Giving nature a hand

MAT-SU — Alex Harrison struggled to lift a heavy bucket full of wet, black dirt on the bank of the Little Su River recently. When the Teeland Middle School seventh-grade student finally wrestled the bucket under control he heaved the dirt into an area being reclaimed by his peers and conservation workers.

Harrison was one of many students helping to restore the bank of the Little Su near the Schrock Road crossing. Years of four-wheelers and trucks driving near and across the river have left deep ruts and destroyed some of the natural ecology of the area.

That’s what members of the Wasilla Soil and Water Conservation District — along with their middle school counterparts — are hoping to reverse.

But the serious work of restoring a natural piece of the Valley back to its near-original form doesn’t mean students couldn’t also have some fun.

“It’s always good to get dirty, especially when you don’t have to sit in class,” Harrison said.

For George Taylor, a restoration specialist with the conservation district, having the help of Teeland students is a boon for the area.

“The difference is amazing,” Taylor said of improvements around the Schrock Road crossing.

Walking along a rutted area from the road to what appears to be an overused river crossing, damage by motorized vehicles is apparent. Science teacher Rhett Buckanan said the area is looking far better than it did last year.

“But it still needs some work,” Buckanan said.

As students worked in groups, some carried buckets of dirt, others anchored trees to the ground in an effort to deter motorized river crossings, conservation district worker Brianne Athearn pointed out what seems to be a new pastime near the river.

“It appears it has become a paintball arena,” Athearn said, pointing out boulders peppered with paintball marks.

Nonetheless, teacher Mike Shea said he and his fellow teachers will try to bring their science students back to the Schrock Road crossing for many years to come — if not to save a bit of Valley nature, then to get their students out of the class to do some learning in the mud.

Contact Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or michael.rovito@frontiersman.com.