05/30/06 Owyhee Watershed is a classroom too

They come from all over the Northwest for a view of thousands of gallons of water draining into the circular spillway. The Owyhee reservoir on the Oregon-Idaho border is full thanks to plenty of snow over the 11 thousand square miles of the Owyhee River basin. This month school kids from Idaho and Oregon learned more about the life blood of their communities from people like Carl Hill of the Owyhee Watershed Council. HILL "To introduce them to the conservation and the practices and the functions of the watershed is very important so that they understand the things they will have to make decisions in the future on." Kids from Marsing, Nyssa, Pleasant Valley, Jordan Valley and Adrian use field trips to see and study the area, its prized whitewater, the fish and the birds of prey. BIRD LADY "He has built in binoculars. Nature was thinking very well when she designed this guy." The goal of the field day is too show the next generation the many uses of the river, the demands on it, its importance to a two-state rural economy and how that resource will face increased pressure with growth that is beginning to move in that direction. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott