Mrs. Reed came to visit our class to talk about the Portage Lake Watershed. She told us all about the invasive species that live in Portage Lake because a lot of people never clean their boats. Mrs. Reed also told us about how we can save our native plants. We could plant native plants, help clean beaches, stop littering, and a lot more! It's very annoying when you step on the zebra mussels so if you see them take a bucket and help clean our waters. I hope other people can help preserve and protect our lakes.
~by Samantha B.

On Thursday March 1st we had Mrs. Reed from the Portage Lake Watershed Forever Committee. She came in and talked about how we can save Portage Lake. There are invasive species coming into Portage Lake from freighters that bring them from the ocean by the St. Lawrence River. There are several invasive species like Eurasian Watermilfoil, Phragmites, and Zebra Mussles. My favorite part was when we talked about Phragmites. I had a fun time talking about the Portage Lake Watershed forever Community. Thanks Mrs. Reed for the presentation. It was fantastic.
~By Trent E.

I learned on Thursday why it was bad to put oil in the water, when you dump it on the ground it goes into the stream and from the stream i goes to the lake where it gets into pumps and you drink it which is really bad for you. It was really fun to learn about the invasive species in our lakes. Like zebra muscles, Eurasion water milfoil, and phragmites. I don't mean that invasive species are fun I just mean it was interesting. They gave us a bag, a water bottle, and some other stuff. It was so cool to learn about the watershed!  
~ by Amanda B

Fifth Graders want to do
their part to save the
Portage Lake Watershed

On March 1, 2012 we had a special visitor. Her name was Mrs. Reed. She was very nice person. She told us about Portage Lake Watershed Forever. The Watershed is where people take care of land and water. Mrs. Reed told us about the invasive species. She told us about Phragmites and Eurasian Watermilfoil. She told us that Mike Acton started the watershed. We learned to dump your tank of water before you go lake to lake. The watershed is 25 square miles big. We got stuff for us to keep. Mrs. Reed was a very nice person. She told us about seawalls. She said seawalls should be natural. She said invasive species get here by freighters. A watershed is land, water, streams, and rivers. When Mrs. Reed was done she left.
~by Rylan C.

Our class had a speaker from the Portage Lake Watershed named Mrs. Reed come in. It was on Thursday the first of March. It was our science class when she came in. She came in with at least five posters of the town's watershed. She said a watershed was a body of water with streams and underground water lead to. Mrs. Reed informed us of the invasive species that were in the lake. Some like the phragmites, zebra mussels, and the Eurasion watermilfoil. They came off freighters from different countrys by sticking to boats. She said that one way the people are trying to prevent them is by washing your boats before going into fresh water. Since some of those invasive species already came into the great lakes we are trying to get them out by chemicals. I remember when I used to live on the lake and that the county would come over and spray our beach. Another problem was the unnatural seawalls. The water would bounce back and forth so there was no habitat there. She said it would be better with a natural seawall. She said that she had her own unnatural seawall and that she wished she didn't. ~from Katie B.


Portage Lake Watershed Forever!

A person from the Portage Lake Watershed Forever named Mrs. Reed came to talk to us. It was about preserving Portage Lake. She talked about Eurasian water milfoil, phragmites, zebra mussels, and seawalls and native plants. The only way to get rid of phragmites is to burn them or spray them with a chemical. You use a chemical to kill Eurasian water milfoil. She told us not to put up steel seawalls, but plant native plants instead. She didn't talk too much about zebra mussels. The watershed is 25 square miles. Everything that soaks into the ground goes into the watershed. You should rinse off your boat, so you don't spread invasive species. I will try very hard to preserve and protect the Portage Lake Watershed. ~Benjamin J.

