The program was established in 2003 to address non-point pollution by involving students in monitoring water quality in tributaries of the Fox River. Recent expansions include programming in wetlands and ecological restoration as well as geographic expansion to additional streams throughout Northeast Wisconsin.

LFRWMP educates students on issues impairing the health of our freshwater resources and inspires stewardship of the Fox-Wolf River Basin and bay of Green Bay. The program also increases exposure of students to water science career opportunities and to UW-Green Bay as an option for college education. In addition to water quality monitoring, students have participated in growing wild rice in their classrooms to learn about and be part of an ecological restoration project and discover more about the cultural value of native plants.

Currently, eleven schools participate and over 2,000 middle and high school students have collected data on phosphorus, nitrates, ammonia, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, macroinvertebrates and streamflow. Our database at UW-Green Bay now includes 20 years of data including baseline information on many key tributaries to the Fox River. Educators involved in the program span throughout the UW-Green Bay footprint, including Green Bay, Appleton, Sheboygan, Weyauwega, and Oshkosh.

This long-standing program connects UW-Green Bay staff and students to the local community by partnering with local educators at schools within the UW-Green Bay regional footprint. It has a broad impact on elementary, middle, and high school students in the community and their families and supports benefits to our local waterways, wetlands, and environment. The program also builds a collaborative network of science, environmental science, and agriculture teachers at the middle and high school levels.

LFRWMP provides a win-win opportunity to educate youth about environmental topics and water quality in the place where they live and introduce them to careers in environmental science and “Eco-U” (UW-Green Bay) as a pathway to get there. Since the program began, several participating students have been inspired by their experiences to seek out higher education and careers in the environmental field. A former student from Southwest High School in Green Bay shared: