Targeted Outreach: Discover Carolina watershed curriculum project

There's some new Secchi disks, microscopes and field kits being assembled at Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area these days: all part of an exciting new Consortium-supported project that will debut in June of this year! [The Secchi disk (an 8-inch disk with alternating black and white quadrants that is lowered into a lake until it can be no longer seen by the observer) is a useful instrument for monitoring the amount of light that can be transmitted through a body of water and provides a standard to compare the transparency of different water bodies. Transparency can be affected by algae and suspended sediments.]

Saluda-Reedy Watershed Consortium partner and Reedy River Watershed Education Coordinator, Rebekah Guss, is in the process of developing a Discover Carolina curriculum specific to Lake Greenwood to be released and promoted as part of a graduate course, "Teaching Your Watershed" offered for educators through Clemson University.

This hands-on, on-site course will bring educators to Lake Greenwood and the Drummond Center this June to introduce the Discover Carolina curriculum and enable participants to learn about the Saluda-Reedy watershed while gaining experience in testing various water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and Secchi depth.

This curriculum and the equipment are being developed for Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area in partnership with Clemson University's SC Life and 4H20 Pontoon Classroom programs.

If you have questions, please contact Rebekah Guss (864/508-0442) for more information about this exciting new program!