome parts of the Basin stands of cottonwoodsand willows, once common along the riverbanks, have nearly vanished. In thesouth, honeymesquite thickets have been clearcut on bothsides of the river, reducing the habitat of manybirds. Riparian habitats, the highly vegetatedzones alongside the waterways, attract humans,wildlife and domestic livestock, all of whichtrample, disturb, or destroy the plants.

Other endangered and threatened species in thebasin include bald eagles, peregrine falcons,white pelicans, whooping cranes and greatersandhill cranes. Although they were once foundin the area, the gray wolf, grizzly bear andCanada lynx are no longer found in the basin.River otters, once common to this area, appearto have been lost. Biologists in various parts ofthe basin have begun to reintroduce them.

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NOTE. It is important to remember that some speciesare listed on State lists as endangered and threatenedand do not appear on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice listings.

Exotic species, those introduced from otherhabitats, include the tamarisk or saltcedar treeand over 50 species of non-native fishes such assalmonid trout, catfish, northern pike, red shin-ers and striped bass. Pheasants, starlings, rock-dove and English sparrows are a few of the.exotic birds. Mammals such as burros, horses,and rodents have also been introduced.

When habitat loss is combined with the pres-sure created by the addition of exotic species,changes accelerate and become so widespreadthat they may become irreversible. The four fishspecies we have chosen to highlight as the play-ers in this educational exploration represent asignificant potential loss in biodiversity. Becausethey are near extinction and they have been partof the ecosystem of the Colorado River drainagefor such a long period of time, the effects of theirloss cannot be predicted with confidence. Whatare the things that can be done? What can peo-ple do to reverse the conditions that broughtthese four fish as well as other plants and ani-mals to the edge of extinction? Before address-ing these questions it is important to get a senseof the conditions that have changed the habitatin the past and in the present.

DAMS AND HABITATThe drainage of the Colorado River Basin wasonce a web of free flowing rivers, creating a widearray of different habitats. These habitats sup-ported an equally wide array of animal and plantlife. Local weather events produced flash floodsand often resulted in catastrophic conditions. Inthe longer view, the climate of the region and theeffect of temperature and precipitation insuredadequate water for the rivers of the system. Theoverall outcome was that the rivers flowedonward and nourished life along their shores.

It was under such conditions that living thingsestablished their roles within the ecosystems.The changes that took place daily and seasonallywere well within the tolerance limits of thethriving organisms. The four fishesrazorbacksucker, Colorado squawfish, bonytail andhumpback chubwere well established in theirniches. This is not to say that there weren't con-

ditions that may have threatened their wellbeing. In any ecosystem, there are unexpectedand often destructive conditions. Yet healthyecosystems, those with adequate biodiversity,have enough resilience to cope with occasionalcatastrophic events. Then came the dams.

To create a more predictable and reliable sourceof water for agriculture and to prevent the riversfrom flooding homes and property, dams wereproposed and built. The first was BoulderCanyon Dam started in 1929 and completed in1935. It was built across the Colorado River nearLas Vegas, Nevada. It is now known as HooverDam. In the years since this epic event, morethan 20 other dams have been built in the Col-orado River drainage. Some, like Hoover Dam,are capable of generating hydroelectric power.

On both sides of each damupstream and down-streammassive changes in habitat took placeand were significant for the fish and otheraquatic life found in and alongside the rivers ofthe Colorado Basin. Changes in temperature,salinity, silt load, rates of flow, magnitude offlow and the times of day or season that the flowtook place all contributed to the familiar array ofconditions experienced by the original inhabi-tants of the riparian ecosystems. It must beremembered that the endangered fish we areusing as our key indicators normally migratesignificant distances for breeding and spawning.Now dams block these natural migration routes.

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POLLUTIONAs water became more available and controlled,the population of the Basin grew With theincreased human activity, pollution, in its manyforms, began to create short and long term envi-ronmental effects in the Basin

Salinity or pollution by various salt compounds,originates from many sources. A significantamount comes from the rivers' waters flowingover rock deposits that yield a variety of salts.Human activities, such as irrigation, tend to dis-solve salts and concentrate them in the soil.High levels of salts greatly reduce crop produc-tion in irrigated lands.

Heavy metals coming from mining activitiesinclude lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, sodium,sulfates, iron, manganese and strontium. Thesemetals can cause damage to certain organisms.Shale and carbonates often are washed into theriver systems following coal mining.

Acid precipitation results from sulfur dioxide andnitrogen oxide dissolving into water in the air.They are pollutants generally produced fromautomobile emissions, electrical generatingplants, industries and smelters that burn coaland other fossil fuels. Both rain and snow maycontain higher acid levels. Acid precipitation iscausing lakes and streams in the high altitudeenvii )nments of the system to shift toward amore acidic composition. The acidic waters aretoxic to many forms of aquatic life.

Thermal pollution is found in the waters behinddams and at the places where the dams releasewater. As dams fill up, the impounded watersspread to form a lake. The lake increases the sur-face area of the water and through the sun'saction, the water heats up. However the water atthe bottom of the impounded lake is shieldedfrom the sun's rays and becomes colder. Whenwater is released from many dams it is com-monly drawn from the bottom. This results in akind of "thermal" pollution that is characterizedby extremely cold water. This affects the down-stream organisms in the water. For example,most native fishes have been replaced by intro-duced species such as trout which are adaptedto cold water.

THE FINAL ANALYSISReturning to the indicator fish, there is no ques-tion that the habitat for these endangeredspecies has been altered Human attempts tochange and control the river altered those nat-ural patterns forever Now these fish face multi-ple and perhaps insurmountable threats, includ-ing dams, decreased water flow, changed watertemperature, interrupted flow of sand and silt,lower turbidity, introduction of exotic species,pollution and channelization (the scouring outof river channels by fast moving water).

For each of these four endangered fish species,only relatively short stretches and pockets of theriver system are left that provide favorable habi-tat. Although the four species lived in the riversystem for as long as 4 million years it has takenonly 60 years to .bring them to the brink ofextinction. Gone for all of them is access to theirformer migration routes. These once open routesare forever blocked by a system of dams.

THE WAY BACKWhile it may seem that we have emphasized thehabitat requirements of only four species of fish,we must remember that we are in fact looking atan entire ecosystem that has been altered. Thefour endangered species are indicators of injuryto the entire system that contains them. We haveno way of knowing how many species not asconspicuous as these fish are being pushedbeyond the edge of extinction. Habitat destruc-tion is the single most significant threat to all oflife. We humans and our fragile habitat are inthe equation as well.

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As we look at the entire Colorado River system,it is clear that the original habitat will never berestored. There is too much of an investment inthe infrastructure of civilizatbn to rid the entireplateau of all human alterations. Besides, manyhuman efforts have improved the quality of lifefor people and in some cases for other species.The reality of human involvement with naturalsystems is a basic fact of contemporary life. Sus-taining human activity in the natural world is aquestion of balancing use, conservation andpreservation. We cannot ignore economics andsustainability in an attempt to restore the pris-tine ecosystem of the Colorado River drainage.But we can attempt to restore the balance wherepossible. Finally, we must answer these ques-tions: Can we manage what remains of the origi-nal ecosystem, and the changes we have made,so as to insure an adequate habitat for the fourendangered fish species chosen for this explo-ration? By studying these four creatures can welearn how to balance the conditions that wouldassure survival for other endangered species?Are we willing to pay the price to guarantee thatwe share the planet responsibly with the speciesthat still remain?

It is far too soon to answer these questions withcertainty, but it is not too soon to try. Many dedi-cated professionals are well under way inattempts to accomplish what needs to be done.Data gathering, research, experimentation, andeducation are all simultaneously being con-ducted. Laws have been passed in an attempt tohelp. Public support for these laws is critical. Akind of ecosystem of information is being createdwhere the results of ongoing studies and effortsare being woven into a tapestry of hope. Theresimply is no time to waste if these efforts are tosucceed. The lines between legislation, researchand application are difficult to separate. Action isbeing taken on what we now know and newinformation is simultaneously being drawn intothe knowledge base. The following list is partialtestimony to the efforts:

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- Fish passages. Creating fish laddersand other passages around dams.

