Grant helps Spring Valley add more wetland research programming

Schaumburg Park District's Spring Valley Nature Center is reaping the benefits of an Environmental Education Association of Illinois grant by expanding research opportunities for advanced science students from local high schools.

The $350 grant recently allowed the Nature Center to purchase chemical probes to test the water quality at Spring Valley's wetlands, allowing the full-day research program to expand from serving one high school to four.

In addition to testing water quality and collecting data from the pond and Salt Creek, students are collecting data on macro invertebrates as part of their work. The program includes Schaumburg, Conant and Hoffman Estates high schools, with Fremd High School in Palatine set to participate in 2019.

"The students also do a creek walk, turning over rocks and looking for critters, performing the same study, comparing the two wetlands," said Mary Rice, education coordinator for Spring Valley.

To help Spring Valley flourish, students remove invasive buckthorn on the outer edges of the prairie and woods while comparing the biodiversity of areas that are burned annually with areas left untouched.

"Spring Valley is a real living laboratory," Rice said. "There are natural ecosystems out there that are protected and preserved. The students can come here and see what lives here and assess the value of having native areas and how they benefit the environment. They're actually coming out and doing real-life science."

For information, call (847) 985-2100 or visit parkfun.com.

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