Pretend this is all the water in the world.

This 2 ½ cups represents all fresh water.

Out of the 2 ½ cups comes ¾ cup representing all unfrozen fresh water.

This 1 ¼ teaspoons is all the water in lakes and rivers.

One-fifth of this ( ¼ tsp) is in the Great Lakes. This 1 ¼ teaspoons is all the water in lakes and rivers. One-fifth of this ( ¼ tsp) is in the Great Lakes.

This activity is designed to help students: How to draw watersheds This activity is designed to help students: Define the boundaries of a watershed Locate and describe major river systems in Michigan and watersheds of the Great Lakes This is part of the Watershed Wonderland lesson

Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it (ground water) or drains off of it (surface water) goes into the same place. WATERSHED drained by a river, river system, or other body of water separated from other watersheds by higher land (drainage divide) A watershed is like a large bathtub. When a drop of water hits anywhere in that bathtub, it eventually finds its way to the drain. The edges of the bathtub define the watershed boundary. They can cross county, state, and national boundaries. In the contiguous US, there are 2,110 watersheds; including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2,267 watersheds. Human activity within a watershed in one location can affect all locations Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes

Watershed Wonderland Some watersheds are very small, and are part of larger watersheds. On this map, find and mark Saginaw Bay. The river that flows into Saginaw Bay is the Saginaw River. What do we call the place it empties into the Bay? Mark the mouth of the Saginaw River. Find and label the Saginaw Bay and MOUTH of the Saginaw River.

Watershed Wonderland Trace the Saginaw River…. Trace the Saginaw River and its tributaries UPRIVER (hard to paddle against the current). Trace all the rivers and tributaries that go into the Saginaw River. Trace the Saginaw River…. and all its tributaries.

Watershed Wonderland And trace the other rivers flowing into the bay. There is another set of rivers that flow into the Bay further north – trace them also. Now we can draw the watershed boundaries around the rivers – the rule is that we can’t cross a river. Start at the dot, and trace all the way around to the other side of Saginaw Bay without crossing a river. . And trace the other rivers flowing into the bay.

Watershed Wonderland What does this line represent? Since all rivers flow DOWN, each of the river sources must be uphill from Saginaw Bay. This line represents the highest areas around the Saginaw Bay watershed, and is the watershed boundary. Without crossing a river, outline the Saginaw Bay Watershed.

Watershed Wonderland If we used a different color to trace all the rivers that flowed into the four Great Lakes that surround Michigan, we could see several “Divides”. What do they represent? Using 4 different colors, trace the rivers flowing into each of the Great Lakes that surround Michigan.

Watershed Wonderland Drawing boundaries (without crossing a river) shows the watershed boundaries for all the Great Lakes.

Watershed Wonderland These lines represent the higher elevations in Michigan, and are near the sources for all our rivers.

This map shows the locations of highlands in Michigan Michigan Elevation Watershed Boundaries Great Lakes Watershed Boundaries This map shows the locations of highlands in Michigan

Notice where the rivers of Michigan start! Michigan Elevation Notice where the rivers of Michigan start! (source) Write a sentence explaining the relationship between topography and watersheds.

Where does our water go? Can you name the Lakes and Rivers on its journey? Can you name the Lakes and Rivers on its journey? St. Lawrence River Lake Huron Lake Michigan Lake Ontario St. Clair River Lake Erie Lake St Clair Detroit River

Can you draw the Great Lakes Watershed?

Start on the south side of the St. Lawrence River Remember not to cross a river!

Great Lakes Watershed

Great Lakes Watershed More than one quarter of the population of Canada live in the Great Lakes Basin More than one tenth of the population of the US live in the Great Lakes Basin We share the Great Lakes Watershed with Canada.