Deborah Cramer

Deborah Cramer writes about science, nature, and the environment. Nobel prize winner Al Gore said of her natural history of the Atlantic, Great Waters, (W.W. Norton), “I urge everyone to read this book, act on its message and pass on its teachings.” Her latest book, Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water Our World (Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins) was published on the occasion of the opening of the new Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the most heavily visited museum in the U.S. She sits on the board of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and is a visiting scholar at MIT’s Earth System Initiative.  She lives at the edge of a salt marsh, where each year, she awaits the spring return of the alewives.

Our Water Our World

In ways most of us have never imagined, and science is only beginning to describe, all life, including ours, depends on the sea.  Estuaries, liminal places belonging to both continent and ocean, powerfully reflect the essential, and increasingly threatened, life‑giving partnership between humans and the sea.

  http://www.deborahcramer.com/about.html

Heather Perry

Heather Perry graduated from Colby College in 1993 with a degree in Biology. From there she was hired as an aquarist at Sea World of Florida, where she worked with many marine species. She studied underwater photography at Brook’s Institute of Photography, and now works freelance from her home in Bath, Maine.

She has photographed underwater subjects in California’s Kelp forest, Micronesia, Galapagos, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Maine. Pursuing projects about marine and freshwater natural history subjects, her body of work includes underwater and surface images, aerials, and people in their environment. Her stock image file is currently represented by National Geographic Image Collection.

Heather’s work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic Kids, Discover Magazine, Wooden Boat, Ocean Navigator Magazine, Maine Times Magazine, Maine Boats Homes & Harbors, Trout, Atlantic Salmon Journal, Boys' Life, Dive International (UK), Le Monde Newspaper (Paris) and Georama Experiment (Greece).

Heather’s first book was Confluence: Merrymeeting Bay (Tilbury House Publishers 2006, Author Frank Burroughs) and she is currently photographing another book for Down East Publishers, entitled The Maine Boat, (Author Michael Crowley). In 2004, she was awarded a Photographic Development Contract from National Geographic Magazine for her work with American eels. In 2008 she was appointed to the position of Photographer for the City of Bath, Maine for a new tourism website currently under development.

Heather is also an actor with the Theater Project Professional Company in Brunswick, Maine, loves to quilt and paint, and has been a competitive swimmer since the age of six. She lives with her husband, son Finn, and two cats. She is happiest in, on and under water.

http://www.heatherperryphoto.com/Heather_Perry_Photography/About.html

Celebrating Marine and Aquatic Life in Photographs

Combining the fascinating worlds of marine biology and photography, Heather Perry offers a range of opportunities for educators interested in bringing someone with extensive field experience into the classroom. This Undersea Experience is customized to your curriculum with slide shows, equipment demonstrations and tales from the field, featuring a variety of popular marine and aquatic issues. Your students will see images from above and below the waves in some of the most remote regions of the planet, and celebrate the fantastic life in our seas and rivers with someone who’s seen them in the wild. Each session features a slide talk discussing different marine and aquatic species and their survival strategies, ecological concerns facing the ocean environment, and personal experiences with exotic species and "getting the shot".

Jeffrey L. Herter

Ecosystem-Based Management
Research & Development Project Director
NY Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council

The New York Ocean & Great Lakes Atlas: Supporting New York’s Mandate to Implement Ecosystem-based Management Statewide

Article 14 of New York’s Environmental Conservation Law, the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Act (Act), Section 14-0111, part 4 calls for creation of “...an ocean and coastal resources atlas…”.   New York State Department of State, Division of Coastal Resources (DCR), in coordination with GIS representatives of New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council member agencies, has been working on developing the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Atlas (Atlas) since September 2006, including data collection efforts, application development and infrastructure.  Application development started from code for the NYS Digital Orthophoto Application donated by the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination.

  Currently the Atlas has over 1000 datasets for viewing and download including: biota, boundaries, elevation, bathymetry, environment, geology, imagery, planning, social, structure, and transportation.  Data available through the Atlas covers all of New York State with an emphasis on data related to or connected with influences on New York’s ocean and Great Lakes ecosystems.  Functionalities such as vector data download, user defined searches, book marking views, and attaching images to e-mails, were built into donated code.  To increase accessibility data is provided in open source format so it can be downloaded directly into publicly available geospatial applications such as GoogleEarth, as well as ESRI and MapInfo products.  Progress on development of Atlas v2.0, a web application with Google-like data search capabilities and data published to and ingested from Web Mapping Services and Web Feature Services, will be covered.  

SoMAS Symposium on Bivalve Aquaculture

Concurrent Presentations

Roy Arezzo,  New York Harbor School

Oyster Research Opportunities in Secondary Schools

The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is a keystone species in our NY/NJ Estuary System. While oyster reefs have been decimated, efforts continue by several government agencies, educational institutions and conservation groups, to make our local waters a hospitable setting to increase oyster populations.  Roy Arezzo of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School will present ongoing research projects affiliated with the school on oyster restoration and conservation. Resources will be provided on how to become a teacher researcher and the presentation will include a brainstorm session on projects in which we can involve students. Opportunities range from oyster gardening to SCUBA projects in NY Harbor and the surrounding estuaries.

John Fischer, Trout Unlimited Educator

Trout in the Classroom; Is it for you?

The Trout in the Classroom program. –  Program description and timeline, Aquatic tank setup and maintenance  ( With live brook trout tank display). Power point presentations  - NY State approved curricula PDF file  ( Downloadable)  Introduction to the Trout in the Classroom website.  How to get started? Application  brochure distribution. 

Larissa Graham, Long Island Sound Study, New York Sea Grant

Larissa Graham received her bachelor’s of science degree in environmental science from the University of Connecticut. After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked for the CT Department of Environmental Protection, studying the lobster die-off in Long Island Sound. Larissa attended graduate school at Virginia Tech, where studied bycatch (non-targeted catch) in the horseshoe crab trawl fishery. She completed her Master’s of Science degree in 2007 and now works for New York Sea Grant as the Outreach Coordinator for the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). Her role is to educate watershed residents about Long Island Sound, LISS’s efforts to protect Long Island Sound, and ways they can help.

Are you looking for innovative ways to teach your students about the importance of local estuaries? If so, this workshop is just for you! We’ll be exploring the Long Island Sound watershed with fun hands-on activities, FREE publications and curriculum guides, and opportunities to get your students out in the field to become Sound Stewards of their own!! Come discover Long Island Sound and innovative ways to incorporate it into your curriculum!

Nordica andSusan with Merryl Kafka of the New York Aquarium in the center

Nordica Holochuck, Hudson Estuary Specialist , New York Sea Grant
Nordica Holochuck  is the New York Sea Grant Hudson Estuary Specialist.
Located in Kingston, NY in the Hudson River Valley, her extension program
focuses include habitat stewardship, coastal recreation and marine and
estuarine education. She Holds a master of Environmental Studies degree
 from the Evergreen State College and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy-Religion from Ithaca College.

Susan Hoskins,  Cornell Institute for Resource Information Sciences 
Susan Hoskins is a Senior Extension Associate with the Institute for
Resource Information Sciences (IRIS) at Cornell University.  Her research
and education activities involve applying geospatial data and resource
inventory methods to environmental problem solving.  She holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University Nicholas School for the Environment and a Bachelor of Science from Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA.

Coastal Habitat Stewardship Using Geospatial Tools

Coastal habitats have undergone dramatic changes over time due to human influences.  We explore these changes using current and historic maps and images.  This workshop will provide resources you can share with your students to help encourage estuarine stewardship and restoration.  The geographic focus is on USEPA New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program restoration sites but the techniques demonstrated can be used in your local watershed. The USEPA New York New Jersey Harbor-Estuary Program has provided support for the development of geospatial workshops for the region's teachers. In September 2009 NYSMEA cosponsored a day long teacher professional development workshop at the  WCS NY Aquarium. The NYSMEA conference workshop will highlight many resources shared that day.

Bill Monahan, Nassau County BOCES

Bill Monahan has worked for the Nassau BOCES Outdoor and Environmental Education for 25 years as a program specialist.  His main responsibility is to run the BOCES Environmental Center at Caumsett State Historic Park but he has done numerous professional development programs for elementary and High School, large group presentations for teachers and students as well as professional workshops for NYSMEA, STANYS, and the NY State Outdoor Education Association (NYSOEA).  For this workshop Bill was trained at the Marine Advanced Technology Education program (MATE) in Monterey CA.

Building Underwater Romote Operating Vehicles (ROV's)

Bring the excitement of underwater technology to your classroom by learning how your students can design and build their own underwater robot.  the future of ocean exploration is spelled ROV and in this workshop you will work with a team to design and build your own ROV then compete with other teams to complete a specific task.

Lou Siegel

Lou Siegel is currently the science coordinator at the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve and an adjunct associate professor in the Dowling College Department of Earth and Marine Sciences.  His teaching load includes such courses as Biology, Physical and Environmental Sciences and Marine Biology.   In June of 2003 he retired from 36 years as a teacher and Science Chairperson on the high school level. During this time he was: an early author and teacher of the New York City Marine Biology curriculum which was offered at the experimental John Dewey High School in Brooklyn; Chairperson of the Department of Science and Oceanography at Beach Channel High School in Queens; and Chairperson of the Science and Technology Department at Oceanside High School on Long Island. At each site Lou not only met students during the school year but also, more often than not, organized and taught summer ecology and marine science courses. Lou was a founder, past president and active board member in the 35 year old New York State Marine Education Association. He has chaired several of their annual student and teacher conferences and is currently web master of the http://nysmea.org web page. Lou edited "Learning in the Estuary," a compilation of lesson plans, in 2002.   Lou has long been involved in pre- and in-service teacher education. His course, Shipboard Marine Science, has been taken by a large cross-section of teachers and environmental educators.  Research projects have included studies of marsh grass, (Spartina alterniflora) and the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus.) Lou has just been notified that he has been awarded the 2009 National Marine Educators Association Marine Education Award for outstanding work and leadership in marine education.  Lou's interests include photography, sailing, and kayaking and he has reportedly been seen fishing for striped bass.

