Many Basin residents attending Columbia River Treaty Review community consultation meetings urged the Treaty Review Team to engage youth in the Treaty review process.  They suggested using Twitter and Facebook and engaging youth in the schools. The Treaty Review Team responded with @CRTreaty on Twitter and the Columbia River Treaty Review Facebook page. The Treaty Review website also has a Youth Engagement page that includes Treaty information and activities. 

The Treaty Review Team reached out to students, contacting college instructors and high school teachers about upcoming community events, attending a two-day regional science fair at College of the Rockies, and giving a presentation at the 2013 Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST) Environmental Networking Lunch at Selkirk College’s Castlegar campus.

The Treaty Review Team also worked with Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network and the Columbia River Treaty Local Governments’ Committee to engage an educator to develop and deliver a free classroom presentation on the Columbia River Treaty.  The Treaty Review-funded program included demonstrations on how hydroelectricity is generated, and activities and discussion of the social, environmental and economic impacts and benefits of hydroelectricity in the Columbia Basin.  The approximately one hour classroom presentations support prescribed learning outcomes for the B.C. science curriculum on electricity. 

From late February to early April 2014 the program was delivered in 15 Basin communities, 20 schools and 30 classrooms, reaching approximately 600 students.  Asked in a teacher survey about which of the program activities students liked best, comments included:

• "The (hydroelectricity) generator was a hit!"
• "Loved the comparison with before and after dam photographs."
• "Hands on activities in partners and small groups."

When asked a question on how could the program could be improved, teacher responses included:

• "I liked the program just the way it was!"
• "I think it's well run. More time with the maps perhaps and if more copies could be left at school that would be great. Overall we just needed a bit more time. You could easily expand this into a longer lesson or two."