Yakima WATERS “5-E” Inquiry Lesson
Using Topographic Maps to Delineate a Watershed
Maps are the basic unit in geography and are essential to understanding land use patterns and
management. Understanding where you live and how your daily activities affect your local environment
is key to becoming a good steward of the land. This lesson will help students understand the physical
properties of their watershed and how the human element is related to watershed health.
This lesson is for 7th and 8th grade students and should take 45 minutes.
Standards
Science 6-8 INQE: Modeling natural phenomena
Standards Justification
Using a topographic map, students will be mapping the Crystal Creek watershed in order to
understand the system of a watershed. Students will then investigate the relationship between the
watershed system and its human element.
Outcomes
Knowledge: Students should be able to use a topographic map to understand what geographic features
bound a watershed. This document will model the actual boundaries of the Crystal Creek
watershed. Students will then be able to use this model of the watershed to make
inferences about human impacts on their local environment.
Skill: Students will be able to identify elements of the topographic map and will be able to delineate a
watershed using the topographic map
Materials and Equipment



Topographic map of Cle Elum area
Pencils (colored and graphite)
Watershed handout
Prior Knowledge
Students should have a general understanding of what a watershed is and be familiar with the area in
which they live. Prior to this lesson, students were exposed to watershed characteristics during their
Wildcat Friday activities. A physical model of a watershed was created by bunching up newspapers and
draping garbage bags over top of the paper. The form of the newspapers created ridgelines and valleys –
this activity was meant to visually demonstrate the geographic features within watersheds. Water was
poured over the garbage bags to simulate a precipitation event – students were able to see how water
flows from areas of high elevation to areas of low elevation in watershed systems.
Safety
No safety concerns
Engage (5 min)
Ask students:
 What country are we in?
 What state are we win?
 What county are we in?
 What town are we in?
 What watershed are we in?
Understanding where you live and where you participate in your daily activities is essential to
becoming a good steward of that land. If you know where you are in relation to natural phenomena like
mountains, forests, and streams, you will have a better understanding of what is there and how to
protect it.
Political boundaries like state and county lines are much easier to understand than watershed
boundaries, which are delineated by physical phenomenon. As you learned during the last Wildcat
Friday, watershed boundaries are defined by mountains, ridges, and hills. Today you will learn how to
use those geographic features to draw boundary lines to the Crystal Creek watershed.
Explore (20 minutes)
The goal of this lesson is to delineate the Crystal Creek watershed using topographic features and
determine potential land use impacts and challenges within the watershed.
Ask the students to identify different features on the map, i.e. roads, bodies of water, town names,
elevation values, buildings, and contour lines.
Explain that the map is a topographic (or “topo”) map that displays the elevation for a given area.
Describe how contour lines indicate elevation values. Ask the students to identify high points, or
ridgelines. Ask the students:
 Using your previous knowledge, define a watershed
 What are types of watershed boundaries?
 How can this map be used to delineate a watershed?
Go through the process of delineating a watershed using high points and contour lines.
Explain (5 min)
Have the students discuss what parts of the Cle Elum area are included in the Crystal Creek
watershed, and what parts are outside of it. See if they can compare the watershed to some everyday
objects, i.e. swimming pool, cone, snowboard half pipe. Ask the students:
 What physical features allow you to delineate a watershed using a topo map?
Extend/Elaborate (5 min)
Ask the students to identify different buildings, companies, or land uses within the watershed they
have delineated. Ask the students:
 What do these companies do?
 Do they produce anything that could be harmful to that could be harmful to the environment?
 If they had a leak or spill, where would the material go?
Reiterate that anything that is exposed to the land within a watershed will flow to the watershed’s
lowest point, the corresponding water body.
Evaluate (10 min)
Students will be evaluated on their participation in the discussion of the land use impacts within their
watershed. Their understanding that activities taking place within a watershed affect its corresponding
water body demonstrates their understanding of a watershed model and the watershed system.
Students will also be evaluated on their completion of the attached Watershed Handout.
Modeling Performance Rubric
Element
Knowledge
(50%)
Skill
(50%)
Excellent
(4 pts)
Student
understands the
use of a
topographic map
in delineating a
watershed. Is
able to relate
watershed area
to potential land
use problems and
can contribute
ideas to
discussion.
Student is able to
delineate the
watershed and
can accurately
identify and
define elements
of the
topographic map.
Student
completes the
watershed
handout with
high
understanding of
the material.
Good
(3 pts)
Student mostly
understands the
use of a
topographic map
in delineating a
watershed. Is
able to relate
watershed area
to potential land
use problems.
In Development
(2 pts)
Student
somewhat
understands the
use of a
topographic
map in
delineating a
watershed. Can
vaguely relate
watershed area
to potential land
use problems.
Needs Rethinking
(1 pts)
Student has
difficulty
understanding
that a topographic
map can be used
to model a
watershed. Has
difficulty relating
watershed area to
potential land use
problems.
Not Scorable
(0 pt)
Student does not
understand that a
topographic map
can be used to
model a
watershed. Cannot
relate watershed
area to potential
land use problems.
Student is
mostly able to
delineate the
watershed and
can accurately
identify
elements of a
topographic
map. Student
completes the
watershed
handout
demonstrating
higher levels of
understanding.
Student is
somewhat able
to delineate the
watershed and
identify
elements of a
topographic
map. Student
completes the
watershed
handout with
moderate
understanding.
Student has
difficulty
delineating the
watershed and
identifying
elements of the
topographic map.
Student
completes the
watershed
handout with
minimal
understanding.
Student is unable
to delineate the
watershed.
Student is unable
to identify
elements of a
topographic map
and does not
complete
Watershed
Handout.
Teacher Background Info
Strength and Pitfalls: A topographic map can sometimes be hard to read, especially if the contour lines
are not uniform. Make sure to thoroughly explain the instructions before the “Explore” section begins,
and be ready to answer many individual questions from students who need help understanding their
map. The strength of this lesson is that it provides students a concrete, tangible way of defining their
local watershed, instead of an imaginary line.
Background: Delineating a watershed in the first step in watershed-wide management. Understanding
the spatial data provided by a topographic map is essential for any environmental scientists, or anyone
interested in their environment. High points are depicted on the map by a circle. These high points can
be connected by drawing lines perpendicular to the contour lines. These connections represent
ridgelines. Once all of the high points have been identified and connected, the watershed boundary is
complete. This completed watershed boundary can be used to determine area, land use patterns,
locations of potential pollution sources and management sites.
References
How to Read a Topographic Map and Delineate a Watershed. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Ward, Andy D. and Stanley W. Trimble. (2004). Environmental Hydrology: Second Edition. New York: CRC
Press.
Resources
See attached topographic map and Watershed handout
Author: Erin Dilworth, Yakima WATERS Project, CWU, 2009-2010