Montana State Parks and Flathead Lake State Park hosted their annual Fall Fest on Saturday, October 12th. The event celebrates the coming of fall and all of the changes it brings to Flathead Valley. Big Sky Watershed Corps Member Brianna Elizondo, with Monitoring Montana Waters, and Kelly Minear, Education Coordinator at Flathead Lake Biological Station, participated in the event and had a table representing the Bio Station.  

The FLBS table provided event attendees with family friendly activity books relating to Flathead Lake and aquatic invasive species. Kelly and Brianna interacted with parents telling them all about FLBS and also taught the kids about where Phytoplankton live within the water column and what they look like under the microscope. Kids then had the chance to compete to create their own Phytoplankton that would sink slowly through the water. It was so fun to see how competitive the kids were to win this reverse race. The event also included crafts such as mask designing and face painting, prizes, wagon rides, games, stories, and a fire to roast hot dog and s’mores. The whole family was able to have fun with their community at this event.  

MMW also participated in the Fall 2024 Teacher Workshop hosted by the Flathead Community of Resource Educators and the Flathead Lake Biological Station. Teachers learned what resources are available to their classroom and had the opportunity to explore a variety of educational trunks from Audubon, CSKT, U.S. Forest Service, Hockaday Art Musuem, and Glacier National Park. Teachers also heard from the MMW team about how we monitor waters in Montana and how citizen scientists are playing an essential role in keeping Montana’s waters healthy. They received hands-on practice in stream sampling through kick netting and macroinvertebrate ID. They also learned about dynamic equilibrium beaches from a Flathead Lakes State Park ranger. This workshop provided teachers with the chance to get some lessons to share with their students!