  

Mrs. Reed came to Onekama School to talk about the Portage Lake Watershed. One of the things she talked about is Eurasian Watermilfoil. Eurasian Watermilfoil is some kind of seaweed that grows and sort of takes over the native plants. She also talked about Phragmites. Phragmites are reeds that lives on shorelines and sort of over power the good native plants. It grows long roots over the native plants and kill the good plants. She also talked about seawalls. You want to have natural seawalls instead of metal seawalls because the metal seawalls don't give the fish a good habitat because the water will just come up and and splash up against it and come back and keep on doing it. A watershed is a big body of water under ground then comes into streams and goes into the lakes.  ~by Ben A.

Gifts from the Watershed Committee

On Friday someone special came in to talk about our Portage Lake Watershed. Her name was Mrs. Reed and she talked about Invasive species such as the Zebra Mussels. We learned all about invasive and native species. Native is a species that belong in our lakes. Invasive are the exact opposite, they harm our lakes and should not be there. She showed us maps and at the end we got a big blue bag, a water bottle, a sticker, a paper with the water pledge on it(Which we did shortly after receiving it) a look out paper for a plant, (I forget witch one) and a pin that said, "I did the water pledge." I use my bag to carry books and extra things. We learned about sea walls too and how they can be bad sometimes and what they did. Mrs. Reed is a real help for the watershed. ~by McKenna I.

Mrs. Reed came to visit our classroom and talk about the Portage Lake Watershed. She talked about seawalls, how you shouldn't build metal steel walls, just plant native plants for a seawall. We also got free stuff, like a beach bag, a water bottle and all kinds of other things. She told us about different types of invasive species like Eurasian Watermilfoil and Phragmites. Mrs. Reed also said to rinse off your boat if you are done driving it and are going to switch it to another lake. I learned a lot from Mrs. Reed. ~from Jarrett B.
Last Thursday in science class we had a speaker. Our speaker was Mrs. Reed. She's part of the Portage Lake Watershed. She helps protect Portage Lake. She talked about invasive species. She has to make sure that we don't spill oil into the lake or the grass. She told us about what to do if we see and invasive plants. Then she told us about native fish. I learned a lot from Mrs. Reed. ~by Chloe W.

Mrs. Reed came Tuesday she told us about the watershed. She told us about Zebra Mussels. She also told us about seawalls. To make Natural seawalls. She also said that seawalls that are unnatural are bad for the lakes. A watershed is a big piece of land. She said that if we dump oil it will go in the Watershed and then in the Lake. She is nice. She gave us a water bolt and a bag. It was a nice day. ~from Deeann

Portage Lake Forever

A person from the watershed came Thursday, March first. We learned about bad things for our lake like zebra muscles, phragmites, and eurasian milfoil. Some good things are natural sea walls. A watershed is  where water seeps in to the land. Our watershed is about 25 miles big.
 ~by Gauge W.
 On March first 2012 we learned about the Portage Lake Watershed. We had a speaker from the Portage Lake Watershed Forever. Her name was Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed talked about the Portage Lake Watershed in Onekama. She talked about phagmites and  how they are not native plants. The other thing she talked about was zebra mussels. One other thing she talked about was Asian carp. They are from Asia. A watershed is a big peace of land that is protected. We should put up all natural sea walls. A sea wall is a wall that keeps the invasive species from getting into our great lakes. We should not put up metal sea walls.  ~from Sara M.

On Thursday March first we had a visitor come in from the Portage Lake Watershed Committee. Her name was Mrs. Reed. She came in and told us how the Watershed was formed and how it works. She taught us about Invasive species and what they did to our environment. When she told us how they harmed our environment I wondered how they got rid of them. Some of the invasive species are Phragmites, Eurasian Watermilfoil, Sea lamprey, and Zebra mussels. She said that the Zebra mussels filter out the water which helps the Eurasian Watermilfoil get sunlight easier and grow faster. The Phragmites grow thick roots that runs out all life in the area which makes it hard for animals to live close to shore. I learned that when you dump out any hazardous liquids it will seep into the ground and eventually contaminate the water. So that is why you want to be careful what you do and always help the environment. ~Blake S.

