LARIMORE - High school students here are looking at the Turtle River differently after spending part of their school year monitoring its health.

"There's almost a civic thing that comes out," said Dan Driessen, a North Dakota State University extension agent who has led the school's River Watch program.

"They look at the water differently. They see pop cans or bottles next to the river, and it bothers them. They want to make sure the Turtle River is clean," he said.

The program is funded with a $12,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and assisted by River Network, a national nonprofit environmental group.

Students were recruited by biology teacher Lorie Berthold to sample Turtle River water for sediment and pollution, and record evidence of stream bank erosion and development.

They're preparing reports and video presentations of their work for the school board and watershed forums in Fargo and Winnipeg.

"They are looking at water quality in all kinds of ways," Driessen said.

The 11 students took their last measurements for the year on Wednesday. Bundled in caps, scarves and mittens, they used a weighted line to break through the thin ice before dropping collection tubes and scientific probes into the water.

Some of the collected water was poured into a long, transparent tube. A smaller sample was put into a turbidimeter, which uses a laser to measure the amount of sediment.

The equipment, worth about $5,000, is used to measure the river's dissolved oxygen, acidity, temperature and conductivity.

The Larimore students also have been checking for macro invertebrates, critters such as crayfish whose presence or absence speaks volumes about water quality, Berthold said.

They make note of other wildlife, such as magpies, beavers and wild turkeys, or unusual plants, such as lily pads. Last month, the group noted small amounts of oil around the water at one of their seven monitoring sites, Berthold said.

In addition to monitoring and making presentations, the students plan to teach a lesson on water and watersheds to elementary and middle-school students.

By participating in the River Watch program, the students are learning about more than water quality, Driessen said.

"We're doing science, math and geography, by looking at where is this water is going," he said.