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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2002: article | |
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Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center receives watershed project grant By Deborah A. Benedetti | ||||||
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Dr. George R. Vahoviak, program director with Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, has been awarded $54,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Growing Greener Program to develop a working model for a total school district’s involvement in a holistic watershed study on Shaver’s Creek. More than $34.2 million in Growing Greener funds are being distributed for projects to improve the environment. Penn State is among 239 organizations receiving funding for projects. On behalf of Gov. Mark Schweiker and the Pennsylvania Growing Greener Program, David E. Hess, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, and Robert Jubelirer, lieutenant governor and senator, presented the grant to Vahoviak at a special ceremony, held at Juniata Valley School District’s Don Evans Outdoor Education Center in Alexandria, Pa. “As I travel the state, I see more and more of the amazing projects students, citizens and environmentalists are taking on,” Hess said. “Huntingdon County and its partners continue to develop innovative, educational projects that help to restore the watershed they live in.” Jubelirer said, “This area is a proving ground for the popularity and utility of Growing Greener. We are increasingly seeing attention given locally to environmental protection, improvement and education efforts. The community is involved, our kids are receiving hands-on instruction and experience, and there is a refreshing commitment to quality-of-life concerns. This is a great example of state funding promoting constructive citizen action on local priorities.” Vahoviak will direct the Shaver’s Creek Center for Holistic Watershed Study: Spanning Age, Community, Disciplines and Time, in collaboration with Juniata Valley School District. At Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, he is responsible for school, scout and public programs, as well as teacher education and festivals. He also is an instructor in the Recreation and Park Management program in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management, College of Health and Human Development. According to Vahoviak, the mission of the project is “to improve the quality of the Shaver’s Creek watershed and watersheds throughout Pennsylvania through the cooperative efforts of schools, citizens and organizations.” The watershed project is multifaceted and involves many different academic disciplines, including communications, history, social science, mathematics, science, arts, agricultural/environmental science and other areas. Vahoviak is using a holistic approach to studying the watershed and plans to involve teachers, K-12 students, civic organizations, state and local government agencies and other groups in the area of Shaver’s Creek. With the Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology as a guide, he and his team will use existing watershed education materials, as well as develop new strategies for teachers in the Juniata Valley School District to use with their students. A unique aspect of the project is the incorporation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to create a multilayered map of the watershed. Watershed data will be available on the Web to project participants and anyone else interested in the watershed. The new Web site will be part of the Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center Web site (http://www.shaverscreek.org/). “This project will explore the watershed—past, present and future—by developing ties that cut across all grade levels,” Vahoviak said. “To improve and preserve the Shaver’s Creek watershed for future generations, many decisions will need to be made, and students, as well as adults, living in the area, will be part of the decision-making process. The goal of environmental education is to lead people to take responsible actions.” As part of the project, he and his team will develop a user-friendly how-to manual outlining the steps involved in a holistic watershed study. All GIS watershed data will be available online, enabling teachers, students and community groups to transform the data into workable elements of ecological land-use planning. In addition, the data and results from the project will be widely shared through the resources of Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, whose programs reach some 100,000 learners annually. Partnerships are vital to the success of the project. Vahoviak said key stakeholders include the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Watershed Management unit, Juniata Valley School District, Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Office of Environment and Ecology, Huntingdon County Conservation District and Juniata Clean Water Partnerships. Many other civic and government groups also will be involved in the project as it progresses. Vahoviak brings 24 years of environmental teaching experience to the Shaver’s Creek watershed project. He served as co-director of the Penn State Conservation Leadership Schools from 1978 to 2001, leading students through the schools’ watershed assessment curriculum. In 1988, he was leader of the National Agriscience Water Resource Curriculum development team, based at Penn State. He also is a certified facilitator for a number of environmental programs. More information about Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center is available online at www.shaverscreek.org/. Information about the Growing Greener Program is available on the PA PowerPort at www.state.pa.us (keyword: Growing Greener). | |||||
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© 2002 Outreach Communications, Outreach & Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108, fax: (814) 863-2765, e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu |
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