Stewardship and Monitoring of the Estuary

Lou will discuss the ongoing programs to encourage stewardship in the South Shore Estuary Reserve.  He will demonstrate the equipment used by South Shore Estuary Learning Facilitator (sSELF) groups which have been developed under a grant from The ERM Foundation with the cooperation of NYSMEA and the South Shore Estuary Reserve Office. (www.nysmea.org/sSELF )  We will discuss how you can join or replicate this program to monitor physical and biological characteristics of the estuary.  The concept of Ecosystem Based Management as it pertains to studying the marine environment will be explored.  The sSELF field manual will be discussed among other materials available from the Reserve office. 

Jennifer Skilbred 

Jennifer is an environmental advocate with Group for the East End, as well as the education and outreach coordinator for the Peconic Estuary Program. She earned a B.S in earth and environmental science from Lehigh University, where she concentrated on aquatic ecology. After a brief internship at the Peconic Baykeeper, she worked on public outreach for the NOAA-sponsored Urbanization and Southeastern Estuarine Systems project. She then earned an M.E.M. in Coastal Environmental Management from Duke University. While at Duke she also studied environmental education through the NC Environmental Education Program, and taught environmental education in Durham schools. Before coming to the Group, she interned at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s Marine Policy Center, and then worked on an inter-organizational project at World Wildlife Fund to improve marine-protected areas worldwide.

Exploring Stormwater Runoff 

Introduction to the Peconic Estuary and an overview of the education and outreach work we do.  The presentation will focus on stormwater runoff: issues, causes and prevention. We will discuss how students/community groups can get involved in your own watershed.   We will discuss an in class demo project for students that works well in combination with field experiences. 

Steve Stanne

Steve  Stanne has nearly thirty years of experience teaching about the Hudson estuary, beginning in 1980 when he became education director at Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc, a position he held for 19 years. Through a partnership between Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, he now coordinates the education efforts of DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program.

After years of sailing the Hudson from New York City to Albany, Steve is well-versed in the estuary’s natural history and ecology, its tides and shipping, and its rich history. He has netted its striped bass and sturgeon, studied its creatures great and small through binoculars and microscopes, and led countless field trips to its shores. His photographs of the river have been used in publications and museum displays throughout the Hudson Valley. He is the principal author of The Hudson: An Illustrated Guide to the Living River, published by the Rutgers University Press and now a standard text for college courses focused on the river.

Steve has provided lecture programs and technical assistance to institutions ranging from the American Museum of Natural History and the Liberty Science Center to regional Elderhostel programs. His workshops have introduced many educators to the pleasures of teaching about the estuary.

Rolling Out the River: Teaching about the Hudson Estuary in a Quadricentennial Year

The 400^th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s visit offers many opportunities for Hudson River estuary education. This presentation will review activities and resources from DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program: lesson plans that are place-based, interdisciplinary, and aligned with NYS learning standards; internet-based opportunities to use remote sensing data and participate in distance learning programs; the annual Day in the Life of the Hudson on which thousands of students visit the estuary and then share sampling data online; and a citizen science project in which teams of high school students and community volunteers monitor glass eel migration into tributaries each spring.

John Tanacredi,  

• Research/Supervisory Ecologist, National Park Service (Retired) 1980-2001
• Presently, Chairman Department of Earth and Marine Science, Dowling College
• Presently hold Research Associate positions with
  • Department of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History
  • LaMont-Doherty Earth Institute at Columbia University
  • Osborn Laboratories, New York Aquarium of the Wildlife Conservation Society (formally NYZS)
  • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Polytechnic University
• Presently Chairman, Science Advisory Board, Explorers Club
• Presently Deputy Director, Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center (AREAC) at Brooklyn College, CUNY
• Presently hold Chairs for these groups:
  • IACERE (Part of the Americas Center for Science and Society)
  • Marsh Management Committee, NPS/NY Harbor
• Past Board Member, New York City Audubon Society (1996-1998)
• Long Island Science Museum (1991-2000)
• CRESLI (2004-2008)
• Brooklyn Center for the Urban environment (1992-2000)
• Serve on Board of Oceans and Atmosphere of NASULGC (2003-2008)

Dowling College Horseshoe Crab Inventory - 5 Year Trend Analysis

Dr. Tanacredi will report on the results of Dowling College's Horseshoe crab network monitoring efforts.  He will also review the natural history and mating behavior of this living fossil.  This is perfect timing as you and your students will be able to join this seasons monitoring efforts!