Activity: Using a Ditch Map to Understand Water Use and History, by Karen L. Wolf

Return to Unit

Overview

Students will study a Boulder County ditch and reservoir map in order to understand and evaluate water resources, diversion projects, ground water versus surface water, location of ditches, determining owners and cubic feet per second water flow, and how this information affects their communities. Students will then choose ditches to research, eventually providing original maps, timelines of the ditches' histories, and charts that explain ditch data.

Purpose and learning goals

• Students will read a map and its legend.
• Students will locate map features and determine their functions.
• Students will answer questions regarding the map study.
• Students will discuss and evaluate connections between the map features and their own communities and responsibilities.
• Beyond this activity: Students will research a ditch and present its history, location, uses, data, and current information. Students will construct maps, timelines, and charts in order to present this information.

Prerequisite knowledge

Students need to and have studied water resources, water uses, water rights, water laws, ditch history, ditch construction, and changes to the environment around ditches, etc. They also need to know how to:

• Use on-line and book resources.
• Write higher level thinking (thought provoking) questions.
• Trace/draw a map and create a legend.
• Conduct interviews with public professionals.
• Work in groups cooperatively, not as "individuals in a group."

Intended grade level

9 - 12

Time involved

3 to 4 days for preparation and class time

Alignment to standards (for entire unit)

Colorado Model Content Standards (Boulder Valley School District standards are aligned with Colorado's)

• Geography:  1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.1, 2.3, 4.3, 4.5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2
• Science:  4.3, 5, 6 Language Arts:  1, 2, 4, 5

National Science Education Standards

Science

• Unifying concepts and processes
  • Change, constancy, and measurement
• F. Science in personal/social perspectives
  • Environmental quality
  • Natural and human-induced hazards
  • Natural resources
  • Personal and community health
  • Science/technology in local, national challenges
• G. History and nature of science Historical perspectives
  • Historical perspectives

Geography

• Environment and society
  • How human actions modify the physical environment
  • Changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources
• Human systems
  • How forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface
  • The process, patterns, and functions of human settlement
• Places and regions
  • The physical and human characteristics of places
• The uses of geography
• How to apply geography to interpret the past
• How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future
• The world in spatial terms
• How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information

Background information for the unit

• Map interpretation
• Basic geology
• Water resources: Types, uses, and pollution, etc.
• Water law and water rights: Their meaning, development, history, and courts, etc.
• Ditches of Boulder County and area: Their purpose, history, and construction, etc.
• General local and state history: Towns, constitution, and ranching/farming, etc.
• Terminology
• Resources:

• www.h2ouse.org
• www.basin.org 
• bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/index.html
• http://waterknowledge.colostate.edu/anasazi.htm
• http://water.state.co.us/org/History.asp
• www.leg.state.co.us/
• http://www.epa.gov
• http://nationalgeographic.com (map machine or education-for ideas)
• www.boulder.lib.co.us (Carnegie branch) 303-441-3110
• Colorado Foundation for Water Education
• University of Colorado publications by Professor Michael Holleran (Carnegie Library has copies of these): Anderson Ditch , Farmers Ditch, Silver Lake Ditch
• Boulder County Parks and Open Space personnel 303-441-3950 [I interviewed and received resources from an employee who has worked with ditches, water law and agriculture for over 20 years.]
• City of Boulder Public Works Utilities, Watershed Outreach Coordinator, 303-413-7365
• Boulder County Government (Annex): Planning 303-441-3930 and Transportation* 303-441-3900 (*Purchase ditch map here.)
• Ditch & Reservoir Map Directory and Map 2003 ($10 each-try to get one for each group if possible.) Directory has contacts for interviews.
• The Many Voices of the Boulder Creek Watershed (book-1996, by The Naropa Institute)
• Pioneer Voices of the Boulder Valley (book-1989, by Anne Dyni) This resource lists local ditches and some date about each.
• Citizen's Guide to Colorado Water Law (booklet-made for and available from CFWE for $7)
• Boulder Valley Ditches: a landscape preservation and design study (by CU, Denver, College of Architecture and Planning, 1994)
• Western Water Rights (book by Mary Ellen Wolfe, 1996)
• Cadillac Desert (book by Marc Reisner, 1986)
• Water and the American West: Essays in Honor of Raphael J. Moses (book edited by David Getches, 1988, CU School of Law, Boulder)
• Tradition, Innovation and Conflict: Perspectives on Colorado Water Law (book, Lawrence MacDonnell, Ed, 1986, CU School of Law)
• Western Water Made Simple (book, 1987, High Country News)
• Evolution and Administration of Colorado Water Law 1876-1976 (book by G. E. Radosevich, et al., 1976, Water Resource Publications)
• The Last Water Hole in the West [ The Colorado-Big Thompson Project and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District] (book by Daniel Tyler, 1992)
• Water in the West (booklet, J. B. Smallwood, Jr., Ed., 1983)
• The Good Neighbor Guidebook for Colorado (book, Nancy Greif and Erin Johnson, Eds., 2000) [See pages 9-12 and *51-61.]

