MARION — On Wednesday Nov. 28 the Marion Natural History Museum's afterschool group had a visit from Manny da Costa, a watershed scientist from Inter-fluv, and brainstormed how they would protect rivers. 

Da Costa showed students a few of his company's river restoration projects and they heard about the importance of wetlands, particularly rivers, to encourage fish passage and water quality for our watershed. 

The students then broke into four groups to work out problems involving hydrology, fish passage, rivers, and shellfish.  The groups came up with some great ideas for protecting our watershed. With the help of our volunteers, the groups designed their own solutions to problems like water quality and temperature, which the students then presented to the whole group.

Each group explained why they added what they did to improve the river. Some of the additions included detention ponds, additional wetlands, resting areas for fish, wildlife sanctuaries, and vegetation along the banks to provide habitat and to shade the water.

Students decided that they might be able to bring back species that have left the area, like brook trout, by cooling the water and adding habitat.

The Marion Natural History Museum wishes to thank da Costa for his interesting talk, and all the student volunteers from ORRHS and Tabor Academy.