Supported by a multi-year grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Bryant Watershed Project is officially expanding its service area to include three more watersheds - the North Fork, the Eleven Point, and the Upper Spring River Tributaries.

"Our Watershed, Our Homes" is building on the successes of the Bryant Watershed Atlas by incorporating the learning community into the process of expanding the Atlas and the place-based education programs that the Atlas supports. Local educators, including Mary Ann Mutrux of Willow Springs, Justin Mutrux, retired from Thomasville Schools, Debra Mayers of SMSU-WP, and Melanie Carden-Jessen of MDC, are serving as advisors for the developing programs. Our Program Specialist is Wanda Byrd, newly retired 4th grade teacher. Wanda brings a wealth of experience to our programs, including five years as an eMINTS teacher.

With many pages of background and resources materials already online in the Atlas, the project will concentrate on a participatory creative process that builds watershed awareness through direct experience. All activities will involve pre-work for the students, and will be aligned to Show Me Standards. Three different types of educational activities are being offered to classroom teachers for the coming school year.

 Team Watershed

Classroom facilitation for hands-on experiments on water quality, polluted runoff, and watersheds. In 2004, Team Watershed volunteers visited middle school classrooms at Dora, Ava, Fairview, Bakersfield, and Glenwood schools. In 2005 and 2006, Missouri Master Naturalists volunteered at WaterFest.

 Stream Days

A day at the river with activities including macroinvertebrate surveys, water chemistry, nature journaling, and more.

 ArtStream

The ArtStream program offers schools the opportunity to work with an artist in residence on a cross-disciplinary project that culminates in the publication of a new learning online tool.

 Additions to the Atlas

New maps and photo tours for each new watershed

Upper Spring River

North Fork

Eleven Point

Spring River Tributaries

Best Management Practices in our watersheds
  1. Rotational Grazing

 Pied Piper Leads Her Cattle Into Green Pastures

  A Cattle Whisperer's Secrets

  2. Riparian Restoration

 Cattle Farmer Protects a Creekbank by Fencing, Restoring Native Plants

  3. Proper Installation of Septic System Protects Groundwater

  Matching a New House With a Septic System That Will Not Pollute Any Wells. Includes photos, diagrams, links, and Howell County well testing map.

Our Digital Photo Library is a collection of photo albums with images that students may use to illustrate schoolwork about various subjects. The Photo Library owes its existence to our dedicated volunteers and staff and the generous photographers, some amateurs, some professionals, who are willing to share their remarkable images.

Our Community Partners
University of Missouri Extension, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri State University-West Plains, and local businesses and school districts are partnering with us on the Our Watersheds, Our Homes project.

The development of content for Our Watersheds, Our Homes is funded through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII, through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, has provided partial funding for this project under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.