The class of 2025 River Fellows pitched their projects to a small, supportive audience. The pitches were impressive and a testament to all the hard work (paired with some fun and silliness) that took place during the week.
Below is a link to view the video pitches:
On Wednesday, the sophomore river fellows stayed at GPS to further develop their project work. They began by sharing their current ideas with the group and presenting their thoughts to everyone. After that, they began to work on developing a “customer” that their project would help. Although the customers were not based on real people, their problems were issues that many people could potentially face. And their projects are going to hopefully be the customers’ solutions!! Through using structured templates, the river fellows narrowed down their project to an attainable, yet effective solution that could solve their customer’s problem. By the end of the day, they felt much better about their project and its purpose.
Project ideas are brewing at the coffee shop!! Due to inclement weather the river fellows plan to the raft Hiwassee was cancelled :(
We practiced our pitch skills by pitching the idea of going to a coffee shop for the afternoon. It was a success and we went to culture coffee to work on our projects! Although plans were changed, we still had a lot of fun and let's just say a lot of singing took place 🎤 .
The nerves were high as they approached the river, and then they were off! With the teachers in one raft and the girls in another, they made their way down the rapids. Many screams and splashes later, everyone returned to the cabin ready to tell the stories of their brave adventures.
We began our Friday by doing journal entries that prompted us to question what we had learned, how we had grown, and what we could explore next. It was a great way for us to reflect and share our thoughts on our Tucker River Fellows experience so far. We then got on the bus to head to the Conasauga River, which is a little over an hour away. During our bus drive, we stopped to see a wetland because we had been learning about them throughout the week. We saw a Red Winged Blackbird at the wetland, which gave us an example of an animal that lives there. It was a great way for us to visualize a wetland and understand more about its purpose for us and our environment. After seeing the wetland, we got back on the bus to finish our ride. The end of the drive was a bit bumpy, but we made it and were excited to start snorkeling! The water was clear and the scenery around it was beautiful. We wanted to get into the water as soon as possible, so we changed into our wetsuits quickly. Once we suited up and got an understanding of how snorkels work, we were ready to dive under. We started downstream and slowly swam upstream. In the water, there were many different species of fish, including darters, hog suckers, log perch, and minnows. We were very happy to see this specific log perch because it isn’t found anywhere else in the U.S. The majority of the fish were small, but we did see some bigger sized fish in the deeper waters. We spent so much time in the water, so we had a late lunch and then looked at some insects in the water, such as mayflies and stoneflies hiding under rocks. After looking at these insects, we got dressed and prepared to leave. When we were ready to go, we hopped on the bus and ended our day’s adventure on the ride home.
We started off our adventure full Thursday by meeting in the River fellows room and getting a physics lesson from Mr. Haynes about polarized glasses. Then we got on the bus and started our journey to Chickamauga creek to meet with the aquarium to go seine fishing. Once we reached our destination we met Dr. George and David and started getting all our waders on and got a demonstration of how to catch the fish with the seine.
On day 3 of our summer week, the River Fellows had the eye-opening experience of touring one of the more uncelebrated facilities in Chattanooga. Crucial to the very existence of Chattanooga as a city, the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant is responsible for keeping the river healthy and clean, taking care of our sewage and rain runoff, and producing biosolids that are useful to non-food crops. Without the hard-working staff at Moccasin Bend, none of us would be able to live in such close proximity and Chattanooga as we know it would not exist.
While advanced technology may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of wastewater, the way the plant treats their water employs fascinating mechanical, biological and chemical processes. As we arrived, we were welcomed by our tour guides: engineering coordinator Chris Mills and sewer project coordinators Leah Sergeant and Sean Kidd.
The River Fellows, looking into a tank held open by Mr. Mills
We then proceeded along the journey untreated wastewater takes as it passes through the plant, and learned of the mechanical rakes that remove rocks and other debris, the bacteria that attack harmful viruses, and the strong bleach used to treat the wastewater before it is neutralized and sent into the river.
The Tucker River Fellows at the detritors (mechanical rakes and screens that filter wastewater)
Mr. Mills explains the large holding pool behind him to the River Fellows.
Finally, we stopped to take a photo above the point where the treated effluent is released carefully back into the river. At this point, it is slightly cleaner than the river water!
The Fellows standing above the release point.
Throughout the tour, we learned of the different ways Moccasin Bend takes action to help protect the river and the environment: monitoring the water to ensure the river is healthy; drawing approximately 12% of their power from their ten acres of solar panels; and even being a top contender for Chattanooga’s #1 recycler - only the garbage found is put into landfills, while all organic material is turned into biosolids, saving 70,000 tons a year!