 On Thursday march 1, 2012 Onekama 5 grade class went to science. We walked in and sat down we started talking about the Watershed with Mrs. Reed. We learned that a Watershed takes 25 sq. mi. A watershed is were the water flows underground and we also learned to keep a close eye out for invasive species. Then at the end of the talk we got a bag, water bottle and a picture of a invasive plant. The last thing they passed out was a paper we all put are names on and we read it together. That was the best time I ever had. ~by Kyle C.

I learned Thursday March 1 about the. watershed and how important it is to taker care of the lake. A watershed is a big body of land that leads to a lake. ~by D'Angelo

On Thursday March 1, Mrs. Reed from Portage Lake Watershed Forever came to talk to us about the watershed and what they do. The watershed covers 25 square miles of Onekama. It was started by Mike Acton in 2008. Mrs. Reed told to us about the invasive species and what we can do to protect the native ones. The invasive ones she talked about were Eurasian Watermilfoil, Phragmites and a little bit about Zebra Mussels. The invasive species get here on boats from other places around the world or even from other local lakes. She also talked about seawalls and how they can harm the environment. ~e-mail from Hope S.

Mrs. Reed came and talked about what a water shed is. She also talked about phragmites, Zebra mussels, and Eurasian water milfoil. She talked about not dumping oil and bad chemicals into the ground. I had a lot of fun learning about Portage Lake Water Shed Forever.
~Sylvia M.
Mrs. Reed came to Onekama schools to talk about the watershed. One thing she talked about was phragmites. They look pretty but they are evil plants with long roots that crowd out the native plants. Invasive species are bad- invasive means not native. Most invasive species come from the freighters. They come from the St Lawrence seaway. At the end she gave us all kinds of stuff like bags and water bottles. I had a fun time. ~James S. On Tuesday, March 1 Mrs. Reed came to teach us about the Portage Lake Watershed. She taught us about the invasive plants in Portage lake. She said the worst ones were Phragmites and Eurasian Water Mil foil. She said they got here by sticking to ships that came down the Lawrence seaway. She also told us to build seawalls out of long native grasses instead of steel. She taught us that the watershed spreads out 25 square miles from the lake.. I learned a lot. ~Brendan C. Thursday March 1, 2012 Mrs. Reed from the watershed group came. She told us about the watershed of Portage Lake being 25 sq. miles. She said some of the invasive species were Eurasian watermilfoil and phragmites. They get here by freighters and boats via St. Lawrence Seaway. If you make seawalls they should be natural and made of stuff like rocks and weeds. A water shed is a area where every thing in the area go's to that lake. ~Carson H.
Our class learned a lot about watersheds. We learned not to use steal seawalls. Use natural seawalls out of native plants and rocks. We had a lot of phragmites before you treated it. Now we have a lot less then we did. I learned about different invasive species. Watermilfoil is a plant that is under water does not supports our lake. I learned that a steal seawall hurts our fish because there was no where for the fish to lay their eggs. You had to put rocks around the steal seawall. I learned that zebra mussels are not native.  A watershed is a under ground tunnel system that empty's out in a spot. ~By Jared N. Mrs. Reed came to our room and talked about watersheds. We have a watershed in Onekama. She talk about how invasive species get to our lakes. They came to our lakes by freighters. The phragmites are like a weed. They grow on land next to water. The watershed is 25 sq
miles long. There are some other invasive species like Eurasian watermilfoil. Here's an other invasive specie. There called zebra mussels. They eat food that other fish eat. I wish Mrs. Reed could come to our class again.
~e-mailed by Aric H.
More information on
Portage Lake Watershed:
http://www.onekama.info/watershed/

Mrs. Catanese's Main page for 20011-2012

The Main Elementary Page for 2011-2012 

http://www.onekama.k12.mi.us leads to all pages since 1997