Regulation of flow. Tailoring therelease flow to species requirements.

- Law enforcement and Monitoring. Pre-venting human destruction of habitatand keeping legal efforts current.

- Education. Helping peopleunderstand the problems and their rolesin them and expanding public knowl-edge about biodiversity.

- Continued research. Gathering theinformation base for action.

- Habitat restoration. Putting habitatsback together.

- Hatchery programs. Breeding andstocking endangered fish.

- Cooperation between agencies. Com-municating in positive ways.

- Information networks. Spreading theword.

CONCLUSIONThis exploration develops an overview of someof the changes in ecosystems that affect the lifewithin them. The primary emphasis has beenthe plight of four species of fish which areendangered. It is helpful to remember that theyare, in fact, a metaphor for all life on the planet.Everywhere there are conditions, sometimesnaturally occurring but mostly human caused,that threaten the balanced flow of life. The nat-ural biodiversity of the planet is being placed atrisk everywhere. The urgency with which manysectors of society now treat this problem is testi-mony to the widespread awareness of this fact.The problem is not just biological or ecologicalit is economic as well. Habitat means home forlife. When life is threatened anywhere, it isthreatened everywhere. There are two lessons inthis. First, losses within any ecosystem are ulti-mately losses to us all. Second, we each can takeinformed and appropriate actions to make a dif-ference for life and the conditions that supportit, now and in the future.

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WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able co identify and geographi-cally locate various kinds of animal and plant lifein the Colorado River basin.

HOW TO DO ITStudents make a list of animals and plants thatthey have actually seen in their travels aroundthe Colorado River Basin. Then they locate on amap the places where they saw the animals andplants. Finally, they locate on the map anythreatened and endangered species in and adja-cent to the Colorado River Basin.

(GRADES 4 -12)

NOTE: Photocopy the Endangered and Threat-ened cards using colored paper. Photocopy andenlarge the Colorado River Basin Place NameMap found in the appendix.

USEFUL INFORMATIONWithin ecosystems there are certain indicatorsthat show how healthy an area is. One indica-tor is the diversity, or variety of life that isfound in an ecosystem. A measure of that vari-ety is called biodiversity. In the Colorado RiverBasin there is a wondrous diversity of interre-lated life forms. A wide variety of plants,insects, fish, amphibians, mammals, reptiles,and birds make up the list.

Although there is remarkable biodiversity inthe Colorado River Basin, there is a surprisingnumber of animals and plants that are severelyat risk, including the four fish species were areemphasizing. A close look at any of the speciesthat are at risk would provide an awareness ofthe many changes that have impacted the Col-orado River Basin in the past hundred years. Insome parts of the Basin stands of cottonwoodsand willows, once common along the riverbanks, have nearly vanished. In the south,honey mesquite thickets have been clearcut onboth sides of the river, reducing the habitat ofmany birds. Riparian habitats, the highly vege-tated zones alongside the waterways, attracthumans, wildlife and domestic livestock, all of

wt.-eh trample, disturb, or destroy the plants.

Some other endangered and threatened speciesin the basin include bald eagles, peregrine fal-cons, white pelicans, whooping cranes andgreater sandhill cranes. Although they wereonce found in the area, the gray wolf, grizzlybear and Canada lynx are no longer found inthe basin. River otters once common to thisarea appear to have been lost. Biologists in var-ious parts of the basin have begun to reintro-duce them.

Exotic species, those introduced from otherhabitats, include the tamarisk or saltcedar treeand over 50 species of non-native fishes such assalmonid trout, catfish, northern pike, red shin-ers and striped bass. Pheasants, starlings, rock-dove and English sparrows are a few of theexotic birds. Mammals such and burros,horses, and rodents have also been introduced.

When habitat loss is combined with the pres-sures created by the addition of exotic species,changes accelerate and become so widespreadthat they may become irreversible.

WHAT WE NEEDPaper or 3x5 cards (one per student); approx-imately 50 feet of yarn; masking tape; scissors(one pair per group).

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Divide the students into groups of four to six.

Ask each student to make a list of at least fouranimals or plants they have seen in the Col-orado River Basin. Have them try to remem-ber the geographic location where they sawthese life forms.

2. Ask them to discuss the animals or plantswith the other members of their group. Askthem to emphasize the setting in which theanimals or plants live.

3. While the students are in discussion, post theenlargement of the place name map of the Col-orado River Basin on a workable area of thew all or chalkboard. Pass out the 3x5 cards, scis-sors, 10 to 15 feet of yarn and masking tape.

4. When the discussion has finished, have eachstudent choose one of the plants or animalsthey listed and write it on the 3x5 card. Ingroups, have the students post their animalsand plants on the wall with the yarn connect-ing the cards and the locations on the map. Ifnecessary help the students with key loca-tions on the map.

NOTE: Some teachers prefer to use road mapsas they are larger and contain much moreinformation.

5. Discuss the results. Emphasize the diversity oflife forms. Have the students suggest lifeforms that were not posted but do live in theColorado River Basin. List these and tapethem to the wall near the posted cards.

NOTE: For younger students, this may be aplace to conclude the activity.

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b. Ask each group to make a list of animals thatare alive today but no longer live in the Col-orado River Basin. For example, bison, wolf,grizzly bear etc. Discuss why they are nolonger here.

7. Pass out three or four of the endangered orthreatened species cards to each group. Askthe students to locate where each of theseorganisms live in or near the Colorado RiverBasin. 1-4.ve them post the cards with yarnand tape. Some of the locations may be diffi-cult to locate unless more detailed maps areconsulted.

8. Summarize and review the richness of thewildlife that exists today. Point out that thereare animals in recent history that have movedaway from the habitat provided by the basin.Explore the factors that led to this disappear-ance. Compare the difference between ani-mals moving to suitable habitat and thosetrapped in habitats that they cannot leave.The destruction of such habitats leads toextinction.

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MORE1. Discuss the meaning of the term biodiversity.

Using the map and your lists of animals andplants, emphasize the interrelatedness ofspecies.

2. Choose other river basins and repeat theactivity.

3. Explore the worldwide threats to biodiversity.

4. Create a world map of endangered species.

CHECKING UP1. List five endangered species in the Colorado

River Basin.

2. List five things that humans are doing orcould do to protect endangered and threat-ened species.

3. Describe five things that humans are doingthat threaten other life forms.

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SELECTED ENDANGERED OR THREATENEDSPECIES IN THE SOUTHWEST

BLACK-FOOTED FERRETAn animal once found everywhereprairie dogs were found.ENDANGERED

UTAH PRAIRIE DOGAn animal found in a few locationsin Garfield, Iron and KaneCounty, Utah.THREATENED

PEREGRINE FALCONAMERICAN and ARCTICBirds that migrate throughout the basin.American is ENDANGERED.Arctic is THREATENED.

BALD EAGLEA bird found throughout thebasin near open water in thewinter.ENDANGERED

WHOOPING CRANEThe largest of the cranes.A bird that migrates across the basin.ENDANGERED

VIRGIN RIVER CHUBA fish living in the Virgin Riverin Arizona, Nevada and Utah.ENDA'IGERED

WOUNDFINA fish living in about 100 milesof rivers near Mesquite, Nevada.ENDANGERED

AUTUMN BUTTERCUPA small flower found on less thanone acre of the upper Sevier Riverin Utah.ENDANGERED

CLAY PHACELIAA flower that lives in one locationnear Tucker, Utah.ENDANGERED

HELIOTROPE MILK VETCHA flower found inin the Manti-Lasal Forest, Utah.THREATENED

MAGUIRE PRIMROSEA flower that grows in the cracks.of rocks in Logan Canyon, Utah.THREATENED

UNCOMPAHGRE FRITILLARYA butterfly found only in two sitesabove 13,000 feet in the San JuanMountains, ColoradoPROPOSED AS ENDANGERED

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WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to evaluate issues concern-ing water use in the Colorado River Basin andother river systems.

