9.  Environmental Education and Public Involvement

Requirements for environmental education and community service are being expanded through newly implemented education policy in Pennsylvania.  Presently, there is a wide disparity in the type, amount and quality of environmental education provided or available to students in public and private schools in the watershed.  The degree and diversity of exposure to environmental education is directly relative to the knowledge and interests of the teachers.

The LRCA has provided modest support for water quality monitoring and macro invertebrate sampling to several schools during the past twelve years.  Lackawanna County Conservation District has conducted an Environ-thon for many years in which teams from different schools compete in identifying and solving or managing an environmental problem.

Recently the Bureau of State Parks has developed a full-time environmental education program at Lackawanna State Park.  The DCNR program includes support for a strong outreach program and for partnership with community conservation organizations.

The Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority conducts an annual environmental fair for middle school students at the Heritage Center in Mayfield.  The LHVA also supports the Children’s Heritage Festival, a multi faceted series of heritage and cultural education activities.  The program includes heritage-based curriculum developed with the Northeast Educational Intermediate Unit (NEIU).

LRCA is presently developing river related curriculum and educational materials based on the river and watershed.  The dissemination of this material will be conducted through NEIU 19 and local schools.

There are also more opportunities for college level environmental education through local colleges.  The Lackawanna watershed is being used by several professors in research and education projects both for student-based work and  longer term academic research.

There is an ongoing unmet need for continuing environmental education for adults on both the technical and professional level related to watershed and resource management issues.  This is evident for local elected and appointed officials, municipal staff and in the private sector for the engineering professions, construction industry, real estate and banking.

There are also unmet needs for public information and education in areas such as recycling and litter control.

The LRCA, Rail Trail Council, LHVA and Scranton Tomorrow have conducted a variety of public involvement activities in the watershed.  Many of these activities provide community volunteers with opportunities to help pick up litter and trash, plant trees and shrubs, and maintain trails, parks and river access points.

The LRCA also recruits volunteers to help with Canoe-a-thon, an annual 14-mile canoe race and fun paddle held each year in early May.

LRCA recruits and trains volunteers to conduct water quality monitoring and macro invertebrate collections.  LRCA partners with the Voluntary Action Center and Area Agency on Ageing to sponsor and support the Lackawanna Senior Environmental Corps (LSEC) as part of the statewide Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) program.

Some of the challenges to managing these programs are the coordination of efforts of the various partners and securing funding to employ and supervise support staff and to provide funds for equipment and operational expenses for the various activities.  The importance of providing volunteers with safe and defined tasks and following through with volunteer recognition requires the services of staff familiar with physical access and appropriateness of river and watershed sites, water quality monitoring, trail and landscape maintenance.