Tuolumne River Trust teaches Modesto-area school children valuable lessons

I am saddened to hear of the possible withdrawal of funding for one of the most successful place-based education programs offered to local schools by the Tuolumne River Trust, Trekking the Tuolumne.

When I retired from MJC biological sciences in 2000, I began volunteering in local elementary school classrooms presenting weekly science programs, K-5. I was startled to find that students knew more about tropical rainforests, coral reefs and polar bears than about their own ecological place in the world. Most could not name the river that flows through Modesto and had little exposure to the special features of this valued natural resource, water.

With the help of Meg Gonzalez, a former TRT educational coordinator, we wrote a curriculum that addressed this deficiency. The curriculum has been successfully used in Salida, Waterford, Hickman and Modesto City Schools for many years, serving thousands of students. With MID’s generous support, the Great Valley Museum and TRT have provided for the costs of materials, staff and buses for field trips (the most expensive cost) to take children to the river and experience its lessons.

Given, MID and TRT come from different positions relative to the management of water, a complicated milieu of laws, stakeholders and political influence. The Bee editorial board notes that Caitlin Perkey of TRT “spoke truth to power” by calling out inequities in water pricing, something that MID studies have acknowledged for years.

As I read the MID comments I am reminded of discord between parents with children caught in the middle.

A modified version of the curriculum addresses the interests of stakeholders, where high school students role-play stakeholders’ water needs. Students confront the thorny issues of having a resource that is insufficient to supply all that stakeholders want. The exercise requires them to think about how to divide up this resource in a way to benefit as many as possible, then propose solutions. The curriculum does not foster a point of view in favor of any stakeholder.

TRT is an advocacy group and so is MID; both have education as part of their public mission. An example is MID’s Splasher water safety program.

The recent decision on water allocations by the State Water Resource Control Board are based on stakeholder input. This is a classic case of the tragedy of the commons over water. Wildlife, farmers, fisheries, cities, industries and aquifer recharging all make demands and there is not enough to completely satisfy everyone, especially when confronting a drought.

Such a situation requires thoughtful review, even perhaps revision of both MID and TRT positions and policies. Disappointment with a ruling should not result in punitive measures from one advocacy group against another.

TRT’s educational programs rely on grants to be sustained. MID should not deprive all students of our region, many who come from poor and underserved neighborhoods, from learning about their own special ecosystem, the Tuolumne River, and the issues surrounding water management. They are the future of water resources management and a worthy investment.

I agree with The Bee editorial board. Withdrawal of funding by MID teaches the wrong lesson.