An East Stroudsburg University professor and his students are deeply involved in a project to ensure clean drinking water across four states by preserving 13,500 square miles of rivers and streams.<\/p>\n
The Delaware River Watershed Initiative involves more than 85 groups working to conserve and restore streams that supply water to 15 million people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The project recently received a $42 million grant from the William Penn Foundation to begin the second phase of its work.<\/p>\n
ESU is located in the geographical center of the Delaware River basin, and is one of just four universities taking part in the project. Dr. Paul Wilson, assistant professor of biological sciences, is director of ESU\u2019s environmental science program, and with students in his Stream Ecology course, heads up the scientific work in the Poconos-Kittatinny region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really big initiative with lots of moving parts,\u201d Wilson says, noting that the DRWI has a national reputation as a model project, especially in the face of federal pullbacks on conservation and environmental protection.<\/p>\n
The first phase of the project brought about $130,000 in grant money to campus; the second round of funding means another $120,000 in support of Wilson\u2019s classes, as well as research over the next three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut of equal importance is the positive impact the DRWI has on both recruiting ESU science majors and helping students find employment after graduation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Students work with professionals in the field while taking part in Wilson\u2019s classes. Many of them become interns with DRWI partners, obtaining the skills and contacts that help them find jobs in their chosen field or enter graduate school.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as the DRWI gains recognition in the conservation community, students are starting to come to ESU specifically to take part in the Stream Ecology class, conduct research and be involved with DRWI activities,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Two of Wilson\u2019s students \u2014 Christa Reeves and Kristen Roth \u2014 illustrate how the program is working on many levels. Both are part of Clear Path, a National Science Foundation scholarship program that enables community college students to transfer to ESU to obtain bachelor\u2019s degrees in the STEM fields \u2014 science, technology, engineering or math.<\/p>\n
The women met in Wilson\u2019s Stream Ecology class and became lab partners, taking on a project to compile water quality data by using the mayfly data logging station. The students install and maintain stations that transmit data live through cell phone technology, recording water turbidity, conductivity, temperature and depth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe data can be used to answer all manner of questions within a system, or be part of the puzzle piece to answer other related questions,\u201d Reeves says.<\/p>\n
Reeves, a senior from Easton, Pa., started this type of work in New Jersey as a Warren County Community College student, working with the Musconetcong Watershed Association, another DRWI partner. Her mentor there, who knew Wilson through the DRWI, urged her to transfer to ESU to further her studies, and now she expects to graduate next spring with a Bachelor of Science in environmental studies.<\/p>\n
Roth, a senior from Wind Gap, Pa., became interested in water science at Lehigh Carbon Community College, transferring to ESU to major in environmental science and minor in chemistry. She also expects to graduate in the spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned how to actually do water chemistry work, how to record it, how to take samples in the field, how to measure discharge, and how to do invertebrate sampling,\u201d Roth says.<\/p>\n
Both women now are working on the DRWI and are being paid small stipends from the ESU grant to collect samples and install and maintain mayfly stations, developing the data and using it as a research subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big thing that\u2019s cool for me about this project is the ability to involve undergraduate students,\u201d Wilson says, noting that hands-on research opportunities traditionally are reserved for graduate students. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing that makes it work really well for ESU.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the fact that the data students collect is going to the Academy of Natural Sciences and being used to make decisions, \u201cit matters to them. They take it a lot more seriously, and make sure they get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bob Heil, executive director of the local Brodhead Watershed Association, another DRWI partner, notes that the Poconos are a priority for preservation because the water here is already clean.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents are helping to lay the scientific foundation for the project, while the project is helping to nurture an appreciation for science in the students,\u201d Heil says. \u201cIt is genuinely a win-win situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope it just keeps growing \u2014 the possibilities are almost limitless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heil had an opportunity to watch Wilson\u2019s students in action last summer, when students installed sensors at the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge south of Stroudsburg, a former golf course.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a hot summer day, and there were five students in boots wading in the creek, installing scientific instruments,\u201d Heil says. \u201cThis was a great day. They were learning about new technology, and being introduced to troubleshooting problems, and designing a program.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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