The Trek to Tar Creek With Mrs. Chatwin
By Ronnie Walker
Mrs. Chatwin’s AP Environmental Science class took a field trip to Picher, OK, Miami, OK and the Oklahoma Paddlefish Research Center on Oct. 21. The trip focused on remediation efforts by the Quapaw Nation, clean water activism by Miami residents and management of the paddlefish population throughout eastern Oklahoma.
Mrs. Chatwin’s AP Environmental Class at the merging of Tar Creek with Lytle Creek. Photo captured by Quapaw personnel.
Photo of one of many chat piles taken by Ronnie Walker
The main focus of the trip—the touring of Picher, OK—came first. Picher, located in the heart of the Tri-State mining district, was a massive producer of lead and zinc for over a century. Over time, mining companies left ‘chat’ (mining waste with high heavy metal content) to accumulate on the surface. Combined with subsurface mining, the horrific state of the environment poisoned Picher’s youth. As a result, in 1980, it was included in the Tar Creek Superfund Site; thirty five years later, Picher became a ghost town.
Today, Picher stands as a monument to why environmental sustainability is so important. The Quapaw nation toured the group of students around the superfund site, showcasing the significant efforts of their remediation team. The work is far from over, but their progress is promising and remarkable. Water testing was performed by the students in an effort to understand the degree of pollution in Tar Creek. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), pH, heavy metal concentrations and much more were measured in various locations around the merging of Tar Creek and Lytle Creek.
The effects of the environmental disaster at Tar Creek extend far beyond the superfund site as the water is spreading throughout the Grand Lake system. It should be no surprise then that clean water activism is widespread in Miami, just downstream from Picher. As such, the group then visited one of these activist groups. Students toured a portion of the damaged riverfront with some of these activists, witnessing the cascading effects of Tar Creek firsthand.
Photo of the merging of Tar Creek with Lytle Creek, taken by Ronnie Walker
Afterward, the trip turned to another aspect of environmental sustainability—population management. The group visited the Oklahoma Paddlefish Research Center to learn about population conservation by the Oklahoma government. Due to their tireless conservation efforts, the paddlefish population in Oklahoma is among the highest in the nation. Some of these efforts to secure the paddlefish population are tagging, slot limits, prohibited zones and much more.
Attending students agreed that the trip aided their knowledge of environmental sustainability and population management. AP Environmental students have another big field trip to look forward to in the next semester: caving in western Oklahoma.