Humans, the Environment, and the Great Plains

The Lifeblood of the Northern Plains

Background:

Using the Missouri River as a research tool, students will investigate the river and examine its past and present contributions. Missouri River is, and has been since prehistoric times, the lifeblood of the northern Great Plains. Whole cultures flourished along its banks for thousands of years. It is a resource long utilized by humans and future generations will have to efficiently manage this resource or it may become unstable.

Objective:

To highlight the importance of rivers for use in transportation, drinking water, food, commercial purposes, and travel.

Plan:

1. Give students a map on which they label the Missouri river and states that border it. Students then match names of the states with their capitals.
2. Have students write letters to states that border the river (Department of Tourism and Commerce) asking for information. This information is then compiled into a class book.
3. Students will then categorize the various modern-day uses of the Missouri river - cultural, recreational, water supply for domestic and industrial use, irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, trade, and any other use that comes to the mind.
4. Students will then trace the various uses of the Missouri river prehistoric times.
5. Compare and contrast the various ways in which the peoples of the Northern Great Plains have depended on the Missouri River over the past 11,000 years. What are the major changes in this dependence on the river? Has there been any effect on the water (pollution, low water table in the floodplains) due to the changes in the lifestyle? Has the local ecology changed in any way? If so, then how? Is the growing dependence of larger populations on the Missouri River the reason for the desertification of large areas of the northern Great Plains?
6. Tying it all together: emphasize to students that from the earliest human occupation of this area to the present day, the Missouri River has been an integral part of the economic, social and cultural, and political lifestyles of the peoples of the northern Great Plains (including Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska). Finally point out the effects of water pollution, desertification, and drought on the inhabitants of the Great Plains.

Testing, Grading, and Evaluation:

Having brought about a greater awareness of the factors that influenced the lives of the ancient people, and still affect the lives of the Plains people today, ask the students to think of other examples such as trees, lakes, the forests, and the fertile river valleys.

Primary Course: Social Studies

Applicable Grades: 4 - 8

Materials Needed:

Maps of the United States and some other states, literature about the history of the northern Great Plains, resources about the Missouri river from the library or the Internet, addresses of the Department of Tourism and/or Commerce of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Nebraska..

Related Courses: Social studies, language arts

Time Required: Variable

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