HOW TO DO ITStudents do library and literature research togather information regarding the health of sev-eral river systems and then make group pre-sentations.

Ob.

(GRADES 4-12)

USEFUL INFORMATIONAll of the river systems of the Earth are sub-jected to human use. Each river has its ownunique set of conditions and shows differentoutcomes as a result of climate, ecosystem andhuman influences. For example, if we study theColorado, Susquehanna, Ohio and Kissimmeewe find four remarkably different ecosystems.

Each river ecosystem has.a different set of con-ditions that characterizes its health. In the Ohio

WHAT WE NEEDNo specific materials needed; references such asencyclopedias, almanacs and other library-basedsources are helpful as well as copies of teacherselected portions of the Background Materialscontained in this teaching unit; access to somereference materials is essential.(The background material included in this book-let provides an overview of the Colorado Riversystem. Portions of it may be reproduced forstudents.)

River Basin, precipitation amounts are remark-ably different than in the Colorado River Basin.Rainfall amounts are much greater in the Ohiosystem and rain falls more evenly throughoutthe year. In the. Colorado Basin, rainfall is oftensporadic and subject to seasonal variations.Water use practices are also quite different foragricultural and industrial use in these twobasins.

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STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Have the students develop a familiarity with

the Colorado River system through readingthe materials provided in this unit or othersources available to them. Discuss some ofthe characteristics that make it a uniqueecosystem. If at all possible arrange field tripsto local points of interest. Stress the biodiver-sity of the region and how organisms areadapted to life within it. Look for situations, ifany, where native species have been dis-turbed by human actions.

Primary Factors

ClimateBiodiversity

Human use of the system

Geography

- annual rainfall and temperaturecommon species

- threatened and endangered speciesdomestic, industrial, recreational andagricultural use of the waterthe river and the landscape it passes through

2. Using the list of Primary Factors as a guide,describe the major characteristics of the Col-orado River system.

3. Once familiar' with the Colorado River sys-tem has been achieved, have the studentsdivide up into groups of three nr four. Haveeach group choose a river system from else-where in the country (or world) that they willstudy.

4. When they are finished with their research,ask the students to prepare and make grouppresentations. These reports should bedesigned to provide insight into the uniqueconditions and problems facing each of theriver systems. Each report should include alltopics in the Primary Factors list above.

5. Once the presentations have been made, haveall the students as a large group review theColorado River system again. In discussion,strengthen the students' awareness of thesimilarities and differences shared by all theecosystems.

MORE1. Create a bulletin board display about each

river system.

2. Study other major river systems in NorthAmerica.

3. Locate the major dams on each river systemthat was studied and mark their location on amap.

CHECKING UP1. Name at least four threatened or endangered

species found in the Colorado River Basin.2. Describe similarities and differences between

two or more river basins.

!915

NI11111/ NMI

WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to evaluate the conse-quences of human actions on specific features ofthe Colorado River system'.

HOW TO DO ITStudents role play people who feel it is theirright to uphold various lifestyles as they use theColorado River system.

(GRADES K-12)

USEFUL INFORMATIONThe Colorado River Basin is popular with peo-ple the world over as well as among the peoplewho have lived there for generations. At onetime, the number of people who lived in andvisited the basin was well within the capacityof the ecosystem to remain healthy and viable.In recent times, the popularity of the basin hasincreased. Tourists from all over the worldhave discovered its immense beauty and seren-ity. In addition, widespread agriculture, indus-tries, tourism, mining and the impact of addi-tional people moving into' the Basin have allcontributed to changes that raise concernsabout the ability of the system to survive.

All of the people who live in or come to theriver system feel they have a right to do so.Often people do not see how their particularinterests can injure an ecosystemespeciallyif they feel they act responsibly pursuingtheir chosen interest. Yet the signs of pressureare easy to find. Some of the specific prob-lems are:

16

overgrazing- air and water pollution from mines and

industry- increased human population

impact from hikers and visitors incertain ecosystems

- increased demands for water by agricul-ture, municipalities and industry

- pressure to build more dams for hydro-electric power

- habitat loss affecting rare and endangeredspecies

- increased numbers of tourists and recre-ational use

Role playing requires that students imaginethemselves to be another person. They mustimagine what the person might feel and think.They should speak and act like the personwould. It is helpful to give young children theassigned role as homework. In this way theymay be able to get help from parents in under-standing the role.

WHAT WE NEEDRole play cards.(The role play cards provide a short statementabout a particular interest held by a resident orvisitor to the Colorado River Basin. The cardsmust be copied and passed out by the teacher atthe appropriate time with one card per student.Make additional cards if needed).

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Begin with a discussion in which the general

appeal of the Colorado River Basin isexplored. Ask the students what kinds ofthings they like to do in the Basin. Also askthem what they would like to try but havenot yet been able to.

2. Pass out the role cards with one card per stu-dent. Ask each student to assume the role thatis presented on the card. Even though thecards each have names suggested on them,invite the students to create a fictitious namefor themselves that captures the spirit of theinterests designated on the card. For exam-plea cyclist might be lira Tenspeed or afisher might be Landa Trout.

3. Have older students write a short positionpaper from the perspective of the person inthe role described on the card. They shouldprepare to enter into a classrooin debate todefend their right to do the things inherent intheir role. Encourage younger studerk4s to godirectly into the role.

4. To begin the role play, announce to the stu-.dents that a special meeting of the ColoradoRiver Use Council has been convened. Select afive person panel to hear the students presenttheir arguments defending the role they repre-sent. Each student will present arguments forhis or her position specifically including thepositive attributes of the role's perspective.The Council will then ask the entire group toreact to each student's presentation. In partic-ular the Council will seek to identify and dis-cuss the negative impacts that activity mighthave on the Colorado River system. Followingthe presentation and discussion, ask the stu-dents to generate a list of the positives andnegatives associated with each activity.

5. Next ask each student to reassess his or her roleposition. Ask students to consider how theywould modify the activities associated withtheir role in order to reduce any negativeimpact on the Colorado River Basin. Repeat thepresentation and discussion of the activitiesbefore the Council at the next class meeting.

6. Ask the students as a group to generate a listof recommendations concerning human activ-ities in the Colorado River system. Discussthe recommendations.

t'S 17

;:-.11

MORE1. Choose another river system in a different

ecosystem and repeat this activity. See if thereare differences in how the role affects you.

2. Meet with groups that are dedicated to a par-ticular use that you favor. In what ways arethey trying to be more responsible for theconsequences of their activities? Are thereother things they could do?

CHECKING UP1. List uses of the Colorado River system in

order of high impact to low impact on thelong. term health of the river's ecosystem.

