Nearly 100 students traveled to Elk River, Idaho, to learn about nature by experiencing it firsthand.

As part of the Partridge Creek Watershed Festival, hosted by the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, the students participated in four activities to learn about the water cycle and water conservation.

“We just like to get kids and community members out here to learn what’s being done,” said Elizabeth Schulz, an environmental educator for PCEI.

Restoration to Partridge Creek began about five years ago, Schulz said. The watershed refers to the ecosystem and the land that drains to it. Watersheds receive runoff water from streams, ponds and lakes in the area and are sometimes referred to as river basins. What happens in one watershed affects the ecosystems downstream.

There are four stations in the Watershed Festival this year.

Laura Milewski, the volunteer coordinator for PCEI, ran the stream sense station.

“It’s basically learning how to explore your senses,” Milewski said.

For this activity, Milewski asked the students to find a quiet spot and record what they heard, saw, smelled and felt.

John Pfeiffer, a volunteer from EcoAnalysts, Inc., ran the macro-invertebrate station.

At this station, the students scooped insects out of water samples and then used charts to try and identify which specimens they had.

“This year we’re focusing on life cycles,” Schulz said. “You get a lot of larvae and nymphs.” Schulz said that using insects is a good way to teach about restoration, because certain insects can only survive in specific environments. If the water is polluted, you won’t find certain macro-invertebrates, but you may find others, she said.

Laura Sass, an environmental educator for PCEI, started her water cycle station by asking the students what they already knew about water. She then sent the kids on a tour of the water cycle.

“You’re all going to be a drop of water, and you’re going to go different places,” she said.

Schulz said the game is set up so the children learn where water spends the majority of time and how it travels through the water cycle. The children received color-coordinated beads at each part of the cycle and left with a souvenir of their journeys as water droplets.

For the native plant scavenger hunt, the students identified the types of trees that have been planted over the last four years.

“All of the students, except for the second-graders, have been here before and done some of the planting,” Schulz said. “This year, instead of planting, they’re just going to identify the plants.” The day was divided into two parts, with second- and third-graders in the morning, followed by fourth, fifth and sixth graders in the afternoon.

“The fourth, fifth and sixth graders are really fun because they’re older, and you can really teach them,” Schulz said.