Susquehanna River Basin Commission Staff Teach Students About Aquatic Life In The Watershed

Susquehanna River Basin Commission scientist Ellyn Campbell recently shared information about aquatic organisms with seventy fourth-grade students at Silver Spring Elementary School in Cumberland County. 

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.

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.

American Eel Release

Up-river in Winfield, Union County, 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 just south of the Pennsylvania - Maryland border are given to high school classes to raise before being released back into the Susquehanna River. 

At the recent release, students and members of the public witnessed the American eel return to Penn’s Creek.

For more information on programs, training opportunities and upcoming events, visit the Susquehanna River Basin Commission website.  Click Here to sign up for SRBC’s newsletter.   Follow SRBC on Twitter, visit them on YouTube.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

DEP’s Interactive Report Viewer allows you to zoom in on your own stream or watershed to find out how clean your stream is or if it has impaired water quality using the latest information in the draft 2020 Water Quality Report.
Related Articles:

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Hands-On Eels In The Classroom Restoration Program

-- Eel Program Helps Mitigate Impact Of Muddy Run Pumped Storage Generation Project

-- Educator Offers Video On 6,000 Year-Old Danville Riverside Eel Dam And Eels To The Classroom Project In The Susquehanna River Watershed

-- American Eels Reintroduced To Pickering Creek In Chester County, Delaware Watershed

-- DEP Blog: Helping Eels And Mussels Is Improving Water Quality In The Susquehanna River And Chesapeake Bay

-- Eels And Mussels - An Unlikely Pair - Benefit Pennsylvania's River Ecosystems

[Posted: May 28, 2021]  PA Environment Digest