Students Unite To Protect Wildlife At Lagerman Reservoir

LONGMONT, CO -- Next Tuesday, March 19, a group of Westview Middle School students will help to install three new fishing line collection tubes at Lagerman Reservoir just west of Longmont, according to a press release from Boulder County Parks and Open Space. The conservation project will be executed in collaboration with Boulder County Parks & Open Space and students worked to fund the project with grants from the Parks & Open Space Foundation and National Geographic.

Abandoned fishing line harms and sometimes kills wildlife when birds and other animals get tangled in line discarded at the site, or later, at landfills.

According to their science teacher, Jayme Margolin-Sneider, the students wanted to make a difference in their community, specifically in terms of conservation. According to the press release, they decided to focus on parks near their school, beginning with Pella Crossing Open Space.

The students worked together to create and build fishing line collection tubes, similar to those seen at other regional fishing sites, for Pella Crossing. They worked with staff to choose optimal sites and install the collection tubes. Students also monitored and mapped the locations to study how the tubes were being used, and where trash was being found.

Anglers are encouraged to use the collection tubes for used line, hooks, and sinkers to keep these items out of the landfill. The collected fishing line can then be recycled. It will be picked up by Parks & Open Space staff and sent on to a company that turns old line into fish habitat structures and other products.

The project won't be over after the Lagerman work—future plans include installations at Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat east of Boulder and Stearns Lake in the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve at Rock Creek Farm in southeast Boulder County.

Do you like this article? Join the Boulder Patch on Facebook! Stay in touch with the news and events that shape Boulder County. Sign up for your free Patch newsletter here.