With the Ohio River playing such a critical role in the local ecosystem, the river is an ideal classroom for New Richmond High School's environmental science class taught by Logan Minning.
Thomas More College's Biology Field Station (located on the Ohio River across from New Richmond at the site of old Lock 35) became Minning's classroom Oct. 22 where her students received real-world experiences in the fields of microbiology, water chemistry, fish surveys, biological assessments, and toxicology.
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| NRHS environmental science students (from left) Jake Hauke, Levi Simpson, Felicity Elsaesser, Laura Huddleston, Chelsey Fawley, Malik Davis and Nathan Snider on the banks of the Ohio River. |
"I attended Thomas More and studied at the Field Station under Dr, Chris Lorentz and I take my class on a field trip there once a year," said Minning. "This year we studied river ecology including water quality, macroinvertebrates (animals with no backbones that can be seen by the naked eye) as well as electric shock fishing."
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| NRHS environmental science students Chris Lawrence, Danny Minervini, Felicity Elsaesser, Raven Miller, Dee Roaden and Hannah Hensley get on board research boats at Thomas More's Biology Research Station. |
The Biology Field Station uses electric shock fishing to study the ecosystem around Duke Energy's Beckjord generating plant including the variation between the fish populations upstream and downstream of the plant.
"Our students sent electric current into the water which shocked any nearby fish which they caught in nets, identified, measured, studied and then released back into the water unharmed," said Mining.
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| Bailey Workman, Korinne Gilman, April Schmidt, and Nathan Rostetter study macroinvertebrates during their field trip to Thomas More's Biology Research Station. |
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| Levi Simpson holds an Ohio River carp caught near Duke Energy's Beckjord station. |
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| NRHS senior Alexis Cook overcame her fear of holding a fish during the field trip to Thomas More's Biology Research Station. |
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| Malik Davis, Shelby English, Paige Willhoff and Alexis Cook during a break from research at Thomas More's Biology Research Station on the Ohio River across from New Richmond. |
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| Chelsey Fawley holds a carp caught by electric shock for study at the Biology Research Station. The carp was returned to the water unharmed. |
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| NRHS studnts in Logan Minning's environmental science class do water ecology tests at Thomas More's Biology Research Station on the Ohio River at the site of old Lock 35. |
