TRI-CITIES, WA – If you have ever been playing down by the river, creek or pond and found creatures. The REACH Museum said there is a learning opportunity there.
Staff at the REACH Museum tell me that learning what is around you could help the environment we live in. You can do that by learning how to collect data from those creatures you find by the water.
At the REACH Museum they focus on place-based education.
That includes their education programs and the ways they help former educators in schools and classrooms. They use experiences from the community and land to help people understand the larger issues.
They cover everything from Hanford clean-up to the local ecosystems and the water quality of the Columbia River. For example, they are partnering with the National Park Service to help educate people on the resources at Columbia River. They do that by using catfish.
“We are starting to learn that in some cases, crayfish, because of what they eat, they eat a lot of the dead plants and animals in the water. They can actually help to keep the water clean. And so, this is a really important thing right. We want to know how to keep our river clean because it is such a vital part of our human system,” Pauline Schafer, the education manager at the REACH Museum said.
She said there are ways we can change how we are living that could improve your quality of life.
You can visit https://www.visitthereach.org/ for more information on how to get involved.
