PTHS students are hands-on in studying environmental science

By Linda Lenz

The Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) program is designed for students interested in environmental and natural sciences, and this year it’s taken Port Townsend High School (PTHS) students out into the field for several projects.

APES students have been out testing water quality, performing surveys aimed at determining the health of salmon populations and conducting forest health assessments to study the Dungeness River and Quimper Wildlife Corridor, along with other general science.

Teamed with Jefferson Land Trust to study the Quimper Wildlife Corridor, students performed a forest health assessment using a well-established data collection protocol. In total, they completed 15 vegetation survey plots, with each plot being a circle with a radius of 26 feet, 4 inches, which is equivalent to about 1/20th of an acre.  They collected tree-diameter measures at breast height on all trees in the plot by species, collected data on standing snags, canopy cover, common mid-layer plants and common ground covers by abundance, and downed log transects. Then they did a walk between all plots to observe surrounding conditions such as structural diversity, signs of disturbance, species diversity and wildlife usage. 

Different hands-on science occurred on field trips to the Dungeness River, where students collected instantaneous water-quality data using Vernier sensors funded by a Port Townsend Education Foundation grant. They also performed macro-invertebrate surveys to determine longer-term water quality. Both sets of data indicate good water quality and suitable conditions for salmon. However, the river flow was exceptionally low, even for this time of year, and, most likely related to this, we did not see any adult salmon (though they are at the mouth where there are some deeper pools). 

Students took the field-collected data and will build a spreadsheet to include some summary calculations. After analyzing the data, it will be provided to the Land Trust with some management suggestions on what actions could be taken within each zone. The goal is to try to get the forest into a healthier, more mature state. The suggestions will include various possible actions, such as multi-layered, or multi-cohort, approaches to address standing snags, downed logs, light penetration, species diversity and so forth. 

Linda Lenz is a teacher at Port Townsend High School. She has overseen the Advanced Placement Environmental Science program since its return in 2022.

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