Nine high-school Environmental Justice (EJ) Stewards from around Western NY spent ten weeks this spring exploring community connections to local waterways and learning about ecosystem-based management in the Great Lakes. The program was funded by a Great Lakes Small Basin Grant through New York Sea Grant and connected students with local experts and professionals involved in water quality monitoring, restoration, and advocacy.

Students learned about emerging contaminants in the Great Lakes from Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and UB’s RENEW Institute.  Students also explored the relationship between people and water through multiple field experiences including debris monitoring at Woodlawn Beach, fishing, and kayaking along the Buffalo Waterfront.

Finally, the team of students worked together to plan and implement a stewardship project. Students were inspired by a presentation by local artist Alexis Oltmer to create an interactive art piece that raised awareness about plastic pollution in our local waterways. The EJ students tabled at the annual Get Outdoors and Get Together Day at Reinstein Woods and engaged members of the public in conversations about plastic pollution and reducing plastic use in their daily lives. Visitors were invited to glue pieces of plastic that the students had collected at Woodlawn Beach on Lake Erie onto fish images to represent the bioaccumulation of plastic and contaminants in our freshwater fish. The final product is currently on display at Reinstein Woods.

Summer Workshops:

 Reinstein Woods is offering multiple professional development opportunities for formal and informal educators throughout the summer. The free Niagara River/Lake Erie (NRLE) Classroom workshop series will guide educators in leading outdoor, standards-based field trips with students, including stewardship projects, beach debris monitoring, and water quality studies. The two-day Summer Teacher Institute will immerse educators in place-based data collection and interpretation using the nationally recognized Project Learning Tree and NASA’s Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) programs. Educators will become GLOBE Certified teachers and take home PLT’s new flagship curriculum Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide as well as a tool kit for schoolyard and community data collection. Interested educators can find out more about professional development opportunities here.