2. Describe four high impact activities and fourlow impact activities.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

1MA TENSPEEDI like road racing and enduranceracing on paved roads.Racing cyclist

DEREK OFFROADI ride dirt-bikes as far away frompavement as I can get.Mountain bicyclist

FREDA FLYFISHERI hate those clods that use baitand hardware especially in boats.Dry fly fisher

BUD BASSBOATShow me quiet water, somethingto munch and hungry fish.Bait and lure fisher

CONCRETE PORTERWe should have a dam in everycanyon for power and water to sell.Dam builder

SARA SORGHUMIrrigation is my way of life.Farmer

HENRY HOLSTEINI need grazing land,feedlots and a lot of cow feed.Feedlot owner

BOB BACKCOUNTRYIt's the back country that calls me.Wilderness trip leader

WILMA WHITEWATERI like clear water, a raft and fast water"rollin on the river."River rafter

POPPER MAGNUMI still haven't found the old granddaddy elk but I'll die tryin'.Hunter

BUILDA GADGETI bring jobs and prosperity to anytown. Growth is my middle name.Manufacturer

CLASSY FRAMERPeople need homes and I am theperson that can build 'em.Homebuilder

CYRRUS CLOUDFLOATERAir commerce and recreation arewho I am and flying is what I do.Aviation developer

WILLIE WILDWATCHERHigh power binoculars and agood field guide are all I need.Wildlife watcher

LEAP FIRSTSkydiving every day is my motto.Skydiver

CLIFF SOARERQuiet wind and a high cliff.That's all I need.Hang glider enthusiast

ROCK CLINGERLots of rope and iron and I canclimb whatever you point to.Rock climber

RIVER BANKSSaving the life along the riveris my passion.Riparian preservationist

EDIE ENDANGEREDI am a biologist trying to save endangered

fish in the Colorado River Basin.Fish biologist

PETE PETROGLYPHI am a cultural preservationistdedicated to protecting native works.Native cultu, .7 preservationist

TRENDY TOURISTI want to find the real places to go.Those places where no one goes!Tourist

HI WATTSI want to increase the poweroutput to meet people's wants.Electric company manager

HI OPENRANGEI need to have my cattle go wherethey want to, like in the good old days.Rancher

RIPARIAN PARKSPicnics and camping alongside thestreams and the rivers is best.Avid Camper

2319

WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to demonstrate that sur-face area affects evaporation and that waterenters the air.

HOW TO DO ITStudents examine the relationship between thesurface area of a body- of water and the rate ofevaporation by directly measuring the amount ofwater that evaporates from different containers.

(GRADES K-6)

USEFUL INFORMATIONMuch of the water loss from naturally occurringbodies of water is through evaporation. Mole-cules of water move from streams, rivers, lakesand reservoirs directly into the air. Once in theair they are carried along until conditions areright for the water molecules to begin to con-dense. Often they condense around tiny parti-cles of dust, pollen and many other microscopicobjects. As condensation continues, the watermolecules cluster together to form droplets.Eventually the droplets grow in size to full-sized drops and cluster together by the billionsto form clouds. The clouds move into differentconditions of temperature and pressure, thedrops fall from the air in the form of rain. Some-times the drops freeze and crystalize to formsnow. Hail is formed when the freezing drops ofrain fall and are swept upwards by powerfulwinds in the clouds. After they are sweptupward and fall repeatedly the freezing hail-stone gets bigger. Eventually the hailstone is tooheavy to continue this up and down cycle and it.'ails to the ground.

Clouds transport the water that has evaporated

long distances in the air. Scientists estimate thatclouds carry millions of tons of water each day.Every day the clouds pass over lands where theconditions are rare for rain to fall. These arecalled arid lands. Arid lands are those that donot get much rainfall. As such, the little bit ofwater found in arid regions is particularly vitalto all the people who live there. These peoplerealize that water is one of the most valuablesubstances on Earth.

Yet even while recognizing its importance,many squander water at a remarkable rate. Inthe Colorado River Basin there is surprisinglylittle water. The waters of the region are primar-ily contained in river valleys with relatively fastmoving water. Natural lakes are a rarity. Inrecent years the building of dams has increasedthe surface area of the water in the region bycreating reservoirs that added hundreds ofsquare miles of impounded waters. Immenseamounts of water evaporates from these sur-faces. It is estimated that 2,000,000 acre feet arelost from the Colorado River system each yearto evaporation. One acre foot is 325,850 gallons.

20

WHAT WE NEEDOne test tube and one petri dish per group; onegraduated cylinder or an accurate measuringcup per group; pencils and paper.

24

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Divide the class into groups of three to five.

2. Discuss evaporation with the students. Ask ifthey have any proof that water gets into theair (evaporation) and stays there for a periodof time (clouds). Explore their intuition aboutevaporation and how water can get into theair. If appropriate to the students' maturity,discuss the possible role of temperature inevaporation (warm air often carries moremoisture than cool air).

3. Show the students the two drawings below:

-Inunrawor

The first is a cross section of a river flowingin the bottom of a deep canyon. The secondis the cross section of a river blocked behinda dam. Have the students note the differentwidth of the surfaces.

4. Tell them that they are about to conduct anexperiment about evaporation.

5. Pass out the test tubes and the petri dishes.

6. Use the graduated cylinder or the measuringcup to put equal amounts of water in boththe test tube and the petri dish. Accuracy isimportant.

7. Ask the students to place the containers sideby side in different parts of the classroom.Help them choose places in which the con-tainers will not be disturbed for two days.

8. After two days have passed, ask the studentsto carefully pour the water that remains inthe test tube into the graduated cylinder ormeasuring cup that they used at the begin-ning of the experiment. Measure and recordthe amount of water that was left in the testtube. Repeat for the petri dish.

9. Determine whether or not the amount of sur-face area affected the amount of evaporation.

10. Discuss the results and their possible rela-tionship to evaporation in the ColoradoRiver Basin.

.4

MORE1. Describe the effect of temperature on the

experiment.

2. If this were an experiment based on condi-tions found on the Colorado River, in whichof these places would you predict that evap-oration was the highest: Lake Powell orCataract Canyon?

3. If you were having an "evaporation race"with other students, how could you createconditions to make evaporation occur veryrapidly?

CHECKING UP1. Describe the effect surface area has c the

amount of water that evaporates.

2. Write a short story about the impact of evap-oration on plants and animals in the Col-orado River Basin.

4,

.111114

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to identify plants, animalsand habitat conditions in their locale.

HOW TO DO ITStudents create art objects in the form of naturalmaterial collages, drawings and photographs.Each of these art forms characterizes a differentplant community and habitat in the area the stu-dents visit in the field.

(GRADES K -12)

NOTE: It is always important to treat sites vis-ited in the field with respect and care. It is impor-tant that the activities of the students not injurethe site. If private land is visited it is important toget permission and clearly e plain to thelandowner the purpose of the trip.

USEFUL INFORMATIONVarious habitat conditions are charactenzed bydifferent plant communities. Plant communitiesare most often abundant enough that some dis-crete collection of parts of the plants does notdamage the ecosystem. One of the ways that fieldbiologists through hundreds of years have col-lected and identified plants is through art. Artistshave regularly accompanied great expeditionsand made meticulous drawings. Locate somesources in a library or through historical societies.

With the introduction of photography, invalu-able records of various life forms were madepossible. In addition to photographing theplants, animals and landscapes, historicallyimportant images of the native people who oncewere the only human inhabitants of the regionwere recorded by early photographers. Draw-ings and phc4-ographs both have come to beused in unusual ways in recent years. Manycontemporary photographers have used theearly efforts of their colleagues as a startingpoint for returning to the original picture sites

WHAT WE NEEDArt materials; various colors of constructionpaper, drawing paper; pencils, sketching pens,pastels, watercolors; gluerubber cement, gluesticks, contact cement; water contliners; paintmixirg pans; clip boards for each student; cam-eras and film. A set of local field identificationguides for plants, birds, rocks, etc. is useful.

'7,!'.4

and re-photographing the scenes. These pairedphotographs show vivid examples of thechanges that have taken place. Recently a scien-tific researcher studying changes in the Col-orado River Basin viewed early western moviesin an effort to note the shifts in vegetation andhabitat that have occurred since the movieswere made in the 1950s and 1960s.

Art as a process and the objects it creates areintegral ways to explore the world. Regardless ofthe medium through which it is expressed, artprovides an engaging way for people to connedwith their environment. Many artists begin bycapturing the moods, nuances and emotionalcontent of landscapes, plants and animals. Grad-ually they develop a sense of intimaci with theirsubjects. This intimacy provides great depthabout those subjects both artistically and scientif-ically. Skills of observation are fundamental toboth art and science. This activity nourishes stu-dents' appreciation of art and the environment.