After the tour, our group headed back to GPS for lunch and a Gyotaku art session with local artist Mark Monahan. Gyotaku dates back to ancient Japan, when fishermen would use ink and paper to record their catches quickly and accurately. We used water-based paints and fabric for our own prints. To make each print, we prepared a real, once-alive fish by washing it carefully, and readied a palette of paint.
River fellows wash fish in preparation for their prints.
Mr. Monahan shows a river fellow how to prepare a palette.
Then, we carefully painted over its scales and fins with special foam tools. Blank fabric was laid down over the fish, and slowly pressed down on each part of the body. Finally, it was lifted for the reveal!
A fish next to a finished print.
Among the fascinating fish used were a drum, bluegill, bass and a trickily three-dimensional catfish!
River Fellows hard at work!
Each of us departed with t-shirts from Mr. Monahan’s online shop, The Mighty Bluegill; a new understanding and appreciation of fish; and several unique gyotaku prints to share with our families.
The fantastic finished Gyotaku fish prints!
The second day of the River Fellows kayaking excursion started out early in the morning. We woke up and packed our things to prepare for the kayaking trip to the take out. For breakfast the Outdoor Chattanooga guides, Terri Chapin and Aerial, fixed a delicious french toast casserole and scrambled eggs. After we ate, we headed out on the water. Not far into our kayaking journey, we spotted a white tailed deer.
For the first day of our river fellows week of exploring, we set out on a two day kayaking trip. In the morning we started off with some ice breakers as well as a few exercises to gauge where we were in terms of knowledge about the river. We had a brief presentation on what a watershed is and how it affects our river system , and then we loaded our things onto the bus for our adventure. After a short bus ride to the put-in, we walked around the parking lot and learned about some organizations that help keep the river clean. One organization we learned about was Green Steps, which helps encourage citizens to keep trash out of the river and nature by offering incentives for cleaning, such as Amazon dollars ( one amazon dollar per bag of trash collected). Finally, after a short lunch we got in the river and started our trip.
Seine Fishing With TNACI Scientists
After our arrival at GPS in early August, we immediately got on the bus to go seine fishing. Seine fishing is a type of fishing using a giant net with floats on the top, and lead weights to sink the bottom half of the seine to the bottom of the creek. After the seine net is in the water a person on each side of the net drags the net through the water to capture fish inside of the net. The second way to use the seine is to hold it in place and have people kick up the rocks and the fish around the rocks are forced into the net.
The scientists use the seine fishing method to inventory the fish and water life populations to see how healthy the water source is. They also take a few animals back to TNACI to be hosts for endangered mussels and to use as brood stock.
When we got back to GPS we ate our lunch and shared our findings about the day. We learned that this year was the first year in 6 years that had found Hog Suckers and a couple years ago the River Fellows group found Gar, which is a large fish with a long snout. We found that each year the river fellows group went seine fishing, different species of fish we found. This means that the creek we went to has diverse species of fish.
On Wednesday, August 5, the freshmen River Fellows learned about the importance of watersheds. A watershed is surrounding land that drains rainwater into a larger body or stream. Mrs. Couch demonstrated that these areas often funnel pollutants like oil, large amounts of loose sediment, excrement, fertilizer, and pesticides into waterways, directly affecting the health of ecosystems and animals alike.
When chemicals and excess amounts of soil are dumped into the river, crucial parts of the food chain like insect larvae are poisoned or smothered, losing their homes. Other animals like small fish no longer have a reliable food source, creating a chain reaction known as a trophic cascade.
To prevent this pollution, construction companies use silt fences when excavating large amounts of sediment. These barriers hold dirt in place and prevent it from sliding into bodies of water. Another method environmental engineers use is a constructed wetland, areas that both clean and soak up rainwater with nature's most effective filter, plants. The River Fellows have encountered these amazing spaces at both TNACI and later on around the RiverWalk.
After learning about watersheds, the tucker river fellows got the opportunity to visit different water sources across Chattanooga. Visiting four areas in total, each river fellow took notes and recorded their observations about each place.
The first water source they visited was Citico creek, this area did not look extremely healthy. The water was almost stagnant and the water level was very low. The bridge overhead the area was keeping plant life away due to the lack of sunlight. There was lots of litter strewn across the bank. While the area was not extremely well kept, the bank did have a silt fence that the river fellows learned is one way the city can help keep the watershed healthy! However, part of the silt fence had fallen down, allowing silt and dirt into the creek.
The second water source that the fellows visited was at the mouth of the citico creek where it emptied into the Tennessee river. The area had more plant and animal life. There was a man-made rock bank preventing erosion, and almost no litter. Further out on the river, the fellows observed one of the main water sources of Chattanooga.
The next place was South Chickamauga Creek. The area looked very healthy with lots of wildlife and plant life including butterflies, cicadas, crickets, dragonflies, varieties of fish, rivercane and english ivy (invasive). The water was relatively placid, and emptied out into the Tennessee river.
