© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 10 The Earth Scientist

Abstract

Aquatic invasive species are an environmental threat throughout the entire 

continent, and students in a landlocked, rural South Dakota school district also find 

themselves at the forefront of the struggle against invasive species. A NOAA Planet 

Stewards project in the 2021-22 school year for middle and high school students 

on aquatic invasive species resulted in a substantial attitudinal change along with 

increased content understanding. While the issue of aquatic invasive species 

presented its own logistical problems, these challenges were, for the most part, 

successfully navigated to meet stewardship goals resulting in a remarkable learning 

experience for both students and teachers alike. 

Introduction

Pole of inaccessibility...no doubt this is an obscurely known reference to most. Pole of 

inaccessibility is an old navigation reference that refers to the farthest point from land 

in an ocean or on land, the farthest point from the ocean. South Dakota is the pole of 

inaccessibility for the North American continent. It is more than a geographical oddity; 

it can also serve conceptually in many minds as a seemingly pervasive sense of isolation, 

perhaps, even a sense of security from the rest of the world’s problems. When it comes to 

aquatic invasive species, South Dakota was one of the last places in North America that had 

to deal with the budding issue, but as time has progressed, these threats edged closer and 

closer to our front door step. Once they became evident in our state, it was apparent that 

we were no more immune than the rest. Now South Dakota has invasive Asian carp as far 

up the Missouri River as Gavins Point Dam and the entirety of the James River and most of 

the Vermillion River. Asian carp, specifically bighead carp, grass carp, and silver carp can 

starve any trophic level above producers by consuming large quantities of algae each day. 

The impact can be quite dramatic for a fishery. For example, even though these exotic carp 

species have only been present in the United States since the 1970s, they are now pound-forpound the dominant fish species in terms of population density throughout the Mississippi 

River and its connecting tributaries leading to the decimation of local native fish stocks 

and having a negative impact on recreational fishing. Asian carp not only harm our aquatic 

ecosystems, but they can physically harm recreationalists (Atwal 2012). As a cautionary 

tale to all for introducing a new species to an environment, silver carp have taken on an 

Unwelcome Guests: Combating Aquatic Invasive 

Species through Education, Habitat Conservation 

and Restoration

Spencer Cody, Edmunds Central Middle and High School, Roscoe, South Dakota

Photo credit: Billy Skaradek
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XL, Issue 2 Page 11

unusual characteristic of jumping out of the water when startled. This is a rarely observed 

characteristic among this same species in its native China, but in America boaters have 

suffered severe injury due to, up to a 100 lbs., silver carp hitting them in the face making 

recreation on infested waters dangerous for boaters (Vetter and Mensinger, 2016). Just as 

we have faced a threat of aquatic invasive species migrating up our rivers through Asian 

carp, we soon realized the growing frontlines in aquatic invasive species with the presence 

of zebra mussels in dozens of South Dakota bodies of water. Zebra mussels and their close 

relative quagga mussels pose an equally devastating ecological problem for our bodies of 

water. Zebra and quagga mussels can cause great ecological harm to plankton communities, 

therefore, negatively impacting the entire food chain in a freshwater ecosystem. Zebra and 

quagga mussels were both likely brought to North America through untreated ballast water 

dumped into the Great Lakes during the late 1980s. Through untreated ballast water, they 

were able to make a trip all the way around the world from their native Caspian Sea range to 

infest the waters of America. Once infesting the Great Lakes, they entered the Mississippi 

drainage system through the Chicago River. Now recreation boaters are the unwitting 

spreaders of these mussels to water bodies that are not connected to the Mississippi drainage 

system (Prather, 2009). While South Dakota awaits its first confirmed quagga infestation, 

zebra mussels continue to expand their range in South Dakota. With such a daunting set of 

ecological challenges facing South Dakota concerning aquatic invasive species, we decided to 

take action through our project made possible by funding from NOAA Planet Stewards.

Racing to Keep Up with the Frontlines of the Invasion

Our project was designed to help combat aquatic invasive organisms by attaining three 

goals; curriculum development and education, habitat conservation through stewardship, 

and habitat restoration through stewardship. In order to meet our habitat conservation 

and habitat restoration stewardship goals, we planned to engage 60 students to complete 

stewardship activities, inspect and/or clean 500 boats/watercraft, inspect and/or clean 500 

bait buckets, inspect and/or clean 500 live wells, inspect 50 aquariums, remove 500 kg of 

Asian carp, and 10 kg of invasive mussels. During the fall semester of 2021, students were 

engaged in habitat conservation stewardship by engaging in boat inspections/cleanings, bait 

Image 1:  Edmunds central students learning about zebra mussel removal 

while inspecting a boatlift infested with zebra mussels on Pickerel Lake

At the time of our visit, zebra mussels had colonized most hard surfaces in 

the lake even though the first confirmed zebra mussel in the lake was only 

discovered 15 months prior to our survey visit. Photo credit: Spencer Cod

Image 2:  Edmunds Central students inspecting riprap at Enemy Swim Lake 

for zebra mussels. Invasive mussels can easily spread from lake to lake as

hitchhikers on boats and recreation equipment. Enemy Swim was only a

couple of miles from a lake with a known zebra mussel infestation at the time 

of our survey. While we did not find any zebra mussels on our stop in October

of 2021, by July of 2022 zebra mussels were confirmed in the lake

Photo credit: Spencer Cody
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 12 The Earth Scientist

bucket inspections/cleanings, live well inspections/cleanings, and aquarium inspections 

along with site visits to inspect lake accesses for possible infestations for documentation. 

Students were also engaged in habitat restoration through stewardship through site visits to 

known infested waters to work on removing mussels. The inspection and cleaning numbers 

and restoration removal amounts required students to not just complete these inspections 

and removals on their own watercraft and equipment and 

shorefront but branch out to neighbors, friends, businesses, 

and other local contacts associated with fishing and 

watercraft, thoroughly, permeating our local area with our 

message. While we exceeded our goal in mussel removal 

due to our fortune of working with a watercraft company 

in the fall of 2021 for boat lift removal during a fall zebra 

mussel survey of lakes in Northeastern South Dakota, mussel 

removal opportunities since that point in time were few and 

far between. 

In South Dakota invasive mussels can be removed, but they 

cannot be transported. This makes removal very tricky and 

getting permission trickier. Additionally, known infested 

waters are not locally close to our school district making these 

opportunities for removal more difficult for our students to 

access. The same problem was experienced with the Asian 

carp removal. They cannot be transported and removal is 

difficult since flying silver carp are dangerous to boaters 

attempting to retrieve them, and infestation locations are not near our school. Not to be 

deterred, we expanded our removal efforts to include common carp to some degree of success. 

Our numbers for inspections and cleanings assumed that our arrangements made in the fall 

for inspection points would be carried out in the spring and summer of 2022. This was not 

the case. We had been working with a lake association to help staff their zebra mussel check 

point with our students, but confrontations became so tense that the state took the checkpoint 

over in the spring of 2022. No one wants zebra mussels in their lake, and no one wants to be 

caught with them. It seemed as if we were racing to keep up with the frontlines of an ecological 

invasion. Unfortunately, the lake in question recorded its first zebra mussels in July of 2022; 

consequently, the inspection point had been completely disbanded shortly after the discovery 

of the infestation. The battle lines against aquatic invasive species had shifted yet again.

A Thought-Provoking Book Study

The curriculum development portion of our project centered on the reading of The Death 

and Life of the Great Lakes, (Egan, 2018). The student book study worked nicely with our 

grades 6-12 as students were further engaged in stewardship activities throughout the school 

year highlighting the different ways in which stewardship can combat invasive species 

even as the fishing seasons changed. The student book study was paired with a teacher 

book study and curriculum development workshop that ran through the spring semester. 

The curriculum development aspect led to a field trip of site visits corresponding to The 

Death and Life of the Great Lakes that was documented from the perspective of South Dakota 

students/teachers coming face-to-face with zebra/quagga/Asian carp-infested waters on a 

scale not seen in South Dakota to document and bring back the importance of keeping these 

invasive organisms out of South Dakota waters. 

