Daphne High receives $25,000 grant for watershed project

Posted

On Nov. 8, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented a grant check to the City of Daphne and Daphne High School for $25,000 for the Tiawasee Creek Education Outreach and Watershed Enhancement Project.

Daphne Mayor Dane Haygood, DHS Principal Meredith Foster, the EPA’s Gulf of Mexico Program’s Amy Newbold and other volunteers and students were present for the grant awarding.   

Ashley Campbell, Environmental Programs Manager with the City of Daphne, said this project is designed to stabilize eroding areas in the headwaters of Tiawasee Creek.

“The project will involve the implementation of best management practices to prevent further watershed impacts and reduce the transportation of non-point source pollutants, or sediment, via the impaired Tiawasee Creek to D’Olive Creek,” Campbell said. “Ultimately the project will help improve the quality of the water that is discharged to Mobile Bay, and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico.”

 The project will include the creation of a watershed enhancement master plan that will guide the restoration and stabilization process.

The plan will address current stormwater and erosion problems and provide suggestions for future Low Impact Development (LID) BMPs, which could include but not be limited to rain barrels, cisterns, water reuse, constructed wetlands and bio-retention.

In conjunction with the stabilization process, native plants will be grown in the Daphne High School green house for future onsite stabilization and other BMPs.  These native plants reduce erosion and provide food and habitat to local wildlife. In addition, the indigenous vegetation also will serve as an aesthetic enhancement to the project area by providing shade and visual interest.

 The City of Daphne will partner with, Daphne High School, the EPA, and Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) and many others to implement the project. High school staff and students will be a part of every phase of the project including design and construction. The project will serve as a watershed pilot project and provide long-term watershed education and outreach to all future generations of students.

DHS students have also become certified to be able to test the water and are excited to be a part of the project.

“I just like being outside and being able to do something that could help make a difference and keep our water safe and clean,” DHS student Ryan Baird said.

The types of educational outreach activities proposed for the school community include but are not limited to interpretive signage, photo documentation, presentations, age appropriate classroom workshops, professional workshops, and LID measures such as rain gardens, bio-retention areas, and/or rain barrels.

The project will also involve water quality monitoring through the Alabama Water Watch Program.  Teachers and students will be trained to monitor water quality, and the headwaters of Tiawasee Creek will be sampled before and after construction for PH, turbidity, temperature and dissolved oxygen.

The project is anticipated to provide at least a 5 percent reduction in pollutant loads.

Dr. Betsy Anderton and Luke Stewart are teaching Agriculture at Daphne High School. Their classes include Greenhouse Production, Landscape Management, General Agri-Science, Metal Fabrication, and Construction Framing. 

 These career technical classes are unique because they are teaching career-relevant skills that students can use immediately upon graduation. Each Agriculture class taken provides students with the opportunity to earn industry-recognized credentials. Some of these include certification in Landscape Management, Specialty Crop Production, Integrated Pest Management, and NCCER.

 Along with a focus on career readiness, Agriculture classes at DHS have a strong commitment to bridging the gap between students and their communities. This commitment includes environmental, professional, and service education and action. Greenhouse students study and propagate native plants and growing the plants to sell at their annual Spring Plant Sale. Landscaping classes focus on using native plants in landscapes, as well as environmentally-appropriate landscape techniques for stormwater management and other challenges specific to our area. Agri-Science classes have also created databases for the weeds and animals on the property in an effort to better understand how these organisms work together. This allows us to select the most appropriate methods for managing pests and attracting beneficial insects.

 This educational program connects the students to our community, as all 200+ students enrolled in DHS Agriculture classes are growing crops for community food banks through the FFA “Living to Serve” grant they were recently awarded.  Local industry professionals often work alongside students, providing them with a variety of experiences and exposure to opportunities that otherwise might not be possible.

The opportunity provided to Daphne High School students with this EPA grant is the perfect umbrella to connect every focus of the Agriculture program to our Daphne community. Students in every class have the opportunity to meet state-required goals and objectives for each course while engaged in identifying and solving real world problems on their own campus. Each class runs itself as a separate business with specific tasks. For example, the Landscape class uses their knowledge of scale and site analysis to create a site plan. They “hire” Greenhouse classes to grow the plants they need for the various areas. Construction Framing and Welding classes do what they do best, while the four Agri-Science classes fill in the gaps and provide the man power needed for various tasks.

Wade Burcham, a principal water resources engineer with Geosyntec Consultants, is also lending his expertise grant support and planning to the project.