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Gather the materials and go to the chosen

site chosen for the field study. The siteshould have a variety of plant communitiesand habitats. Streams and their riparian habi-tats are ideal. Set up a commons area where

the majority of the supplies will be kept forthe students to return to as needed

2. To get the students engaged, have each beginwith a collage activity. This is literally a find,collect and paste kind of effort. Invite themto spread out and pick a small area wherethey can be moderately alone and separatefrom other students. Be sure that the areathat is chosen has enough variety so that thestudents can choose clearly different plants.Ask them to sit quietly in the area. Havethem look around from where they sit andselect several plants that they feel character-ize the area. Do not permit excursions intosmall canyons without supervision.

3. Invite the students to collect characteristicpieces of the most common plants. Ask thestudents to avoid seriously damaging theplants. After collecting the plants, return tothe supplies area and glue the pieces of plantsto a sheet of construction paper. Have themcreate an aesthetic presentation of their plants.

4. Next gather the students together to discussth.: similarities and differences among theplants collected. Encourage the students todescribe and identify the area of the environ-ment from which they collected their plants.

5. Select several of the art forms which are com-posed of different plants. Have each studentwhose art was s-lected lead the others towhere the plant was collected. In each placeidentify some of the plants by name if possi-ble. If identification is difficult then give theplant a metaphoric name that will help trackit for' later identification. Emphasize the rela-tionships between the plant communitiesand their location in the overall habitat.

6. Return to the commons area and have thestudents choose another medium (charcoal,pastel, ink etc.) to record some of the specificcharacteristics of their site. Ask the studentsto make a highly detailed rendering of asmall object on their site. For example, thismay be a pebble, a pine cone, or a bird-feather. Set a time limit of about 15 minutesfor them to complete the task.

7. Once the detailed art form is created, ask thestudents to use the same medium to attemptto capture the essence of the whole area thatwas visited. Have them be attentive to the"big picture." Allow another 15 minutes forthis effort.

8. Once you have returned to the classroom, dis-play tht. big picture efforts high on the wallwith the various detailed efforts,physicallybelow them. Invite the students to discuss therelationships between the detailed art formsand what is portrayed in the "big picture."

9. Have the students attempt to identify thevarious plants in their art forms using thefield books. Ask them to attach labels withthe plant names on their art works. If theycannot identify the plant ask them to use themetaphoric name they made up in the field.

10. Through discussion, review and elaboratethe overall nature of the visit. Stress plantcommunities and their location within thehabitat. Emphasize how, by collecting manysmall pictures, we can begin to grasp the bigpicture.

MORE1. Locate and examine some of the efforts of

early artists and photographers who accom-panied expeditions.

2. Try to find old photographs of the same areathat you visited and see if you can documentevidence for the changes that were found.

3. Explore the site that you visited for litter andtrash. Compose a "collage of impact" fromthe litter to be exhibited with the other works.

4. Set up other field trips that provide a morecomplete portrait of the larger ecosystem inwhich we live.

5. Explore the art of other cultures that live inthe basin.

CHECKING UP1. Draw a composite portrait of the site and indi-

cate the variety of life forms found there.2. Identify foil'. "wet habitat" plants and four

"dry habitat" plants.

W AT WE WANTStudents will be able to analyze and comparewater uses within the Colorado River Basin.

HOW TO DO ITStudents find out how much water they useeach day. Then they determine how much theypersonally use in a year. They compare that fig-ure with what their own community uses interms of the total population. Finally theyapproximate how much water the city andcounty of Los Angeles use from the ColoradoRiver Basin during a year.

NOTEAn acre foot is the volume of water thatwill cover 1 acre (a square about 200 feet on eachside) to a depth of one foot. It is roughly the size ofa football field. It represents 325,850 gallons, morethan the amount of water an average family of fiveuses each year.

USEFUL INFORMATIONIn an agreement made in 1922 by the ColoradoRiver Compact the river basin was divided intoan upper and lower basin. Seven states werepart of that division. The dividing line goesroughly northwest from Gallup, New Mexico,across the site of the Glen Canyon Dam nearPage, Arizona, to a point in southwesternUtah. The members of the compact allocated7.5 million acre feet of water to each basintotaling 15 million acre feet annually. In addi-tion, a treaty made during World War IIagreed to give 1.5 million acre feet to Mexico.

The combination of these agreements commit-ted a total of 16.5 million acre feet of the Col-orado River Basin's water for various usesdomestic, agricultural and industrial. Aninvisible consumer of water is the amount thatis lost each year to evaporation from the riveritself. Nearly all of this evaporation comes fromreservoirs that are found behind the dams in thesystem. Two million acre feet a year are lost inthis fashion. This means that 18.5 million acrefeet are used by people and lost to evaporation.

Million Acre Feet AnnuallyUpper Basin 7.5Lower Basin 7.5Mexico 1.5Evaporation 24

18.5

The problem is that from 1930 to the present,the total volume of water flowing through theColorado River Basin has averaged 14 millionacre feet annually. This means that if 16.5 mil-lion acre feet are allotted and 2 million are lostto evaporation then only an average of 14 mil-lion is coming into the basin. This means theriver cannot deliver the amount of water that isexpected.

Millions of years have passed to establish thedynamic balance represented by the ColoradoRiver Basin ecosystem. This long process pro-duced the vast ecosystem that now stretchesfrom the 14,000 foot peaks of Colorado's Conti-nental Divide to the Sea of Cortez. During thistime all of the basin's flowing risers weredevoted to sustaining the web of life that livedin and above their waters. Severe changes havetaken place in the past hundred years. Twentyfive million humans have become major waterusers and their needs far exceed the amountsused by other life form:. The impacts are sub-stantial and may not be sustainable over time.

24

WHAT WE NEEDForms to record the necessary personal useinformation; calculators.

28

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Discuss water use and ways to measure and

document an individual's personal consump-tion. Ask the students to determine howmuch water they consume in a day and aweek. Extrapolate this use into an annual fig-ure per person to establish the amount thateach student uses in a year. If more accuracyseems appropriate, have the students calcu-late the water k for a week before convert-ing to an annual figure.

FACT SHEET FOR CALCULATIONS

According to the Cousteau Almanac, domesticpersonal use is about 160 gallons per day perperson.

Here is the breakdown;3-5 gallons5 gal /minute8 gallons8 gallons10 gallons20-30 gallons30-40 gallons30-4030-60

flushing a toiletshoweringcookingcleaning housewashing disheswashing clothestaking a bathwashing a carwatering a lawn

DOMESTIC USE 160 gallons a dayper person.

Water is also used to grow the food we eat andmanufacture the goods we possess. A true cal-

: culation of water use must include the waterthat we use indirectly through conducting theseactivities. The average use of water for indus-trial and agricultural use is calculated to be:

INDUSTRIAL USE 1040 gallons/dayAGRICULTURAL USE 600 gallons/dayDOMESTIC PERSONAL USE160 gallons/day

TOTAL USE PER PERSON 1800 gallons/day

2 On the basis of your town's or city's popula-tion, calculate the amount of water your com-munity uses in a year. That is, find out howmany people there are in your communityand multiply that number by the averageamount of water used by an individual percategory of use.

3. Find out the population of Los Angeles(15,000,000 in the metropolitan area). By thesame process estimate daily, weekly andannual water use in Los Angeles. Rememberto remind the students to include commercialand agricultural use in their calculations.

4. Find out what restrictions apply to waterusers in large metropolitan areas. (Denver,Salt Lake City and Los Angeles may be help-ful examples.) Information can usually beobtained by writing or calling the Departmentof Water Resources in city governmentoffices. Libraries often have telephone booksof major cities.

5. Discuss ways to conserve and protect water.

MORE1. Find ways to reduce the use of water in your

community. Examples are: practice conserva-tion measures, landscape yards, parks, school-grounds, etc. with local, native plants andshrubs.Note: Native plants do not usually require water-ing above rainfall amounts.

2. If you do not live in the Colorado Riverdrainage, calculate the water consumption forthe river systems closest to your location.

3. Determine which industries in your commu-nity use the most water.

4. Create a water use conservation program for theschool and put it into effect. Emphasize the useof water saving devices, drip irrigation practices,grey water use, constructed wetlands, etc.