Image 3:  Edmunds Central inspecting docks at Bitter Lake for zebra 

mussels. Docks are often one of the first places where zebra mussels are

noticed frequently when docks are pulled in the fall before ice on

Photo credit: Spencer Cody
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XL, Issue 2 Page 13

In addition to seeing firsthand what lies in store for South Dakota in terms of the severity 

of the oncoming invasion, we made site visits referenced in the book looking for potential 

solutions to what we are facing. The goal was to recruit at least 30 teachers with the 

requirement that they would implement stewardship activities in their classroom through 

the reading of the book and going through the South Dakota-focused curriculum that was 

presented on invasive organisms with the opportunity to interact with site visits discussed 

in the book virtually during our live virtual teacher field experience of aquatic invasive 

species. Unfortunately, we fell a little short of this goal at only 26 teachers of which only 22 

took the course for credit. However, 17 of these teachers participated in the virtual field trip 

in July of 2022 with another 7 of them completing it for additional credit.

An Inspiring Field Experience

The July field experience was the culmination of the project. Students and cohort teachers 

came together in a unique field experience for everyone. We took a bus load of students in 

grades 6-12 and endeavored to visit as many sites mentioned in 

the book study that we could during a week-long field experience 

covering all the Great Lakes. As we traveled from South Dakota 

up through Minnesota and the UP of Michigan, our students 

explored Lake Superior posting videos for our cohort teachers 

to engage virtually with the student field experience. Students 

posed questions from the book from sites such as the Great Lakes 

Aquarium and the Duluth harbor for participating teachers to 

reflect on and discuss topics on native versus introduced species 

and how shipping has opened the Great Lakes up to aquatic 

invasive species. The field experience progressed onto Lake 

Michigan with a stop at Beaver Island in the middle of the lake to 

learn about the impact of aquatic invasive species on the Great 

Lakes at Central Michigan University’s Biological Station. 

After our visit, we headed farther east all the way to the end of 

Lake Erie and looped back through Chicago to probe the problem 

of entry points for aquatic invasive species through site visits 

along the Erie Canal and Niagara Falls and exit points for invasive 

species through the Chicago River. 

Having internet access for a virtual field experience, combined 

with a student in-person experience, constantly presented 

logistical issues of having enough time to lead a field trip while 

uploading and recording enough content for a simultaneous 

virtual field experience. Overall, both aspects of the field 

experience proved valuable to teachers and students. The teacher 

cohort found the student interaction to be engaging in discussion 

and reflection while the students took their tasks of relaying 

information and developing thought-provoking questions for the 

teachers with a heightened sense of duty. Altogether, running a 

field experience in tandem with its virtual counterpart proved 

to be logistically challenging, but it produced a more meaningful 

learning experience for students than those field experiences 

that we have done that lacked such a virtual component. 

Image 4: While piloting Central Michigan University’s remote operated 

vehicle (ROV), students were able to observe invasive quagga mussels 

along the shores of Beaver Island in Lake Michigan while searching for 

a sunken car that has been submerged for decades in the harbor

Photo credit: Spencer Cody

Image 5: Learning about how opening up the Great Lakes via canals 

helped pave the way for aquatic invasive species as Edmunds Central 

students ride on a ferry on the Erie Canal in Lockport, New York

Photo credit: Spencer Cody
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 14 The Earth Scientist

If you are interested in recreating this experience in your classroom, you 

can utilize our teacher-friendly study guide: https://docs.google.com/

document/d/1FFuAbVAvJL7jv7JMTZr_eP5uAhYVdPJj/edit

This includes slideshows for each chapter in the book including a whole host of interesting 

discussion questions and media, and as a special treat, we have included original video 

discussion questions from our students from the Great Lakes field experience. This book 

study guide paired with The Death and Life of the Great Lakes might be woven into lessons 

that would help students demonstrate understanding from the Next Generation Science 

Standards (NGSS, 2013). Disciplinary Core Ideas of LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in 

Ecosystems and LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience are strong in the 

lessons and are connected to these Performance Expectations:

NGSS Middle School Life Science 

■ MS-LS2-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource 

availability on populations of organism in an ecosystem. 

■ MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among 

organisms across multiple ecosystems. 

■ MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to 

physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. 

■ MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and 

minimizing a human impact on the environment

NGSS High School Life Science  

■ HS-LS2-6: Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions 

in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in 

stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem. 

■ HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human 

activities on the environment and biodiversity.

■ HS-LS4-5: Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental 

conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, 

(2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species. 

■ HS-ESS3-3: Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among 

management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and 

biodiversity. 

