The Lehigh Valley provided a unique opportunity to sample the wide array of ecological settings and challenges placed before Pennsylvania students and teachers. Heavy industry, organically-grown agriculture, forested riparian corridors, and urban streets all coexist within a few short bus rides across the Valley.
Field experiences represented a welcome change from instructional, work, and study sessions. Teachers ventured into new fields (literally). They heard directly from farmers, land developers, artists, naturalists, and engineers about current environmental problems, processes, and possibilities.
Click on the links below to read descriptions of the field trips offered by the 2000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Institute:
Bethlehem Works
Bethlehem, PA
Presenters:
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Charlie Martin and Ed Wilson, Bethlehem Steel Corporation
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Robert F. Barron, Jr., President and CEO of Bethlehem Works Project
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The visit to the Bethlehem Works project provided Institute participants with the opportunity to take a close look at a Pennsylvania brownfields site and its remarkable recovery.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation is redeveloping a portion of its former Bethlehem Plant property and production facilities located in downtown Bethlehem. The property under redevelopment will become the site of the Smithsonian-associated National Museum of Industrial History. Redevelopment plans also include a multiplex movie theater, swimming and skating facilities, hotels, and commercial and retail establishments.
With the assistance and cooperation of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bethlehem Steel is conducting environmental remediation on the property in accordance with Pennsylvania’s brownfields law, known as the Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act (Act 2).
The Rodale Institute Experimental Farm
Kutztown, PA
Presenters:
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Ardath Rodale, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rodale, Inc., and Staff Members from The Rodale Institute
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The Experimental Farm lies at the heart of The Rodale Institute. It is home to rolling, crop-laden fields, a lush demonstration garden, apple orchards, a composting site, and internationally recognized scientific experiments. Here educators experienced firsthand Rodale’s total dedication to organic and regenerative farming and gardening practices.
Teachers listened to a presentation by the farm manager, Jeff Moyer, and toured the farm machinery shed to learn about low-till, no-till, and other sustainable, high productivity agricultural strategies. Participants learned the definition and crucial importance of healthy soil, and how it can be created and maintained. The day’s events were capped by dinner at the Rodale Institute with an inspiring keynote address from Ardath Rodale, Rodale’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Sustainability:
The ability to keep in existence or maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained.
Air Products Corporation
Allentown, PA
Presenters:
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Nancy Arnold, Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council
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Staff Members from Air Products Corporation
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This field trip addressed the Environment and Ecology Standard categories of humans and the environment, environmental health, and environmental laws and regulations.
Teachers learned how environmental health issues, laws, and regulations affect the actions of industry. Participants took a firsthand look inside the Air Products plant to observe how an industrial corporation accomplishes public and workplace safety.
Participants also received a copy of the Environmental Resource Guide, Air Quality.
The Mosser Woods Outdoor
Environmental Education Project
Allentown, PA
Mosser Elementary, Allentown School District
Presenters:
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Peggy Egolf and Terry Ritter, Mosser Elementary Teaching Staff
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Skip Young, PPL
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Mosser Elementary School, in Allentown, is currently involved in an extensive partnership that centers on the development and use of a 21-acre environmental site in the wooded area behind the school.
The Mosser Woods Environmental Education Center, now in its 7th year, has incorporated the talents of personnel from the local electrical utility (PPL) and a number of local, state, and federal agencies in the planning and development of the site, the integrated environmental activity guide, and the environment and ecology indoor lab, which was supported with funds from the Department of Education.
This field trip included background information on how these partnerships evolved and a visual presentation of the site, located in a densely-populated urban area. The participants were actively engaged in a range of hands-on activities (natural composting, habitats, organic gardening, etc.) from the primary and intermediate integrated units, indexed to the Proposed Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology.
A discussion period concluded the day. Participants received a copy of the Mosser Woods Environmental Education Center Activity Guide along with other materials.
Trexler Game Preserve
Schnecksville, PA
Presenters:
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Alicia Sprow, Education Manager; Tony Mazziotta, Director of Game Preserve; Dr. Balliet, Veterinarian; and Jim Ronsmus, Animal Care Technician
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Dan Lynch, Pennsylvania Game Commission
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The Game Preserve and the Pennsylvania Game Commission introduced participants to animal and pest management by demonstrating actual components of the process. This included animal tranquilization and testing, tracking methods, and data collection.
Rocky Mountain Elk were featured throughout the day’s activities. Teachers were introduced to the Wild About Elk curriculum, which assists educators in bringing these real-life, hands-on experiences back to their own classrooms.
This field trip addressed the following Environment and Ecology standard categories: ecosystems and their interactions, integrated pest management, and environmental laws and regulations.
Wildlands Conservancy
Emmaus, PA
Presenters:
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Barley Van Clief, Education Director
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Staff Members from the Lehigh Valley Herpetological Society
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The Wildlands Conservancy field trip was an informative and enjoyable program. It focused on the Watershed and Wetlands Academic Standard primarily at the middle school level.
The morning was spent at the Pool Wildlife Sanctuary, where educators were introduced to a variety of watershed-related activities, including: how to conduct stream studies with a biotic index, how to teach about non-point source pollution using an Enviroscope, and investigating a riparian buffer zone.
During the afternoon, participants canoed down the scenic Lehigh River from Allentown to Bethlehem. They stopped along the way to learn about the impact of human intervention on this valuable environmental resource – ecological, economic, cultural, and historical – and the dramatic recovery of the River over the past half century.
Watershed:
The land area from which surface runoff drains into a stream, channel, lake, reservoir, or other body of water; also called a drainage basin.
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