5. Find the percentage of water in the ColoradoRiver system that is allotted for use out of thebasin and the percentage used in the basin.

CHECKING UP1. Identify the major domestic uses of water in

your household. Demonstrate that you canpersonally lower the use.

2. Demonstrate that you have reduced yourwater use in one month. Calculate the savingsfor a month.

3. Calculate the amount of water use savings inyour community. Assume that everyone inthe population conserved as much as you didpersonally.

Cousteau, Jacques - Yves. The Cousteau Almanac. GardenCity, New York: Dolphin Books, Doubleday & Company,1981.

2529

WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to illustrate conditions inthe Colorado River system before modern times.

1

HOW TO DO n"Through the use of simulated field trips stu-dents explore a portion of the history of theearly Colorado River Basin.

(GRADES 3-12)

NOTE: The texts of the simulated field trips arewritten for stud,nts in grades 4 and above.Teachers using this activity with younger chil-dren may choose to simplify the words.

USEFUL INFORMATIONIn the rocks alongside the rivers of the Col-orado River Basin, stone lavers are found thatprovide evidence of some of the earliest formsof life on Earth. Long before the dinosaurs,small creatures of the Sea thrived on the bot-tom of warm sunlit waters. One of the mostcomplete records of ancient life is found in thispart of the world. One set of fossils that is par-ticularly important to us includes the remainsof fish that were the ancient ancestors of manysimilar fish in the rivers of today. These werefound in rocks that are 4,000,000 years old.

The first human visitors to this land appearedabout 10,000 years ago and their livelihood wasprovided by hunting and gathering. About 6,000years ago some of these wanderers began to set-tle and establish semi-permanent camps. Even-tually, about 1,500 years ago, stone dwellings ofancient complex civilizations appeared through-out the Colorado River and its tributaries.

These ruins indicate that humans and the riverlived side by side for centuries long before Euro-

26

peans settled in North America. These early peo-ple depended on the river's waters. Carvings inthe rock surfaces, called petroglyphs, show usthat many of the plants and animals we findtoday were common in the past.

For nearly 500 years, European explorers andsettlers traveled across the surface of thisregion seeking cities ' gold, routes to thePacific, and, for son, imesites where theywould try to wrest a living from the land. Itwas these early visitors who brought technolo-gies that seemed innocent enough at first, butwould change the face of the land forever. Anextraordinary industrial era began. With itcame established trails, wagon trains and even-tually the railroad. Railroads opened up thewild lands of the west, increasing the effects ofhumans on the land. Permanent roads andbridges were built and, for many, nothingstood in the way of their gaining a livelihoodexcept for the limited availability of water inthe region.

WHAT WE NEEDAssorted art materials; text for the simulatedfield trips; time line.

JO

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Ask the students to put their pencils, pens and

notebooks aside. Invite them to make them-selves comfortabl.:. relax and, if they choose,to close their eyes Explain that you are goingto read them the first of several narratives. Tellthem that they are going on a simulated fieldtrip to the Colorado RiVer Basin.

2. Read Part I of the text.3. Ask the students to open their eyes and

make a drawing or painting of what theysaw on their simulated field trip.

4. Once their artistic expressions are finished,invite the students to describe the scenesthey portrayed. Have them emphasize theAncient Waters theme. Display the art workin the classroom in a way that leaves roomfor the efforts of Part II and Part III to be dis-played as well.

5. Next read Part II. Tell the students that thistime their simulated field trip will take themto early human involvement with ancientwatersin the Colorado River Basin.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 from above. Emphasizethe importance of water to each of thesegroups of ancient people. Talk about similar-ities and differences between each group andtheir interaction with water.

7. After displaying and discussing the art, tellthe students that you are going to presentthem with Part III of the Ancient Waters story.This simulated field trip will be quite differentfrom the others since the story takes placebeneath the surface of the Ancient Waters.

8. Ask the students to discuss their reaction tothe three simulated field trips.

9. With the students' help create a time line onthe chalkboard that ties these eventstogether. Use the following information asan approximate reference.

10. Assemble large sheets of art paper or userolls of butcher type craft paper. Ask the stu-dents to work together to ueate a mural thatportrays the whole sweep of the three simu-lated field trips. Students may want to incor-porate their earlier drawings into the mural.

11. As a final step in this activity, ask the stu-dents to write a summary statement or sum-marize aloud the legacy of the ColoradoRiver Basin over time.

MORE1. Identify and learn about the endangered

species that live closest to your home orschool.

2. Expand the time line to include some otherearly species and events in Earth history (ori-gin of the Earth, giant sharks, dinosaurs, iceages, etc.).

3. Discuss the future of the basin based on thedecisions people are making today.

SUCCESS.1. Create a chronology of changes in the Col-

orado River Basin.2. Describe major events in basin history and

their significance to people, wildlife and theenvironment.

12 feet

3 feet1/3 inch1/5 inch1/50 inch

TIME LINE (APPROXIMATE)

4,000,000 years ago1,000,000 years ago10,000 years ago6,000 years ago500 years ago

ancestors of today's fishfish similar to todayearly huntersearly settlementsEuropeans in new world

TEXT FOR ANCIENT WATERSPart I

Long before humans walked the Earth, ancient waters flowed in the channels of rivers and streams. Thesewaterways carved landscapes in much the same fashion as do rivers today. Great lakes and inland seasbecame temporary resting places for the flowing waters. Once in the lakes or seas, the waters evaporatedand drifted upward in massive clouds. Winds carried the clouds back over the lands again. From high inthe air the conditions became right for the water to fall to the Earthand the cycle began again. For mil-lions of years these patterns zvere repeated and the great cycle of water would drain and replenish theclouds, rivers and oceans.

Cycles were not only found in the waters. Sometimes forces within the Earth itself caused mountains tobulge upward and the solid rock would shatter and break. Other places the earth bent downward andmade deep troughs where oceans or seas could collect. Life forms flourished in the oceans and the seas. Therivers changed, the oceans changed and so too did all the lire on the planet. Some of the early life formswere embedded in soft sediments when they died. The sediments in turn were transformed into rock andthe animals' bodies became fossils. These fossils tell much of the story of ancient waters. If you lookedaround you could see fragile looking fan-like corals and sharks larger than any in todau's oceans. On theland, great forests emerged. Dragonflies a foot across and sturdy amphibians and reptiles began to appear.And then came the dinosaurs. They were th? most physically imposing life forms of all for millions ofyears. Eventually. .small rat-like mammals became common. Later in time, the much larger mammalsappeared. Mastodons and huge bisons became common. This was the time of the saber-tooth tiger. Fishabounded in the rivers and birds filled the sky.

Close your eyes for a moment and try to look closely at a scene that shows what these ancient lands andancient waters were like. In a moment I will ask you to use some art materials to draw or paint what you see.

TEXT OF ANCIENT WATERSPart II

About 10,000 years ago a time-traveling visitor would have seen people wandering about the ColoradoRiver Basin searching for food, water, shelter and the space needed to live their lives.

They learned to hunt and collect foods growing in the wild. They did not have houses nor could they builddwellings at all. Huge mammoths, bison and smaller horse-like animals were hunted for food. Sometimesthe stronger runners of the clans would chase bison across mesas and drive them off high cliffs where theshaggy creatures would fall to their death. The clan would then gather and feast on bison meat and turnthe hides into clothing and other useful things. After a very long time changes in the climate affected thesize of the herds of animals. The people had difficult times.

About 6,000 years ago people in the Colorado River Basin began to settle in temporary camps where theybuilt primitive dwellings. The buildings were sleeping circles, huts and windbreaks. The people wereskilled at gathering different kinds of foodso skilled that they began to build food storage structureswhere they put the extra food. They moved along with the seasons. They looked for different roots, tubersand fruits.

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28

About 2,000 years ago, the people of the Colorado River Basin realized that some of the seeds they col-lected as they traveled could be planted to make gardens. Farming and agriculture were born. The ancientwater now became a basic need, not just for drinking, but as a necessity for agriculture. Since plants needwater to grow, the wanderers chose to stay where water was easily found. Villages became more perma-nent. The life of the settler began to dominate. The life of the wanderer had begun to disappear. This was500 years before Europeans would land in the new world.

