Nyssa Elementary students try out their paddle skills as they float a raft on the Owyhee River. (The Enterprise/Kristine de Leon)
OWYHEE DAM – Hundreds of students from Malheur County and western Idaho gathered Wednesday at the park below the Owyhee Dam for the 17th annual Owyhee Field Day.
Fifth-graders from 10 different schools learned about their watershed and its role in agriculture, natural resources, energy and the outdoors during the event organized by the Owyhee Watershed Council on Wednesday. Another group of fifth-graders, mainly from Ontario schools, will head down to the Owyhee Dam Thursday.
In small groups, students rotate through 29 hands-on learning stations from vector control, noxious weeds, fly fishing, watersheds, cow metabolism, fishing, rafting and more.
Local FFA Chapters – from Adrian, Vale, Nyssa, Jordan Valley, Harper and Ontario – assisted with the coordination of field day workshops, and hundreds of local organizations pitched in to support the event.
A trailer full of students head back to the Owyhee Irrigation District Park after touring the dam.
Jordan Valley FFA’s Tayler Eiguren, Birch Eiguren, Kate Gooch and Tina Gammett pose by the station they lead about vaccinations.
Emily Henry, Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador, traveled from Portland to teach students about the dairy industry at Field Day.
Students from St. Peter’s Catholic School learn about geology at a station led by Integra’s Idaho-based Delamar Mining Company.
Nyssa students learn about the history and construction of the Owyhee Dam.
Students learn how to tie knots and fly fish.
Nyssa Elementary students practice their new rafting skills on the Owyhee.
Adrian’s Lizzie Morford teaches students about crops that grow around the Treasure Valley.
Students head back to the buses to go back to their schools.
Nyssa FFA’s Syriah Trujillo sticks her arm into a cow’s fistula to find out what’s been eaten.