■ HS-ESS3-6: Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among 

Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity. 

Conclusion

In total 82 students in grades 6-12 logged 297 stewardship and project involvement hours 

totaling a wide variety of stewardship activities involving both habitat restoration and 

conservation. Our habitat conservation activities involving preventative measures to reduce 

the spread of aquatic invasive species included the following: 

● 43 boat inspections

● 22 boat cleanings

● 108 bait bucket inspections and 19 bait bucket cleanings
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XL, Issue 2 Page 15

Figure 2: Data collected from pre- and post-surveys from the project’s participating teachers indicate a 

smaller shift in views and understanding on the issue of aquatic invasive species than was exhibited by 

participating students. Participating teachers had a wide range of backgrounds and, in most cases, did not

teach any content concerning aquatic invasive species

● 34 live well inspections

● 57 dock inspections

● 72 riprap locations inspected for zebra mussels

● 32 boatlift inspections

● 37 boat trailer inspections

● 12 aquarium inspections

Habitat restoration opportunities 

were more limited but were also 

performed: 72 kilograms of zebra 

mussels were removed, 5 kilograms 

of quagga mussels removed on 

Beaver Island, and 42 kilograms 

of common carp removed. These 

stewardship activities contributed 

to marked shifts in student 

views and understanding as are 

referenced in Figure 1.

Teacher involvement included 26 

teachers in our aquatic invasive 

book study with 22 teachers 

completing the course for graduate 

credit through the University of 

Sioux Falls. Additionally, 17 of 

these teachers participated in our 

summer virtual field experience 

with another 7 of them taking 

it for credit. This curriculum 

development opportunity also 

led to smaller shifts in teacher 

perception and understanding as 

are referenced in Figure 2.

While the issue of aquatic 

invasive species presented its 

own logistical problems, these 

challenges were, for the most part, 

successfully navigated to meet 

stewardship goals resulting in a 

remarkable learning experience 

for both students and teachers. 

This NOAA Planet Stewards project 

produced substantive attitudinal 

changes paired with documented 

increases in content understanding proving that South Dakota students on the forefront 

of our struggle against aquatic invasive species can greatly benefit from project-based, 

stewardship-centric learning.

Figure 1: Data collected from pre- and post-surveys from the project’s participating students indicate a 

significant shift in views about the spread of AIS. These shifts were somewhat surprising considering the

degree to which aquatic invasive species have been in the local media
© 2023 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 16 The Earth Scientist

References

Atwal, Andrew. 2012. S.D. Enacts Rule to Prevent Spread of 

Asian Carp. Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan. https://www.

yankton.net/community/article_0136d6ce-654c-5bc0-ba6a1223e35a1a50.html#:~:text=Asian%20Carp%20were%20first%20

found,River%2C%20by%20the%20early%202000s.

Egan, Dan. 2018. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.

ISBN: 978-0-393-35555-0

NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By 

States. https://www.nextgenscience.org/search-standards

Prather, Victoria. 2009. Zebra Mussels Overwhelm U.S. Waterways 

in the Great Lakes and Beyond - Copper Screens and Coatings 

Provide a Solution to This $500 Million Dollar Problem. Copper 

Development Association. https://www.copper.org/about/

pressreleases/2009/pr2009_July_30.html

Vetter, Brooke J.; Mensinger, Allen F. 2016. Broadband Sound Can Induce 

Jumping Behavior in Invasive Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys 

molitrix). Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. Vol. 27. P. 010021

About the Author

Spencer Cody teacher 6-12 Science at Edmunds 

Central Middle and High School in the Edmunds Central 

School District in Roscoe, South Dakota. He holds a

BA degree in Middle School and Secondary Biology 

Education from Concordia College in Moorhead, 

Minnesota, and an MS degree in Chemistry Education 

from South Dakota State University in Brookings, 

South Dakota. He has taught for 15 years in the

middle and secondary sciences and is the recipient 

of numerous awards for his teaching including the 

2018 Sanford Inspire Teacher of the Year for South 

Dakota, 2020 North Central Section Outstanding 

Earth Science Teacher, 2020 EPA Presidential Award 

for Environmental Education, and 2021 Region Four 

Teacher of the Year for South Dakota. Spencer can be

reached at Spencer.Cody@k12.sd