Close your eyes for a moment and create a scene in the life of each of these ancient people the hunter, thegatherer/hunter and the planter. Then select some of the art materials and create your version of an eventin the life of each of these groups of people. Emphasize the environment and how people lived.

ANCIENT WATERSPart III

You are deep in a pool in the Colorado River. The water is cool but not unpleasant. This is not the Col-orado River of today. This is the Colorado River of 4,000,000 years ago. Many kinds of different fish areswimming around you. Some are smalljust a few inches in length. Others are many feet long. All areflourishing.

Now let us take a leap forward in time. We are under the river's surface and it is 10,000 years ago. This isduring the same time period in which the ancient people were driving bison off cliffs to their death. Thiswas long before any settlements, long before farmingand yet most of the same fish that we saw in thesewaters 4,000,000 years ago are still swimming about. They live throughout the entire span of the Col-orado River system. They move freely up and down the river to select breeding grounds. Millions of thun-derstorms have flooded the channel, whole mountain ranges of silt have washed down the river, uncount-able generations of these fish have been born, lived and died. These species of fish have lived in theColorado River drainage for millions of years. It is likely that the ancient people who lived in the ColoradoRiver Basin sometimes ate these fish. Even so, the fish were plentiful and they persisted into the pr:sent.

Today most of these fish seem doomed. In the waters of the Colorado River Basin, four of these fish speciesare listed as endangered. This means they could be near extinction. Extinct means gone forever. As theremaining fish swim in the river, it is clear that this is not the same river of their ancestors. As thesespecies try to survive, they are confronted with threatening kinds of pollution from many differentsources. Farming, mining and other kinds of industry are contributing unfavorable substances to theriver. Hundreds of new communities have been built on the river's shores. Yet the greatest hazard thesefish species face are the dams. The dams change the amount of silt in the river and the temperature of thewaters. They also create barriers to the breeding and spawning sites.

Today the waters of the Colorado River are home for very small populations of the original species of fishthat have lived there for 4,000,000 years. The native fish of the Colorado are disappearing fast. It is likelythat some may vanish in our lifetime.

Review all three parts of the Ancient Waters story. We will discuss your conclusions and then I will askyou to paint a mural that represents the feelings of the entire class.

29 3 3

WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to identify and describe avariety of natural and introduced materials thatare found in river waters.

HOW TO DO ITBy using several different jars containing waterand different substances, the students observeand describe the behavior and effects of silt,sand, gravel, salt and odor sources.

USEFUL INFORMATIONFor millions of years the Colorado River systemhas been eroding the arid landscapes that makeup its basin. Uncounted tons of materials havewashed downstream in the past millions of

Many of these materials like sand, silt,

salt and gravel occur naturally. Other sub-stances are pollutants that have come fromhuman activity. Oil, sewage and chemical fertil-izers are examples. There are naturally occur-ring pollutants that are washed into the streamsand rivers. Several varieties of salt found inrock formations is an example. Natural sourcesof lead, gypsum and compounds of calcium arealso found in different places in the basin.

Human caused pollution generally come from

activities that concentrate pollutants that some-times occur in nature. Mining, agriculture,manufacturing and sewage treatment are exam-ples of activities that concentrate often harmfulsubstances. Scientists have learned to fashiontests to see if introduced substanceswhethernaturally occurring or not---are found in water.

(GRADES 3-12)

Sometimes storms create local high water con-ditions. This raises the water level and oftenincreases the speed of flow. Such conditionscan cause water to flush areas on the riverbanks that are not normally in contact with thewater. This dumps silt and clay minerals intothe water and the rivers temporarily becomecloudy and muddy. Increased water flow alsoscours the river bottoms and banks. Sand andgravel may be moved doWnstream if the forceof the moving water is great enough.

It is clear that if materials are being carried inthe water all the forms of life using that waterare subject to the effects of these substances.Silt provides an unfavorable environment forcertain plants and fish. Other organisms thrivein its presence. Some substances are toxic andeven water temperature has an effect on certainspecies. Certain fish seek out specific "odors"to find their way back to spawning grounds sosome naturally occurring materials actuallybenefit their survival.

WHAT WE NEEDtwenty jars with secure lids (quart site); sand;clay (silt); gravel (pebbles of different .ices); a onepound container of household salt. It at all pri-He, try to collect the sand, clay and gravel locally.

01.1 will need about one bucket of each material.

30

NOTEAhead of time, prepare five jars, halffilled with water, to which a single odor substance

has been added. Vinegar, vanilla extract, house-

hold ammonia, bleach and perfume are examples.

Number the jars for use in step 9.

STEPS TOSUCCESS1. Divide the class into five groups. Distribute

four jars to each group. Remind the studentsto use caution as the jars are breakable.

2. Have the students fill each of the four jarshalf full of water. Add a cup of sand to thefirst jar, a cup of silt or clay in the second jar,and a cup of gravel to the third. In the finaljar add 1/3 cup of eachsand, silt andgravel.

3. Ask the students to observe the behavior ofthe materials as they settle naturally. Askthem to record t'ieir results. Discuss the dif-ferences that are observed.

4. Advise the students to make sure the lids aretightly fastened on the jars. Then ask them toshake all the jars vigorously for a moment ortwo. Have them set the jars on the desks atthe same time. Which settles the fastest?Which settles the slowest? Which is easiestto stir up after it settles?

5. Invite the students to determine how toshow each of the following:flood time or rapid flow behavior of the

water (rapid motion)low water or slow flow (gentle or no motion)

6. Discuss what behavior you have when rapidflow is followed by slow flow in each jar (siltseldom settles).

7. Try to see if anything changes by adding ateaspoon of salt to the mixtures in each jar.The salt dissolves and creates little or-no visi-ble effect. Yet it is an "invisible passenger."Discuss where the salt might come from innature (natural minerals in stream beds andagricultural practices of irrigation cor en-trate salt in soil).

8. Ask the students if they think they have agood sense of smell. Invite them to see if theycan detect a difference in the odor of the dif-ferent mixtures of sand, silt, gravel and themixture of all three. Discuss their efforts.Invite them to describe the odors theydetected.

9. Tell the students that biologists believe thatmany fish use their senses of "smell" in dif-ferent ways. Some use sensitivity to "odors"for feeding and migrating to spawning habi-tats. Tell the students that they are going to

see how many odors they can accuratelydetect in water. Ask them to write the num-bers 1-5 on a piece of paper.

10. Pass out one of the prepared and numberedjars to each group. Ask them to open themcarefully and pass the jar to everyone in theirgroup. They are to record the jar number andthe odor or "passenger in the water" theythink they detect. Once the jar has beenpassed among all the members of the group,trade the jar with another group. Repeat untilall the jars have been sampled by all the stu-dents in the class and the lists are complete.

11. Discuss the possible effects of each of theseconditions on living things in the rivers.Point out that there are remarkably differentcharacteristics in the natural habitat pro-vided by rivers. Emphasize that -there arechanges in these habitats that take place dayto day as well as seasonally. The natural liv-ing inhabitants of these environments tend tohave adapted to 0-.ese changes. Howeverwhen new conditions are imposed on therivers (such as from the effects of agriculture,mining and dams), the native inhabitants areoften negatively impacted. Some are imper-iled to the point of extinction.

MORE1. Make a model of a dam crossing a river and

relate what you learned about the behaviorof different substances in the water to condi-tions you could expect to find around differ-ent parts of the dam.

2. Look at rivers in your own community andsee if you can determine where the sub-stances in these waters are coming from.

3. Explore the role of water, sand, silt andgravel in the formation of the Grand Canyon.

4. Invite a local water resource person to testthe quality of the water students bring fromhome or collect in nature.

CHECKING UP1. List several substances found in river water.2. Describe how fish use "odors" in the water.3. Identify several basic components of sedi-

mentary material (sand, silt and gravel).

