Innovative Approaches to Watershed Health Education and Community Awareness/ Engagement

Elaine Langone Center, Room 241

Berks Nature, a non-profit conservation organization, is the leading agent for conservation of the environment in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Its mission includes land protection, water conservation, environmental education and community engagement. This presentation highlights the organization’s innovative approaches to water conservation, watershed education and community engagement in support of healthy watershed ecosystems in the Delaware and Susquehanna River Basins. Berks Nature has spent the past ten years addressing these water resources and gaining support for the restoration and protection of water resources. Our partnerships across the region in developing and implementing watershed management plans received statewide recognition, as we are a proud past-recipient of the Governor’s Award for Watershed Stewardship. We enjoy partnerships with organizations that share a goal of improving and protecting the Schuylkill River Watershed – the Philadelphia Water Department, the William Penn Foundation, the Schuylkill River Heritage Area, the Schuylkill Action Network, and RiverPlace Development Corporation. This presentation will focus on three areas in which Berks Nature is addressing the integrity of the Delaware and Susquehanna River Basins: 1) watershed health awareness, 2) training of community volunteers, and 3) a stream and wetland restoration project. Specifically, Berks Nature hosts events such as Aquapalooza and River Days for children and the public alike. Berks Nature also hosts an annual “State of The Environment” meeting, which may be unique for similarly-sized conservation organizations in the region, and which publishes environmental indicators that describe conditions and trends in the County’s water resources. Secondly, engagement includes training volunteers, including an “Ambassador” volunteer program for interested laypersons, educators, and professionals alike who help both to educate and to perform water quality sampling in streams across the county and collect data for the international citizen-science project GLOBE. Finally, we discuss the educational and outreach opportunities afforded by a stream and wetland restoration project immediately adjacent to Berks Nature’s brand new headquarters and education center.