One of the last places the fellows visited was the Tennessee River Dam. The dam is hydroelectric and operated by TVA. There was a drastic difference in the water level on each side of the dam. This is because while the dam is closed, the water builds up on one side and when the dam opens the water flows through and turns turbines inside the dam, generating power!
After our adventure with Byron, we made our way to the animal enclosures with our new guide, Tish. The first thing she told us is that all of the animals at Reflection Riding have been injured in some way and therefore cannot survive on their own in the wild.
The first creature we visited was the Sandhill Crane. Sandhill cranes are not endangered, unlike many other animals at Reflection Riding, and are in fact very populous. These cranes are very aggressive and can sometimes be feisty with Tish and the other animal caretakers. They depend on the river and other bodies of water quite a lot, as that’s where they spend their time and find their food when they are in the wild.
Next, we got to see (and hear) a bald eagle! Some fun facts about bald eagles: the majestic bird sounds you hear on TV when people refer to eagles are actually not the sounds of these creatures, but the call of another bird- the red-tailed hawk. As you may know, the bald eagle was severely endangered, and by 1963; there were only 417 of them left. The reason they became so threatened was because of a chemical called DDT which had polluted the watershed (the land surrounding a body of water) that fed toward the waters where bald eagles fed on fish. The fish ingested small amounts of DDT (not quite enough to be lethal) and as the bald eagles consumed vast numbers of fish, the amount of DDT in their systems became very dangerous. This phenomenon is called biomagnification- something that happens when a chemical makes its way up the food chain until it becomes very dangerous for the animals on top. In this case, the eagles are at the top of the chain. DDT made the eagles’ eggs very weak and unable to survive very long. Thankfully, the chemical was banned, and in 2007 the American bald eagle was removed from the US endangered species list.
After Tish taught us about the eagles’ journey to get off the endangered species list, we traipsed over to the Red-Tailed Hawk enclosure. Red-Tailed Hawks are diurnal animals which means that they are awake during the day and use the daylight hours to hunt and live their lives. ‘Fovah’ is what we call our eyes’ ability to focus on one particular point in the field of vision. This hawk has a really impressive eyesight and has two fovahs. Humans have only one fovah, which means that we can only focus on one point at a time, and since the hawk has two, it means that it can focus on two points at a time. This vision helps the bird catch its prey; mostly mice and rats. Additionally, hawks go through phases after they are born where they can imprint on humans or other hawks. They do this when they register a specific being as something that can be trusted. This hawk, Ember, imprinted on another employee at Reflection Riding, Taylor. Taylor told us that he’s now basically Ember’s boyfriend, which is super cool!!
Next, we ventured over to see the Barred Owl. Barred owls, as well as most other owls, can turn their necks very far around but lack the ability to move their eyes inside the sockets. These owls have 14 neck vertebrates instead of the 7 that mammals have. This allows them to pretty much have eyes in the back of their heads! The hearing on these birds is also incredible, as they can hear a mouse’s heartbeat from 30 feet away!
After that, we visited the crown jewel of Reflection Riding, the red wolves. Currently, they have four red wolves; two breeding pairs of a male and a female each. These animals are incredibly endangered and scientists believe that there are only around 300 of them left in the world. There are 42 sites across the US that have red wolves, and they possess most of the red wolf population. There are only about 12 red wolves living in the wild and they are all in a land area in North Carolina. The wolves need a HUGE amount of space to do their bidding, which makes this nearly 3,000-acre space good for them to live in. Reflection Riding is clearly in the small minority of organizations that have red wolves, and they raise a lot of money that they use to protect this species from extinction.
Next... Archeologists from TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)
After we left Reflection Riding, we got Panera and ate on the lower field at GPS. After we were done eating, two archeologists came down to meet us and talked to us about their jobs. One part I found very interesting was the body farm, which was a farm like area at UTK where human bodies are left to decompose and be studied.
They also talked to us a lot about what they had learned, especially about the atlatl. Native Americans created the atlatl before bows and arrows, and the atlatl has a longer reach as they were originally big game hunters during the Mississippian period. Later on, they created a more domestic lifestyle with villages, and as they settled down, they began to create pottery.
Before the atlatl, they used to use spears to hunt big game, and spear tips were made from flint. People often think of spear tips as arrowheads- have you ever found an arrowhead? It actually wasn’t used for arrows, that’s a spear tip, because Native Americans mostly hunted with spears.
After the archaeologists explained who they were and the kind of work they did, they gave us the chance to use an actual atlatl. They gave us each a spear and then the atlatl itself which is kind of like a smaller stick with a grip for your fingers and a hole in the back to grip the spear.
One by one, we used the atlatls to throw the spears at targets that the archaeologists had set up in the grass. Some of us got super close to hitting the targets, but unfortunately, no one actually hit them. It was a really fun experience, though and we learned a lot!
