|
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control held its annual awards ceremony July 24, at the Delaware State Fair with special guest Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, honoring citizens from first-graders to adults for their contributions to improving the environment, as well as recognizing the state’s top young anglers and four hometown heroes.
Minner began the ceremony by calling four Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Fisheries staff members - Michael Greco of Dover, Stewart Michels of Smyrna, Nathan Rust of Frederica and Jordan Zimmerman of Harrington - to the podium to receive Governor’s Tributes for their actions on May 22.
On that date, the four scientists had headed out for what they expected would be a routine day of collecting marine samples from Rehoboth Bay. The water was rough, and still a numbing 56 degrees, when the men spotted two girls with their canoe paddles in the air - a sign of trouble.
They went to investigate immediately, and pulled eight shivering young teens from the bay after their canoes had capsized. With their boat filled to capacity, they called the U.S. Coast Guard to pick up the remaining three whose canoe was still upright. All 11 teens, who had set out from nearby Camp Arrowhead, were safely returned to shore, thanks to the quick response of the Fisheries crew.
The four men work out of the Little Creek Fisheries Office and participate in a variety of fisheries research programs. Michels, an environmental scientist and horseshoe crab specialist, has been with the Division of Fish and Wildlife for 19 years. Greco, also an environmental scientist, has 16 years with the division. Rust and Zimmerman are both environmental control technicians and have four and seven years of service, respectively.
Two awards new to this year’s ceremony honored the environmentally friendly actions of two Delaware school districts - Indian River and Red Clay.
The Indian River School District received the 2008 Wetland Warriors Award, which will be presented annually to a citizen, organization, business or other group that has demonstrated exemplary efforts to benefit wetlands in the areas of outreach and education, monitoring and assessment, or restoration and protection.
In 1998, the district established its Outdoor Educational Center on a 180-acre parcel that borders state-owned Ingrams Pond in Millsboro, with the goal of providing its students with a natural environment to explore science and developing activities that support state standards and complement traditional classroom instruction.
Today, seventh-graders canoe the pond to evaluate water quality and eighth-graders wade in its stream to study algae, clams and muskrats, while younger children study pond, field and forest ecosystems in this unique outdoor classroom. Older students have banded live birds. Each year, more than 5,000 students visit the center or receive instruction from its staff.
“I wish more districts had something like this to enhance their programs,” said environmental scientist Amy Jacobs, team leader of the DNREC Wetlands Team. “This unique setting allows the district’s students to have direct, personal contact with our wetlands - and it’s an exciting experience they can carry back to the classroom and beyond into their lives,” she added.
Jacobs presented the center with a certificate and a “MacPac Backpack,” a monitoring kit assembled by the Wetlands Team that includes a 24-page illustrated “critter guide,” a handheld microscope, a dip net and other equipment designed to help fifth-graders find and identify invertebrates. Accepting on behalf of the district was center coordinator Doug McIlvaine, who also serves as team leader for the District’s Adopt-A-Wetland group.
The Red Clay School District’s transportation manager, George Middleton, received the 2008 Air Quality Award for his work with DNREC’s Air Quality Management Section on the district’s School Bus Pollution Reduction Program.
“George Middleton was instrumental in providing the technical support for this program, in which 19 diesel particulate filters will be installed on district buses, and he will ensure the filters are properly installed and well maintained to provide effective pollution control,” said Air Quality Management planner Philip Wheeler, who worked with Middleton on the program.
The ceramic filters will reduce the bus exhaust soot emissions by 90 percent, decreasing the number of harmful microscopic particles entering the children’s lungs and helping provide cleaner air for all district citizens, Wheeler added. DNREC awarded the district a grant for the program and presented a check for $180,000 in May to fund it.
Young Delawareans were also in the spotlight with the 2008 Young Environmentalist of the Year Awards and the 2008 Youth Fishing Tournament winners.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife held its annual Youth Fishing Tournament on June 7, drawing a total of nearly 300 young anglers to three sites - Lums Pond in New Castle County, Wyoming Pond in Kent County and Ingrams Pond in Sussex County.
Michael Moore, 14, of Middletown, was this year’s New Castle County and statewide winner with 14.5 pounds of fish. Sara Deason, 9, of Harrington, took top honors in Kent County and second place statewide with 42 fish totaling 7.35 pounds. Hayden Smith, 15, of Millsboro, took home the trophy for Sussex County and third place statewide with 4.07 pounds of fish.
Established in 1986, the annual tournament is designed to introduce youth to the sport of fishing and to teach the catch-and-release approach to conservation. For more information on the tournament, call 302-739-9913.
Minner also signed a proclamation declaring Saturday, Sept. 27 National Hunting and Fishing Day.
The 2008 Young Environmentalist of the Year Awards were presented to Meagan Santangelo, 17, of Middletown, high school winner; Emma Brown, 14, of Claymont, middle school winner; and Alexis Houston, 7, of Wilmington, elementary school winner.
Established in 1993 in honor of former DNREC Secretary Dr. Edwin H. Clark II, the Young Environmentalist of the Year Awards are presented annually to Delaware students who have worked to protect, restore or enhance the state’s natural resources through environmental stewardship, innovative projects and promoting public awareness. For more information, call Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.
|
