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Boys and Girls Club members get lessons in water pollution

About 40 children from the Pawhuska Boys and Girls Club got lessons in protecting water from pollution during the “Children of the Middle Waters Day” on Aug. 4.

“If you pollute the water, you’re going to have a problem with these animals and their going to go away,” Osage Language Program instructor Talee Red Corn told the children. He repeated “Ni” to the children, which is Osage for water and introduced environmental officials who offered hands-on demonstrations of how they protect water bodies.

“Ni-o-ka-ska” Day is a collaboration effort of entities including the Nation’s Language Program, Environmental and Natural Resources Department, Education Department and the Minerals Council. Environmental officials from the Pawnee Nation also participated in the hands-on exercises with the attendees.

The children traveled to the pond on the Osage Nation Campus where they learned how to assess a body of water such as a lake or river to evaluate it.

Danna Washbourne, environmental specialist for the Nation’s ENR, showed the children how to use a multi-parameter probe that measure’s a water body’s quality which includes its temperature, depth and ph level. She said the department tests five creeks once a month and collects fish from the creeks every other year to measure its health.

Pawnee Nation environmental officials Kelly Kersey and Phillip Cravatt say they collect bugs and fish from the water to assess its health. They taught the children to use nets to collect the water life and the children counted the bugs as part of the evaluation.

 


By

Benny Polacca


Original Publish Date: 2009-08-25 00:00:00

Author

  • Benny Polacca

    Title: Senior Reporter

    Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

    Instagram: @bpolacca

    Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

    Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

    Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

    Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

    Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

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Benny Polacca
Benny Polaccahttps://osagenews.org

Title: Senior Reporter

Email: bpolacca@osagenation-nsn.gov

Instagram: @bpolacca

Topic Expertise: Government, Tribal Government, Community

Languages spoken: English, basic knowledge of Spanish and French

Benny Polacca (Hopi/ Havasupai/ Pima/ Tohono O’odham) started working at the Osage News in 2009 as a reporter in Pawhuska, Okla., where he’s covered various stories and events that impact the Osage Nation and Osage people. Those newspaper contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics and issues from tribal government matters to features. As a result, Polacca has gained an immeasurable amount of experience in covering Native American affairs, government issues and features so the Osage readership can be better informed about the tribal current affairs the newspaper covers.

Polacca is part of the Osage News team that was awarded the Native American Journalists Association's Elias Boudinet Free Press Award in 2014 and has won numerous NAJA media awards, as well as awards from the Oklahoma Press Association and SPJ Oklahoma Pro Chapter, for storytelling coverage and photography.

Polacca earned his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and also participated in the former American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota where he was introduced to the basics of journalism and worked with seasoned journalists there and later at The Forum daily newspaper covering the Fargo, N.D. area where he worked as the weeknight reporter.

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