WHAT WE WANTStudents will be able to identify specific endan-gered fishes and indicate their present geo-graphic locations.

HOW TO DO ITStudents create a model of the Colorado Riversystem and use it to indicate the primary loca-tion of various endangered fishes.

USEFUL INFORMATIONThe razorback sucker, Colorado squawfish,bonytail and humpback chub are fishes thatwere abundant virtually everywhere in theColorado River Basin a hundred years ago.The favored habitat of each of these endan-gered fish is now far more limited. Their veryexistence is at risk. Fisheries specialists areconducting research and managing resourcesin efforts to insure their survival.

The ENDANGERED FISH INFORMATIONCARDS are located at the end of this activity.they contain a general description of the condi-tions that support these creatures.

Since these species are on the edge of extinc-tion, they are considered indicators of environ-mental conditions. They are reference points aswe explore the various conditions that haveaffected their ecosystem. Basic to the study ofecosystems is the premise that all parts ar :on-nectedand importantto all other parts.

(GRADES 3-12)

Changes in one place ultimately affect otherplaces. For a species to become endangered,there have to be significant changes in the con-ditions that support their livelihood.

Within an ecosystem each species has its niche.A niche is how an organism "makes its living"

how it eats, reproduces, grows and con-tributes to the whole of the living ecosystem inwhich it is found. Taken together, the collec-tion of niches in any ecosystem describes alarger system. This ecosystem describes alarger system. This means that the limits of adescription of any ecosystem is arbitrary. Theentire Earth can be viewed as a single ecosystem.

In recent years biologists and ecologists haveemphasized the importance of seeing theworld as a whole. There has even been a newterm to frame their emerging interestbiodiver-sity. Biodiversity is an index of diversity andvariety of living things in an ecosystem.

32

WHAT WE NEEDGlue or tape; heavy mounting boards for basemap; several pounds of plasticene clay (oil basedclay); toothpicks; two different colors of yarn(about two feet each).

36

VrIT I Find the relief map in the appendixMake a same-size copy of the map and cut thecopy into four equal pieces as indicated by lines.Enlarge each of the 1/4 page segments to a full 81/2 .v II page. Fasten the four segments togetherto 'mike a single large map. Attach the enlargedmap to a base. You will need four of theseenlarged maps for the class.

2. Make four copies of the Colorado River Basinplace name map and give one to each of the fourgroups.

3. Make one copy of each of the four informationsheets for the endangered fish. Provide one sheetto each of the four groups. Each group will have adiffereitt fish sheet.

STEPS TOSUCCESS1 Divide the class into four groups (depending

on class size this could be six to nine studentsin each group). Pass out the following:a. The four sections of the base mapb. One map containing the place names in the

Colorado River Basin2. Ask the students to use tape or glue and fasten

the enlarged map to a piece of plywood, heavycardboard or some other kind of support.

3. Invite the students to use the place name mapas a reference and mark the i ivers only using awide marker.

4. Instruct the students to turn the flat map into arelief model by applying the clay to the areasbetween the rivers. It is important to empha-size that this is an approximation of the land-scape. Encourage them to be as accurate aspossible but point out that absolute accuracyis very difficult with these materials. Havethem leave the human-made features out ofthe construction until later.

5. As the base map gets covered with the clay,conduct "pop" quizzes on the river names andother salient natural features. When the modelis finished the students should have a generalawareness of the "highlands," river channelsand the route from mountains to ocean. Havethem use the place name map as a reference tohelp them locate places on the emerging model.

6. Once the model becomes complete, pass outone of the endangered fish information cardsto each of the four groups. These cards havethe following:a. A drawing of the fishb. A figure showing past and present distribu-

tion of the fishc. A brief general description of the fishAsk the students to choose a representative toread aloud the name of their fish species andthe description on the card. Emphasize theplaces in the rivers where the fish lived in thepast and where they are found today.

7. Ask the students to use one color of yarn toshow the original range of each of the fishdescribed on the card. Use a second color toshow the range today. Discuss the differencesin the range in the past and at the present foreach of the four fish species.

8. Ask the students to use the place name mapand locate the major dams in the basin. Findand show where the dams are on the models.Discuss the location of the dams and the rangeof the endangered fish.

9. Ask the students to add the location of themajor communities in the basin. Discuss therelationships between human activities andthe range occupied by the fish. Discuss rea-sons for and against building dams.

10. Ask the students to analyze and summarizewhat they have learned from this activity.

MORE1. Using the model as a base, locate the sites of

your visits with places in the basin. Describeto the rest of the class your reactions to theplaces you have visited.

2. Show some of the historical 'trips made byearly explorers to the region. If possible readselections from their journals. (State historicalsocieties and libraries are a good source forsuch materials.)

CHECKING UP1. Locate the dams on the Colorado River sys-

tem.2. Locate the range of the four major endangered

fish.

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Razorback SuckerThis fish once ranged the Colorado River drainage fromWyoming to Mexico. It has a large bony ridge down itsback and a bulbous sucker mouth. As recently as 1949,they were caught and sold for food in Arizona. Theysometimes reached a length of three feet and weighed13 pounds. In most locations there are only large,mature fish. Young and juveniles are mostly absent.Biologists suggest that the absence of these smallerrazorbacks may be due to predation by other fish andthe loss of rearing habitat. This species lives in slowmoving water and tolerates water temperatures thatvary from 10 C (50 F) to a high of 30 C (86 F). Adultrazorbacks spawn in areas where the river bottom iscomposed of gravel and pebbles. Newly-hatched razor-backs seek protection in gravel among cobble-sizedpebbles. When larger, they move to flooded bottom-lands. Their primary diet is invertebrates, plankton,algae and decaying plant material.

Drawings: copyright Marianne C. Filbert

Colorado SquawfishThe Colorado squawfish was once found throughoutmost of the Colorado River drainage from Wyoming toMexico. It is the largest member of the minnow familyfound in the United States. It can reach a length of fivefeet and weigh 80 pounds. Currently, the squawfishoccupies less than half of the system's rivers. This fishhas adapted to river water that is turbulent, sometimesfilled with silt, and seasonally changes velocity. Squaw-fish tolerate water temperatures that range from 10 C (50F) to 35 C (95 F) and spawn in water that is as warm as21 C (70 F). They also migrate up to 200 miles to specificspawning areas for reasons not yet understood. Thistendency to migrate long distames earned them thesomewhat misleading title Colorado River salmon. Theirfavored foods are zooplankton and insect larvae whenthey are young and other fish as they mature.

Drawings: copyright Marianne C. Filbert

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BonytailThis fish, like the others, once occupied a muchwider range in the Colorado River Basin than itdoes at present. In recent years, only a few speci-mens have been found and some biologists thinkit is extinct above Lake Powell. Its present habitatis restricted to six isolated patches of the rivers ofthe Colorado River system. Mature fish can be aslarge as two feet in length. The bonytail preferspools and eddies at the edge of swift currents. Inreservoirs the fish prefer sandy or gravelly bot-toms. Some evidence suggests they prefer theseconditions for spawning as well. Bonytail eggshatch most successfully in waters that rangebetween 15 C (59F) to 20 C (68F). The youngchubs eat larvae and nymphs. As the fish mature,they shift to feeding on larger insects, gastropodsand caddis flies.

Drawings: copyright Marianne C. Filbert

Humpback ChubThe humpback chub is found in a small percent-age of its original habitat. It reaches a length of 18inches and is named for the fleshy hump behindits head. This fish occurs in all types of river habi-tatfast water, eddies, deep pools and aroundlarge boulders at the base of steep cliffs. Younghumpbacks prefer quiet shorelines and still back-waters. Adults spawn in water temperatures from11.5 C (53 F) to 23 C (73 F). Their diet consistslargely of planktonic crustaceans found alongriver bottoms, however this species has been seeneating certain insects on the waters' surface.

42

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