Certified Ambassadors Launch Awareness Campaign at 109-Square-Mile Lake
A group of eighth-graders at Bear Lake Middle School has spent the past academic year investigating one of the region’s most pressing environmental challenges: the rapid spread of invasive Eurasian watermilfoil across Bear Lake, a 109-square-mile body of water straddling the Idaho-Utah border.
The students earned certification as STEM Ambassadors through the University of Idaho Extension’s Idaho STEM Ecosystem program while enrolled in Heidi Northover’s STEM Leadership Academy elective class. Now in her second year teaching the course, Northover guided 18 students through a hands-on project combining field research, stakeholder interviews, and public education to address the milfoil problem.
The invasive plant spreads rapidly in Bear Lake, a threat that prompted the student researchers to develop and evaluate potential control strategies. During a field trip to the lake led by Jessie Danninger, the lands program manager for Bear Lake and Bear River with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, students raked milfoil samples and recorded data. They also interviewed Brady Long, executive director of the nonprofit Bear Lake Watch, to understand the scope of conservation efforts already underway.
Through their research, the students examined several mitigation approaches, including covering plants with tarps, introducing grass carp and weevil species to consume the plant, and using direct injection of salt or herbicide into milfoil roots. After weighing the effectiveness of each method, they concluded that direct injection of herbicide offered the most promise. Danninger told the class that direct injection of herbicide had not yet been formally considered but may be worth further discussion among resource managers.
Unique Challenges in Bear Lake’s Chemistry
The students quickly learned that Bear Lake presents unusual obstacles to standard weed-control methods. The lake’s distinctive turquoise color, visible from miles away, results from light refracted through suspended limestone particles. That same limestone content interferes with herbicide penetration, and the lake’s strong oceanlike currents carry chemical treatments away from targeted milfoil patches—complications that make traditional approaches less viable than they would be in other water bodies.
Once their research phase concluded, the students transitioned to public outreach. They organized and led multiple school assemblies to educate peers about the milfoil invasion, then created and distributed flyers with facts about the problem and a link to the Bear Lake Watch petition. As part of their STEM Ambassador requirements, the group also toured a local chocolate manufacturer and movie theater to understand practical applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in community businesses.
Wyatt Loertscher, a seventh-grader and fellow STEM Ambassador, articulated the stakes of the work in blunt terms: “Left alone in shallow, slow-moving waters, milfoil turns into thick mats of weeds, making recreation and boating really hard. The Eurasian milfoil can also ruin fish habitats.”
Long, whose organization has fought to preserve Bear Lake’s ecological and recreational value, expressed gratitude for the students’ contribution. “I’m very grateful for the work they’re doing. I think their model should be followed by every other group of stakeholders that love the lake,” he said.
Expanding the Initiative for Future Years
Looking ahead to the 2026-27 school year, Northover plans to have her STEM Leadership Academy students develop a comprehensive milfoil-focused curriculum aligned with state math, reading, and writing standards. Her goal is to distribute that curriculum to elementary schools throughout the region, potentially seeding awareness of the invasive species problem among younger students and building a pipeline of informed future stewards.
The Idaho STEM Action Center recently recognized Bear Lake Middle School’s efforts by adding it to the state’s list of STEM-certified schools. Northover, who serves on the Idaho EcosySTEM Steering Committee, continues to collaborate with Ashley Schaffner, the University of Idaho Extension EcosySTEM regional hub coordinator, to strengthen the program and expand its reach.
Bear Lake, recognized as North America’s oldest lake, has long been prized for its natural beauty and recreational opportunities. The milfoil invasion represents a threat to both. By positioning middle school students as researchers and educators, Northover’s program demonstrates how science education can address real-world conservation challenges while preparing the next generation to think critically about environmental stewardship in their own communities.
What Comes Next
The students’ research findings and recommendations will continue to inform discussions among resource managers on both sides of the Idaho-Utah border. As the STEM Leadership Academy curriculum development moves forward during the 2026-27 academic year, elementary schools in the region may begin incorporating milfoil awareness into their own science and literacy instruction, broadening the educational reach of the Bear Lake Middle School ambassadors’ work.