Who Makes Decisions About Dams? Stakeholder Role Play

Food web of orcas Image Description under Featured Image Description Heading
Learning Goals
  1. Students will develop an argument for or against breaching the dams.
  2. Students will be able to explain how human impacts affect the ecosystem.
  3. Students will assess how the health of the chinook salmon population is directly connected to the health of the southern resident orcas.
Materials List

Handouts

Important Links

Featured Image Description

Illustration of a food web featuring orcas. The image is a cross section of the sea. At the top are two white clouds, the waterline, then the marine life before the sea floor that makes up the bottom the image. From top to bottom and then left to right there are: orca, phytoplankton, plainfin midshipman, zooplankton, sea cucumber, bat star, sea urchin, kelp bass, sea otter, black rockfish, and kelp. White arrows connect the web based on each species diet.

Time: 2 periods of 45 mins

This Lesson appears as a part of the following:
Water Power Implementation Toolkit

This lesson empowers students to explore the roles of the stakeholders who are at play. Through role-playing, students will learn about the varied opinions regarding the dam removal and will ultimately have to reach a compromise as a class after a mock public forum.

 

Future Needs of the PNW Hydropower System

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