Hurry the deadline to apply is April 5, and only 15 teachers will be accepted.

Join us on an enlightening professional development excursion from June 19 – 21 through the Lake Erie watershed. NOAA educators will offer a three-day hands-on, immersive workshop for grades 5-12 teachers. Begin your expedition at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie, PA and end at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village, OH.

• Enjoy a variety of meaningful watershed experiences including: water quality testing, invasive plant removal, shipboard science, kayaking and beach clean up.
• Combine Great Lakes experiential science education and Earth Action service learning opportunities for grades 5-12.
• Qualify for up to $1200 in stipends and funds to use for student field trip busing and classroom materials.
• Receive teacher tested Great Lakes curriculum and stewardship project ideas related to multiple watershed water quality issues including: energy conservation, food webs, wetland and habitat restoration, emerging contaminants, invasive species, and more.
• Interact with researchers to learn about current issues related to protecting and sustaining the Lake Erie watershed.
• Get assistance in designing a community stewardship project you will facilitate with your students during the 2013-2014 school year.
• Explore a variety of NOAA curricula to help integrate Great Lakes literacy into you’re your classroom teaching.
• Includes materials, food, transportation, lodging (if needed) and a $600 teacher stipend upon completion of required obligations. For more details download the flyer and application here.  
• Contact Lyndsey Manzo (manzol@wcsoh.org) or Marti Martz (mam60@psu.edu) if you have questions.

In a recent Pennsylvania Sea Grant survey, yacht clubs and marina operators indicated their interest in learning more about the following topics:

• preventing and responding to spills
• threats posed by falling water levels in the Great Lakes
• the dredging process and required permitting
• aquatic invasive species identification and prevention in Pennsylvania

PA Sea Grant responded by bringing together experts to shed light on these topics. This interactive program will provide the opportunity to ask questions and network over complimentary refreshments. Participants will take away a number of handouts and resources including materials on new dredging regulations, the application process, spill management and helpful links and resources.

To Register: e-mail your contact information and club or marina name (if appropriate) to Tom Cermak tjc29@psu.edu. You will receive directions, details, and registration confirmation. 

Or you can confirm via doodle poll at: http://doodle.com/8afhixr9fr6dts3h

Do you like learning about real-world issues like invasive species, degraded water quality and other environmental problems and how to solve them? Is spending time outside in the field and in the lab appealing to you?

If you’re free from other obligations from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on the week of July 22-26 then consider applying for the 2013 Regional Science Consortium Enviro Research Camp at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.

Ask your teacher or find more details and the application here.

For more information contact: Matt Pluta at 835-8069 or Mpluta@EnvironmentErie.org
Or
Scott Sjolander at 814-333-7440 or sas305@psu.edu

“The idea was to have a device that could be installed and left in the stream and, at any time, the sediments collected by the device could be retrieved,” said Sean Rafferty, senior outreach specialist at Pennsylvania Sea Grant. “The sediment would then be sent for chemical analysis.  This would allow me to model contaminant inputs to Presque Isle Bay from its tributaries.”

Historic industrial activity and urban runoff led Presque Isle, Pa., on Lake Erie to be listed as an Area of Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1991. Sediment trapped heavy metals and tailings from industrial processes as well as other contaminants.

Erie and Its Environment: Gobi Fish & Zebra Mussels from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo.

• 2012 Great Lakes Outstanding Outreach Programming Award – Senior Outreach Specialist, Marti Martz (principal investigator), and Communications and Education Specialist, Anna McCartney are two of the team members who received this highest award bestowed by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network.

They and other team members from Illinois-Indiana, New York, and Ohio Sea Grant programs received the award.  This award recognizes a multi-program initiative that helps solve significant problems in the Great Lakes and recognizes exceptional leadership, teamwork, and accomplishments that have a considerable impact on the Sea Grant/Extension missions and their benefit to the public.

Their proposal, Undo the Great Lakes Chemical Brew: Proper PPCP Disposal was funded by a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant from the U.S. EPA. By combining outreach and educational efforts, the team members are helping Great Lakes basin residents understand the environmental and health impacts associated with the use and disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.  Their outstanding work and collaboration to keep PPCPs out of the environment has been very successful.  Working together, the Undo the Chemical Brew team has collected almost 2.7 million pills and informed over 1,075,000 anglers, educators, students, 4-H youth, medical professionals, and community members in their states and other states where they have shared their work.

These Sea Grant staff members provided research-based information to citizens and policy makers and health professionals addressing this issue, as well as assistance in hosting community medicine collection events. Two special 12- page publications in the Erie Times-News, written by Anna McCartney were published in the Erie newspaper and were also distributed throughout the Great Lakes region.

• 2012 Great Lakes Sea Grant Individual Achievement Awards the only Great Lakes Sea Grant-sponsored awards to recognize individual accomplishments during Sea Grant careers went to two other Pennsylvania Sea Grant staff.  Sean Rafferty and Sara Grisé received recognition at the GLSGN meeting in Duluth Minnesota for their exceptional individual efforts.

Sean Rafferty received the Great Lakes Sea Grant Mid-Career Individual Achievement Award at the GLSGN meeting in Duluth Minnesota. Sean has been an integral member of the Pennsylvania Sea Grant team since joining the program in 2001. Sean has developed focused outreach, education, and applied research programs related to the ecosystem health of Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie watershed and the sustainability of Pennsylvania’s coastal resources. In addition, Sean serves as an integral member of the management team, including: managing interns; assisting with our applied research RFP; serving as liaison to the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO); and ensuring reporting, review, strategic planning, and proposal requests from NSGO are fulfilled. Sean has authored/co-authored four peer-reviewed journal articles; delivered 16 presentations at state, national, and international conferences; and secured $1,479,904 in non-NSGO funding.

