Clayton — Clemmons Educational State Forest has been teaching water-quality classes to youngsters for years. But now, the rangers are spreading the message with more resources than ever before.

Earlier this month, the N.C. Division of Forest Resources opened an outdoor, open-air Water Quality Classroom and River Basin Observation Deck at Clemmons. Funding for the $77,296, project came from the N.C. Division of Water Quality, the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program, the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation and the Clemmons family.

Michael Huffman, education supervisor at Clemmons, said the new classroom and observation deck had been a dream of his for a long time.

“We’ve been wanting to do this all along,” he said. “We’ve been working on this since 1998-1999, and it took that long to find the funding.”

The outdoor classroom overlooks a pond filled with various fish and an occasional turtle. Rangers touch upon subjects such as water sheds, the water cycle, non-point source pollution and topographic maps. Students receive activity books filled with puzzles, games and quizzes.

Afterward, they head down to the observation deck, which gives them a closer view of the catfish, brim, crappie and bass swimming in the water.

Embedded on the deck is a 40-foot map of the state with major rivers and river basins painted on the surface.

Perhaps the most fun for students is wading into the water wearing special boots to collect critters with nets. Normally, the students find stoneflies and mayflies, which are unable to live with pollution, or crayfish and dragonflies, which can stand moderate pollution. All of the critters are released back to their natural habitat.

To finish out the day, the students go to a stream to measure the acidity and dissolved oxygen in the water.

“I like to make them guess things like, ‘What do you think the water is good for?’ or ‘Can you drink it?’” Huffman said. “You can tell if the water is good or not based on the pH and dissolved-oxygen levels.”

Clemmons attracts 6,000 students and 45,000 visitors a year for learning, hiking and other recreational opportunities. Brochures, kiosks and 28 interpretive signs were recently placed in Clemmons for visitors, but they also have access to the classroom and deck.

Most of the visitors hail from Wake County, but Huffman is hoping more Johnston County schools take advantage of the new facilities. “Anybody can come out here, because we have activities anybody can teach,” he said. “If you are a health teacher, we can do games that talk about water. If you are an English teacher, the students can write poems.”

“It is just another tool we can use to get across the message of resource management in a realistic way,” Huffman said.

“The more they know at an earlier age, the better off they will be.”

Clemmons Educational State Forest is at 2411 Old U.S. 70 West. To learn more about the Water Quality Classroom and River Basin Observation Deck as well as other activities, call 553-5651.