FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 26, 2008

CONTACT: Sebastian D’Elia, 908-527-4419
Thomas Plante, 908-527-4746

Free Watershed Presentation Offered by Union County and AmeriCorps

Kristin Beebe, a watershed ambassador from Union County’s Department of Parks and Community Renewal
and the AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador Program, explains to a sixth grade class how storm water carries pollutants to storm drains and eventually to streams, rivers and other bodies of water. For more information about scheduling a watershed presentation in your community, please call (908) 527-4032.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is sponsoring a special science program that will visit grammar school classrooms and community centers to discuss watershed ecology. Sixth grade teachers and local community groups are encouraged to register for this free, 45-minute, in-house science presentation that relates watershed and environmental concepts in a fun and meaningful way.

A watershed is a land area that drains into a river system or other body of water. Since 1999, these interactive, “hands-on” earth science presentations incorporating a three-dimensional land use model have been receiving positive reviews from students and teachers alike.

“This is a full period of interesting material for sixth graders, scouts and ecology clubs,” said Freeholder Rick Proctor, liaison to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. “Kids love coming to the watershed model and participating!”

Teachers, students and community members will discover how human behavior can impact the land and water around them. Most importantly, the program offers easy, practical solutions that everyone can implement to reduce pollution and improve water quality, such as eliminating or minimizing the use of pesticides on lawns, picking up pet waste, and not feeding waterfowl such as ducks and geese.

The presentations are offered by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the AmeriCorps New Jersey Watershed Ambassadors Program. To schedule a presentation or learn more information about your watershed, call (908) 527-4032 and ask for the “Watershed Presentation.”