Outreach and Education
Outreach
Nanticoke Watershed Alliance’s (NWA) outreach programs educate and empower watershed residents to improve local water quality. Through outreach, the NWA discusses water quality issues and long-term trends in water quality demonstrated through Nanticoke Creekwatchers data. The NWA reaches over 100 residents annually through workshops and an additional 1,000 residents through community presentations and events. The NWA provides outreach through the following means:
– Hosting Homeowner Workshops in watershed towns that focus on backyard conservation actions, such as rain barrels/rain gardens, soil testing/appropriate fertilizer use, home-based water conservation and water quality improvements, living shorelines, and other topics.
– Partnering with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Delaware Nature Society, and other organizations in the Reclaim Our River (ROR) series, which focuses on water quality improvement and increased recreational use of the river in the Delaware portion of the watershed.
– Targeting specific behavior or action through specific campaigns, such as the Living Shorelines campaign that is funded through the Chesapeake Bay Trust.
– Attending community festivals, fairs, and events and directly engaging watershed residents through conversation.
– Presenting water quality data and issue information to community organizations and groups.
The NWA’s outreach “season” roughly runs from February through October of each year. Please visit the Outreach page for more information about this year’s workshop opportunities, ROR happenings, and community engagement events or to schedule a presentation with your community group.
Environmental Education
Nanticoke Watershed Alliance educates students and teachers on the importance of the watersheds. A watershed is a geographical land area that drains into a certain body of water, When it rains, the water flows downhill towards the nearest ditch, stream, or river. Watersheds are important because we all live in one, meaning we all play a roll in protecting our rivers, not just those people who own waterfront property. When water flows over the land, it can pick up pollution like litter, pet poop, excess nutrients from fertilizer or even chemicals like motor oil. This pollution can get washed into waterways and cause fish kills and unswimmable conditions. To spread the word about watersheds, water quality, and what people can do to help, the NWA works with all the seventh graders in Wicomico County. We deliver a three-step MWEE that includes, a classroom lesson, a field trip, and an action project that ties together everything the students learned.
Some of our interactive educational programs focus on water quality, water conservation, soil health, wildlife, forestry, and other issues. We also enjoy using our Enviroscape presentation to examine nonpoint source pollution and discuss conservation actions that can be taken to reduce pollution. Student-based action projects have been responsible for planting nearly 400 trees at Cherry Beach and Cope Bennett Park in Sharptown and for installing composting tumblers and raised beds to support organic produce for school lunches.
For more information, please visit the Environmental Education page.
D5 Creation