Susquehanna River Basin Commission Scientists Visit Public Schools

 SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION
4423 North Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2021
CONTACT:
Gene G. Veno, Director Governmental Affairs and Public Advocacy
Office: (717) 238-0423, ext. 1311

Susquehanna River Basin Commission Scientists Visit Public Schools

Teaching Students about Aquatic Life in the River Basin

Harrisburg, PA -SRBC scientist Ellyn Campbell shared information about aquatic organisms with seventy fourth-grade students at Silver Spring Elementary School in Cumberland County, Pa. The students tuned in to Campbell's virtual presentation and learned the importance of understanding how different water-loving bugs known as macroinvertebrates react to the quality of water in our streams and rivers. Educator Lauren Ferrara coordinated the virtual Presentation with SRBC and three other fourth-grade Educators; Amy Baughman, Adrienne Gilbert and Trisha Kurtz.

Fourth-grade teacher Lauren Ferrara says fourth-graders are at such a curious age and are becoming more aware of the environment around them. Campbell engaged the class with animated graphics and aerial maps of their own school property that drove home the concepts of watersheds and how different land uses can potentially pollute our waterways. Aquatic bugs like mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies do not tolerate pollution and are excellent indicators of healthy streams.

SRBC's biologist Ellyn Campbell explains how certain aquatic organisms do not tolerate pollution and serve as excellent indicators of polluted water in our streams and rivers.

Upriver in Winfield , Pa., Lewisburg Area High School students witnessed a successful American eel release as part of an environmental education and migratory fish restoration initiative led by SRBC. Commission Fisheries Biologist Aaron Henning took part in the event, along with Lewisburg Area High School educator Van Wagner. Both have been involved in SRBC's Eels in the Classroom program since its start in 2018 l. Eels collected below the Conowingo Dam are given to high school classes to raise before being released back in to the Susquehanna River. At the recent release, students and members of the public witnessed the American eel return to Penn's Creek.

About the Susquehanna River Basin Commission

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission is a federal/interstate governmental agency responsible for protecting and wisely managing the water resources within the 27,500 square-mile Susquehanna River Basin without regard to political boundaries. The Susquehanna rises and flows through New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland into the Chesapeake Bay. For more information on the Commission, visit srbc.net or follow us on Twitter: @SRBCnews.