Wayne County Life

July 11, 2013 -- Fifteen elementary-to-high school teachers from five states are aboard the 180-foot Lake Guardian U.S. EPA research vessel (R/V) on Lake Ontario this week.

As part of a New York Sea Grant teach-the teachers projects, the educators from Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are working alongside Great Lakes Research Consortium Director Dr. Greg Boyer, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) Chemistry Department Chair;   EPA scientists; Dr. Michael Twiss of Clarkson University; and Dr. John Farrell of SUNY ESF.

NYSG will provide the teachers with a stipend to develop classroom curricula and stewardship projects with guidance from NYSG Coastal Education Specialist Helen Domske.

New York Sea Grant NYSG Coastal Education Specialist Helen Domske (center front/light-colored shirt) returns from the 1000 Islands Biological Field Station with some of the 2013 NYSG teach-the-teachers tour educators.

The 7-day Shipboard and Shoreline Science workshop has funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Tasks the teachers are assisting with on the Lake Ontario tour include collecting water and bottom sediment samples at nearshore and offshore field stations including sites near Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Rochester, Oswego, and Clayton, NY; and the 1000 Islands Biological Field Station.

The Lake Guardian R/V rotates through the Great Lakes on a five-year cycle. It is the only self-contained, non-polluting vessel on the Great Lakes. It is docked in Oswego, NY today.

The public is invited to enjoy photos, stories and Great Lakes information posted by New York Sea Grant Web Content Manager Paul Focazio in a shipboard blog.

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