Staff photo by Fritz Busch From left, Friends of the Minnesota Valley River Watch Southern Region Coordinator Patti Braulick, helps New Ulm Cathedral biology student Lane Ruch right, lower a Van Dorn bottle sampler into the Minnesota River on the New Ulm bike trail on the Highway 14 bridge Monday. River Watch programs are designed to build and engage volunteer grassroots groups help achieve a health and sustainable Minnesota River valley environment.

NEW ULM — Cathedral High School biology students got a hands-on slice of nature Monday, testing Minnesota River water and observing other aspects of wildlife with the Friends of the Minnesota Valley River Watch program.

Science teacher Jenny Janssen led students by foot from Cathedral High School to the New Ulm bike trail, stopping on the Highway 14 Minnesota River bridge to sample river water and observe other aspects of nature.

Janssen told students to look for things that come down the river including trees, branches and signs of undercurrents.

“Look for things on the riverbank,” she said.

River Watch works with high school science classes to collect water quality data across the Minnesota River Basin. Data is submitted to the Minnesota Pollution control Agency (MPCA), allowing it to monitor the health of less studied waterways.

Students said they really appreciated the field trip for a variety of reasons.

“I like seeing all the wildlife here. I don’t get near the river very often,” said Carter Wilson.

Andrew Stern said he’d like to do conservation work.

“It’s interesting to get out of school for a field trip and see all the details of this work,” said Lane Ruch.

Katherine Evans said she enjoyed getting out of school and seeing the outdoors.

“I like this because I enjoy seeing beavers and birds, which have been observed by other students doing this last year,” said Taylor Wyczawski.

The River Watch program began in 2017 working with high school teams doing water quality monitoring on the Minnesota River and its tributaries. The program includes 24 schools around the Minnesota River Valley.

“We promote hands-on experience of collecting water, measuring water quality, educating our next generation on the river and the impact it has on the community,” said Friends of the Minnesota Valley board member Don Wendel.

He said a $3,000 grant from the New Ulm Area Foundation will be used tow transporting students to the river, usually twice in the spring and twice in the fall. Funds will also be used to pay for chemicals and equipment used in river water testing.

“We want to use the best equipment possible to get the best results including good benchmark data to report to the MPCA,” Wendel said.

He said he’s been involved with the Friends of the Minnesota Valley, a non-profit organization, based in the Bloomington Izaak Walton Lodge.

“River Watch is an important project the Friends of the Minnesota Valley have been doing, partnering with science teachers across the Minnesota River Valley Watershed. We’re very happy that you are very invested in doing this and collecting good data. We hope that from this experience, maybe some of you will become scientists or advocates for the Minnesota River. We look forward to seeing the results. Thank you,” said Wendel.

River Watch data includes macro-invertebrate counts and identification of water pollution and excess sediment sources.

River Watch Southern Region Coordinator Patti Braulick of New Ulm, a retired Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s science teacher, talked about River Watch.

“I want kids in our communities to have an appreciation for our waterways and learn a little bit more about them. It also brings hands-on learning to the classroom, which is what students need to learn,” said Braulick.

For more information, visit www.friendsmnvalley.org/river-watch