Sara N. Grisé received the GLSGN Early-Career Individual Achievement Award. Since joining the program as a Coastal Outreach Specialist in 2006, Sara has consistently brought creativity, innovation, and dedication to the Pennsylvania Sea Grant family and partners. Her expertise in aquatic invasive species (AIS) education and outreach has led to the development of valuable research projects, resources, and management tools that have been utilized and requested by partners throughout the Commonwealth and the Great Lakes community. Sara’s initiative has also earned her a leadership role in climate change by jump starting climate adaptation projects in Erie, and exploring how climate change and AIS may interact to impact invasive species movement, establishment, and management in Pennsylvania. Sara has reached out to over 6,000 citizens on the importance of preventing the spread of AIS; she has given 14 presentations at state, regional, and national conferences; has co-authored a peer-reviewed journal article, and has written and updated over 24 aquatic invasive species fact sheets.

• The John C. Oliver Environmental Leadership Award.  On Oct. 26 Dr. Ed Masteller, the director of the Natural History Museum at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center received the award named in honor of John C. Oliver, the first Secretary of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the first Board Chair of the Friends of TREC, and lifelong environmental leader.  The Friends of TREC Board of Directors selected Dr. Masteller, to recognize him for his significant environmental leadership at location(s) such as The Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Presque Isle, the Erie Bay, and on the PA Lake Erie shoreline.

The existence and high quality of the Natural History Museum at TREC is due to the vision, persistence and dogged determination of Dr. Masteller.   His goal of making collections of organisms in the area and listing them on the up-to-date Dynamic Dunes website helps others now and in the future make good environmental decisions.  His former students carry on his enthusiasm for biology and are transferring that enthusiasm to others.  The Erie community and Pennsylvania Sea Grant has benefited by Ed’s involvement in many projects over the years.

• Development of a Field Test Kit for the Presence of Round Gobies. $30,000

Jay Stauffer, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Penn State University Park

• Potential Impact of Climate Change on Bivalves in the Tidal Freshwater Region of the Delaware River. $29,272

Raymond Najar, Department of Meteorology, Penn State University Park

• Evaluating Coastal Wetland Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise in Pennsylvania. $15,587

Tracy Elsey-Quirk, Department of Wetland Ecology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

• Identification of Parasites and Bacteria and their Role in Infections and Mortalities of Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu in the Susquehanna River Basin and Neighboring Drainages. $26,000.

Geoffrey Smith, Division of Fisheries Management, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Coja Yamashita, Division of Fish Production Services, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Vicki Blazer, Leetown Science Center, West Virginia, US Geological Survey

• Nutrient Thresholds for Didymosphenia geminata Blooms and Stalk Formation in the Delaware River. $18,600

Erik Silldorff, Division of Modeling, Monitoring and Assessment, Delaware River Basin Commission

• How Temperature and Phosphorus Loading Influence E. coli Growth on Cladophora in Lake Erie Beach Waters of Presque Isle State Park. $21,200

Steven Mauro, Department of Biology, Mercyhurst University

• Surface and Subsurface Nutrient Transport in the Near-Stream Zone of an Agricultural Headwater Watershed in Central Pennsylvania. $23,500

Herschel Elliott, Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, Penn State University Park

Anthony Buda, Agriculture Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, University Park, PA

Elizabeth Boyer, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Penn State University Park

Friday, September 28 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the UPMC Hamot Women’s Hospital Lobby.

Saturday, September 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the following locations:

Millcreek Twp Municipal Bldg 3608 West 26th Street

Pennsylvania State Police Department Erie Barracks, 4320 Iroquois Ave

Erie County’s Sheriff’s office, Harborcreek Twp Bldg, 5601 Buffalo Rd

Penn State Behrend students at the 2012 ICC Four Mile Creek site. Photo credit: Fran Skellie

Since participation in the International Coastal Cleanup was expanded to the entire PA Lake Erie shoreline in 2003, PA Sea Grant has played an integral role in the yearly international event.

PASG staff coordinates the effort at 3 of the 16 sites in Erie County. They also manage the goerie.com/coastal cleanup website which provides volunteers an opportunity to learn about the event and register for the yearly cleanup.

Through their partnership with Erie Times-News in Education,  PA Sea Grant provides the content for a full newspaper page about the cleanup before the event  to encourage volunteers to sign up. Teacher lesson plans are also provided for teachers who receive sponsored copies of the newspaper for 6,000 students.

College students make up a large number of the volunteers. This year more than 150 Penn State Behrend students, faculty and staff members pulled more than 1,400 pounds of trash out of Four Mile Creek (one of the PA Sea Grant coordinated sites).

Sea Grant staff also coordinates K-12 school cleanups that are held throughout the month so younger students can participate in the event at their schools. This event helps them understand non-point source pollution first hand. Since the cleanups began at the schools, students have become involved in solutions to the marine debris problems because they understand how trash around their school can end up as marine debris.

While the numbers for this year’s event are not available, the overall numbers from 2003 through 2011 are impressive. In that time about 8,000 volunteers have picked up nearly 315,000 individual items.