Hydro School: Engaging the next generation in hydropower discussions

IDAHO FALLS — For Idaho National Laboratory researchers, occurrence successful exertion improvement requires investigation and effective outreach. Outreach efforts see creating spaces wherever unfastened speech astir caller technologies and their affirmative and antagonistic implications is encouraged. Education is captious to advancing much efficient, economical and environmentally friends technologies while besides empowering nan communities these technologies service pinch assurance to advocator for themselves.

As 1 of nan galore cleanable power solutions, hydropower offers a assortment of benefits, including affordable renewable energy, procreation elasticity and resilience, and flood control, to sanction a few. Adding hydropower-generating infrastructure to h2o proviso systems aliases waterways tin besides bring a assortment of organization benefits, specified arsenic recreation, while avoiding immoderate biology impacts usually associated pinch accepted dams.

“Understanding nan benefits of hydropower, arsenic good arsenic its impacts some environmentally and socio-culturally, tin beryllium peculiarly important for historically underserved and underrepresented communities,” said Trevor Atkinson, lead connected nan project. “These communities person historically been excluded from decisions astir power development.”

Developing nan project

With backing from nan U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, INL researchers, immoderate of whom are tribal members, person group retired to prosecute pinch students of nan federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to talk astir hydropower.

Atkinson recognized nan taste and humanities value of h2o to nan Tribes and thought that students astatine nan Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High School successful Fort Hall, Idaho, would use from introductory and culturally focused hydropower information. He besides realized that nan INL researchers had overmuch to study from nan students regarding their accepted values and their perspectives connected hydropower and different types of development.

Atkinson and squad developed Hydro School, a summertime campy consisting of 2 days successful nan classroom, 1 successful nan section and a last time visiting a hydropower works successful Idaho Falls.

“The extremity of nan campy was to thief students understand important hydropower-related topics,” said Atkinson. “Discussion centered astir nan basics of hydropower, different technologies and applications, imaginable acquisition and profession pathways, and important taste implications pinch nan situation and tribal communities.”

A early successful hydropower

Hydro School began pinch introductory INL presentations astir hydropower. An interactive crippled called Slow Motion Extinction allowed students to dress to beryllium food to show really hydropower improvement tin effect migration patterns.

Cleve Davis, INL interrogator and personnel of nan Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, relayed a accepted oral history astir Coyote, a mythological being successful Shoshone-Bannock culture, and nan creation of earthy dams on nan Snake River. Davis summarized nan Tribes’ h2o rights, arsenic established successful nan 1990 Fort Hall Water Rights Agreement. He besides discussed nan Tribes’ narration to hydropower improvement and impacts upon earthy and culturally important landscapes, covering aspects some wrong and extracurricular nan tribal lands. Additionally, Davis emphasized nan Tribes’ sovereign authority successful managing and safeguarding their h2o resources.

Integrating this chat into nan campy helped students understand nan narration betwixt hydropower improvement and important earthy and taste resources. By addressing nan Tribes’ erstwhile challenges related to h2o authorities and honoring nan humanities value of water, instructors helped students study nan taste implications of deploying definite technologies connected ineffable onshore and rivers. In turn, nan instructors gained a deeper appreciation for nan students’ perspectives connected earthy and taste resources and power development.

Exploring profession opportunities

On time two, students explored hydropower profession opportunities and built exemplary hydropower turbines provided by nan Foundation for Water and Energy Education. Davis shared a emblematic time successful his life arsenic a tribal personnel and INL researcher. He highlighted his acquisition increasing up connected tribal lands, his world pursuits and challenges, and his occupation by showcasing examples of utilizing geographic accusation systems successful hydropower investigation astatine INL. Davis’ occurrence gave precocious schoolhouse students position connected nan opportunities disposable to them.

“I felt it was important to stock my profession travel pinch nan younker because it provided a tangible illustration of possibilities,” said Davis. “They could spot personification who shares their inheritance and practice win successful fields for illustration information subject and biology science.”

Along pinch nan chat surrounding Davis’ profession path, students played a choose-your-own-adventure crippled wherever they provided various responses to scenarios until they reached a imaginable career. They past learned astir important aspects of employment, including acquisition requirements and net ranges, successful various hydropower fields.

Student pairs ended nan time by building exemplary hydropower turbines to make electricity.

Water’s larger role

Day 3 of nan campy was a section travel to nan Spring Creek United States Geological Survey gauge position successful nan Fort Hall Snake River bottoms, an area that is ineffable to nan Tribes and has been impacted by hydropower development. Nolan Brown and Bailey Dann from nan Shoshone-Bannock Language and Cultural Preservation Department presented to nan group.

Brown and Dann described wildlife, seasons, accepted oral stories, really to pronounce wildlife names successful some Shoshone and Bannock languages, and nan value of nan stream bottoms.

They besides discussed linguistic and taste aspects of nan stream bottoms, emphasizing nan value of spring-fed creeks and h2o itself arsenic a root of life for all, including nan Shoshone and Bannock group who person made nan stream bottoms their location for millennia.

“Speaking astir nan Fort Hall Bottoms pinch students astatine nan Hydro School campy was a awesome opportunity for our younker not only to talk astir Western technological ways of knowing, but besides sharing pinch them ways of knowing from a taste lens,” said Dann. “For nan Shoshone-Bannock people, h2o isn’t conscionable a resource—it’s life itself. This campy provided an avenue to ignite a passion for connecting our languages and civilization to our situation and protecting our h2o for generations to come.”

Language instructors and unit besides shared aspects of nan earthy resources and their uses done nan Shoshone seasonal subsistence information calendar. This almanac displays nan 4 basal elements of life, nan 4 seasons, nan months, plants, animals and activities that exemplify a sample of nan Tribes’ seasonal subsistence and taste practices. Water is astatine nan halfway of nan calendar— nan root of life and cardinal to nan Tribes’ ongoing taste practices.

Students past collapsed into groups to cipher nan watercourse travel complaint and understand nan imaginable of producing hydropower pinch a hydrokinetic turbine. The activity helped students study really basal measurements cipher hydropower imaginable and nan biology impacts that must beryllium addressed.

Power works tour

The last time of nan Hydro School ended pinch a circuit of nan Idaho Falls Power Hydropower Plant, wherever students learned astir nan 50-megawatt analyzable and really its powerfulness is generated and distributed. The opportunity helped students put what they learned successful nan schoolroom into a beingness context.

Looking forward

Throughout nan camp, researchers highlighted some nan biology and taste impacts of hydropower. By learning astir nan heavy and rich | civilization successful nan Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, INL researchers gained insights into really hydropower tin effect and use communities.

To make hydropower and different cleanable power technologies viable options, organization members must person a opportunity successful nan deployment of those technologies. Engagement opportunities specified arsenic Hydro School summation nan accessibility of profession paths successful science, technology, engineering, mathematics fields. “Hydro School shows students that STEM fields are accessible to them, if they activity difficult and consistently prosecute their aspirations. If that is nan way they choose,” said Davis.