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Sea Grant and Cooperative Extension partner to improve Delaware Estuary
Ann Faulds, an urban coastal environmental agent, is heading a new partnership between Penn State Cooperative Extension and Pennsylvania Sea Grant to improve the environmental and economic health of Pennsylvania’s eastern coast. photo courtesy of Ann Faulds Sea Grant program earns Governor’s Award By Loretta Brandon   Environmental Rediscoveries, the flagship educational initiative of Pennsylvania Sea Grant, has been awarded a 2001 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for its outstanding environmental educational programming. Gov. Mark Schweiker presented the award to program staff members at a ceremony in Harrisburg, Pa.   “We are thrilled to be recognized with the Governor’s Award,” said Anne Danielski, Pennsylvania Sea Grant and coastal educational and maritime specialist. “This award is the result of a lot of hard work, but our greatest reward is watching students learn about and appreciate the beauty and fragility of Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie.”   Penn State is a partner in the Pennsylvania Sea Grant initiative.   Dr. Robert W. Light, associate provost and associate dean at Penn State Erie, is director of Pennsylvania Sea Grant, which is headquartered at Penn State Erie.   The Environmental Rediscoveries program is a partnership between Pennsylvania Sea Grant, the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. It provides area youth with the opportunity to become sailors and scientists as they sail aboard the Momentum, a 42-foot sloop, and learn about the ecology of Presque Isle Bay through hands-on activities. More than 1,000 young people have participated in the Environmental Rediscoveries experience since the program was launched in spring 2000.   For more information about the Environmental Rediscoveries education program, visit its Web site at www.pserie.psu.edu/ seagrant/education/ er.html.	Penn State Cooperative Extension and Pennsylvania Sea Grant are collaborating to improve the environmental and economic health of Pennsylvania’s eastern coast. Fifty-seven miles of the tidal coastline along the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers in Bucks, Philadelphia and Delaware counties are the main focus of the Delaware River Estuary program.   Urban coastal environmental agent Ann Faulds is leading the partnership. A biologist with more than 14 years of experience in science instruction and aquatic resource education, she also serves as an extension agent with Penn State Cooperative Extension in Philadelphia County.   “Pennsylvania Sea Grant was established at Penn State Erie in 1998, and its initial geographic focus has been the 63 miles of Lake Erie coastline and the Lake Erie watershed,” Faulds said. “Now, the program has expanded to provide similar attention to the Commonwealth’s eastern coast.”   Dr. Robert W. Light, associate provost and associate dean at Penn State Erie and director of Pennsylvania Sea Grant, said, “Pennsylvania Sea Grant is in the process of positioning itself to become a Sea Grant Institutional Program. In order to accomplish this goal, Pennsylvania Sea Grant must have a statewide presence. When looking for ways to expand into the Delaware Estuary, we immediately thought of a partnership with Cooperative Extension. Penn State’s Cooperative Extension program has been a recognized leader in extension for more than 100 years. What better way for Ann and Pennsylvania Sea Grant to rapidly acquire a knowledge of extension best practices than to work with the leaders.”   Light added, “By establishing an extension program in the Delaware Estuary, Pennsylvania Sea Grant will be better able to establish stronger relationships with bordering Sea Grant programs in New Jersey and Delaware and become an active participant in Sea Grant’s Mid-Atlantic network. These new relationships will undoubtedly help to strengthen the extension program in the estuary.”   Pennsylvania Sea Grant is part of the National Sea Grant Network established in 1966. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce administers Sea Grant. The network has grown to include 30 Sea Grant Colleges involving hundreds of universities nationwide. The mission of Sea Grant is to promote stewardship of coastal resources, including ocean and Great Lakes regions.   Pennsylvania Sea Grant’s mission is consistent with the mission of the National Sea Grant Network, Faulds said. Pennsylvania Sea Grant focuses on the Commonwealth’s two major watersheds: the Lake Erie watershed, which includes Presque Isle, Presque Isle Bay, Lake Erie and other headwaters of the watershed, and the Pennsylvania portion of the Delaware Estuary, including the drainage area of the Schuylkill River.   She explained an estuary includes the tidal coastal waters where a river meets the ocean. The Delaware Estuary is located in portions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. It stretches from the falls of the Delaware River at Morrisville, Pa., south to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, between Cape May, N.J., and Cape Henlopen, Del.   “The goal of Pennsylvania Sea Grant is to increase public awareness and understanding of coastal issues, including environmental and economic issues, through informal education, communication, school programs and applied research activities to improve the overall health of Pennsylvania’s coastal regions,” Faulds said.   As head of the new partnership, she is prioritizing coastal resource issues and directing outreach planning for the project.   The four key outreach areas are: informal education — developing and addressing environmental and economic priorities in collaboration with a regional advisory board; school program — developing coastal watershed-related curricula, field experiences and other environmental programs for students; applied research — developing and supporting research programs in areas such as aquatic nuisance species, protecting native and endangered species and improving water quality; and communications — disseminating information about Pennsylvania Sea Grant through workshops, a Web site, quarterly Keystone Shorelines newsletter, fact sheets, pamphlets, displays and other materials on key issues.   Dr. Theodore R. Alter, associate vice president for outreach, director of Cooperative Extension and associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences, said, “The Pennsylvania Sea Grant initiative affords Penn State Cooperative Extension and the University a great opportunity to marshal our extensive scientific and educational resources to address critical coastal issues central to the economic and environmental vitality of the Commonwealth.”   According to Frederick W. Davis, regional director for the Southeast Region of Cooperative Extension and Outreach, “The Delaware Estuary is a key component of a very fragile ecological system that entails both water quality and environmental issues for a huge population along the eastern seaboard. Cooperative Extension can play a key educational role for this population as they make informed decisions on the management and use of the areas along the estuary. Changing behaviors through the educational process will be key to the preservation and enhancement of the waterway — a job Cooperative Extension does very well.”   For more information about Pennsylvania Sea Grant, visit the Web site at www.pserie.psu.edu/seagrant/. An outreach program of Penn State Erie, Pennsylvania Sea Grant and Penn State Cooperative Extension