Contact: Lisa Wool, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, phone: (800) 445-4935
or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, phone: (302) 739-9902

Two Openings Remain for Teachers’ Delaware Estuary Watershed Workshop in July

Two openings remain for the 10th Annual Delaware Estuary Watershed Workshop for Teachers, a week-long workshop being held Monday, July 10 through Friday, July 14. The workshop is based at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, with an overnight stay at the College of Marine Studies in Lewes and field trips to various estuary sites in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The workshop is open to K-12 classroom teachers or environmental educators from public or private schools or other organizations within the Delaware Estuary Watershed, which stretches about 134 miles from Trenton, N.J. and Morrisville, Pa., south to the mouth of the Delaware Bay between Cape May, N.J., and Cape Henlopen. The Delaware Estuary Watershed is home to more than 130 species of finfish, the second largest population of migrating shorebirds in the western hemisphere and the largest population of spawning horseshoe crabs in the world.

Coordinated by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary in conjunction with the Academy of Natural Sciences and Stroud Water Research Center, the workshop will mix laboratory and field experiences in exploring the differences between urban and rural watersheds and comparing the upper portions of the estuary with the mouth of the bay.

Working with professional instructors and Academy members, teachers will gain hands-on experience performing water chemistry tests, sampling fish populations, identifying macroinvertebrates and studying wetland functions. Other highlights include a close-up encounter with horseshoe crabs, a tour of an oil spill recovery vessel, mapping a watershed’s boundaries and a walk through dunes and native plants.

Participants will receive more than $250 worth of educational materials and equipment, complimentary accommodations and meals, and earn clock hours, continuing professional education hours or professional development hours, upon completing the workshop’s requirements. An introductory meeting and canoe trip will be held Thursday, June 29 on the Schuylkill River; a reunion meeting will be held Saturday, Oct. 14.

The registration fee is $50 per person. To register or for more information, please contact Lisa Wool, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, at 800-445-4935, Ext. 105, or email LWool@DelawareEstuary.org.  Registration is also available online at http://www.delawareestuary.org/
educationandoutreach/teachers/watershedworkshop.asp. 

Workshop sponsors also include the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pennsylvania American Water, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Grants Program, the Philadelphia Water Department and PSEG.
 

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