A watershed is the drainage area for a certain body of
water. Imagine a drop of water falling from the sky.
That drop falls on a hill. It will flow down the hill.
Eventually, that drop of water will end up at the point
of lowest elevation. See it animated. The drop could
then infiltrate into the ground or flow into a body of
water, in our case, the Brandywine Creek. Either way,
the drop has drained into the Brandywine Creek
watershed. The Brandywine Creek flows into the Christina
River, which eventually flows into the Delaware River,
which then drains into the Atlantic Ocean. This means
that we all live in more than one watershed. If you live
in the Brandywine watershed, you also live in the
Christina watershed, the Delaware watershed AND the
Atlantic watershed!
Watch this short video:
Your Watershed
(This video is an .avi file. If you prefer to
watch the YouTube version, please click play below.)
What is Watershed Education?
Watershed education is an interdisciplinary way to
explore issues of local significance. Since watersheds
are delineated by topography, and not political
boundaries (state, county, township lines), this type of
education fosters natural connections between people,
places and all of the living and nonliving things that
interact to create the communities (both natural and
societal) in which we live.
Learning the answers is about taking a holistic approach
to discovering the
who, what, where, when, why AND how!
This is watershed education!
The mission of the Brandywine Valley Association’s
education programs is to educate watershed residents in
the Brandywine Valley through meaningful experiences,
with an emphasis on hands-on field activities, that
demonstrate the interconnectedness of living organisms
and the watershed on which they rely.
Watershed education is an interdisciplinary way to
explore issues of local significance. Since watersheds
are delineated by topography, and not political
boundaries (state, county, township lines), this type of
education fosters natural connections between people,
places and all of the living and nonliving things that
interact to create the communities (both natural and
societal) in which we live.