Materials

• Paper, pencils, pens
• Colored pencils, thin markers
• Butcher block paper
• Rulers/meter sticks
• Scissors
• Glue (if students glue their charts/timelines onto their maps)
• Resources: Ditch & Reservoir Map Directory and Map 2003 (4 or more copies, if possible, depending on size of class) and other books, etc.
• Computers with internet access and a printer

Preparation

1. Study the background information listed above. Become familiar with the terms, resources, map, and Directory.
2. Collect resources for use in the classroom.
3. Collect materials for the ditch project.
4. Review student sheets and whether they are applicable to your lessons.
5. Create a handout of the terms for the unit.

Where to start in gathering materials and information? Ask your school or local librarians to help you gather resources from libraries, in order to provide you and the students with resources for your area. Then call local governments about departments that offer educational resources, including guest speakers.

What if you don't live in an area with ditches? Call your county planner's office, local universities, etc. and ask appropriate staff about water resources. Perhaps study the history and uses of man-made lakes, water towers, dams, pumping water from different locations, how water is allocated for your area, who is involved, or state legislation, etc.

Student sheets/guides

1. Day 2 activity: Water Use
2. Questions for Discussion or Exam (Review of topics to cover in the Water Rights Lecture and the Day 4 discussion.)
3. Ditch and Reservoir Map Activity

Procedure

Introduction

• Hang up the map and ask students to verbally identify or predict:
  • Types of water features
  • Urban areas
  • Where the most water runoff is found
  • Where watersheds are found
• Explain the map's legend.
• Divide students into groups of 3 or 4.
• Pass out the maps and directories.

Body

• Pass out the assignment (See Student sheets/guidelines-Ditch and Reservoir Map Activity)
  • Have students read it and answer any questions. Provide a time frame, such as an hour.
• Students will complete the activity in groups.
• Monitor and facilitate student progress. Answer questions as needed.

Conclusion

• Discuss answers to the map activity.
• Explain the parts of ditch project.
  • Choose a ditch.
  • Trace the quadrants of the ditch.
  • Magnify the ditch area to a larger scale and begin their ditch project (map, timeline and chart).
    • Map should be similar to the Boulder County Ditch and Reservoir Map, similar in size but of a smaller area. The map should have a legend with color-coded items. It should show water sources and drainage.
    • Timeline should begin when the ditch was built and continue to present. Students should label the years and provide a brief descriptions of major events surrounding ditches and the "life" of your particular ditch. Include ownership, laws, construction, diverting waters, physical and rights changes, uses, managers, laterals, bridges, and safety, etc.
    • Chart should display data, including dates, length, days in run, acres of irrigation, crops irrigated, and changes in usage, etc.
    • See pamphlets on Anderson, Farmers and Silver Lake ditches. Three groups should choose these ditches.
• Students begin the ditch project.

Reflecting on the activity/ideas for assessment

• Rubric for grading maps, timelines and charts. Evaluate content, accuracy, clarity (legend, water flow, ditches, etc.), organization of information, quality of presentation, and quality and effort for topic questions prepared for classmates.
• Participation checklist and/or points for all steps/activities in unit and effective use of time.
• Credit/points for trivia cards.
• Points for worksheet completion and accuracy.
• Answers to questions regarding ditch map activity.
• Discuss cultural effects and changes in relationship to ditches.

Extensions and applications

• Research the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse, and/or other relevant species, and how they have affected lands next to waterways, including ditches and the people who own the land.
• Students can generate their own personal goals for water conservation.
• Take a field trip to look at ditches and the remains of laterals, etc.
• Show the film The Milagro Bean Field War and discuss the different groups affected and how to determine fair solutions.

Adaptations for special needs

• Provide a simplified list of criteria for ditch project (smaller legend, fewer items on timeline, smaller chart, etc.).
• Allow more time.
• Provide examples for each step of the unit.

Related activities (Also see Extentions and applications above)

• Hydrology issues in the Denver Metro Area
• Ecosystems affected by water resources and human changes to water resources
• Topography and orienteering
• Ranching, farming topics, and changes - past and present
• Historical waterways
• State and federal laws that affect the environment and resources

Return to Unit