Educational Programs
The Kings River Ecosystem - A streamside lesson for Berryville High School Science Club - October 15, 2007. Club sponsors and Biology teachers, Larry McCullough and Steve Poynter, participated in a six-hour program on the ecosystem of the Kings River with twenty-three of their students. The program was presented by Shawna Miller, KRWP Project Coordinator, and Sam Davis, former BHS teacher and Science Specialist with the Ozarks Unlimited Resources Educational Service Cooperative in Harrison, Arkansas. Program for the day.
The program included field work opportunities for students to collect samples and measure different aspects of the Kings River and Osage Creek biological, chemical, and geomorphological components.
Once student investigative teams gathered data, group discussions followed with the objective of providing students with a scientific framework to synthesize the interactions between living and non-living parts of this riverine ecosystem.The study site was located at the confluence of the Kings River with one of its major tributaries, Osage Creek.
This offered the young scientists the chance to compare data from both streams. Teams began their study with observations and measurements to provide them with an overview of the physical structure of the streams and their banks:
- Investigate the riffle and pool structure, characteristic of Ozark streams
- Characterize the stream bottom – substrate count
- Survey site for human impact on ecosystem
- Survey riparian zone – compare and contrast the two streams
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| A view of the study site (in yellow) from one mile up. Students used aerial images like this to discover potential human impacts on this ecosystem. The Kings River continues to flow north and empties into Table Rock Lake in Missouri. |
Osage Creek, with headwaters in |