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Houghton Middle School 8th graders are encouraging elementary students to learn more about our ecosystem.
Ten students from Sarah Geborkoff’s science class met with 3rd graders Friday at Houghton Elementary School to present them with their Eco Challenge project.
Each year as part of the Lexus Eco Challenge, students from across the country compete to solve ecology problems.
This year, Geborkoff’s class tested water and soil samples in the local area for the concentration of nitrates.
“When you use fertilizer, there are a lot of nitrates which are good for plants. However, they build up and get into the water, so we have tested different plants that could absorb the run off,” explained student Leah Berkey.
Student Mercedes Gregersen explains that fertilization run off has been a recent problem downstate, and the focus of this Eco Challenge project is to prevent the same scenario from occurring here in the Keweenaw.
Gregersen said, “We are trying to stop the effects of excess nitrates because that was a big issue in Lake Erie, and we’re trying to make sure it doesn’t come to Lake Superior.”
As part of the solution to the runoff problem, the 8th grade team has experimented with the use certain types of plants, strategically placed around the borders of gardens that would absorb the excess nitrates, rather than allowing them to enter the water system.
Many of the recourses used by the students were donated by the Nitrate Elimination Company of Lake Linden.
