This education initiative was created by PVAS and its partners to provide classroom and hands-on educational activities that would broaden the students’ understanding of the water cycle, watersheds, water quality and stewardship.

Members of the Freshwater Institute staff worked with the students, helping them to propagate native wetland plants, and designed the layout of the schoolyard plantings to prevent erosion and other problems associated with stormwater runoff. The plants were supplied and grown by the Freshwater Institute.

The lessons and activities of the PVAS program are preventing erosion at the schools. They are also educating future citizens of Jefferson and Berkeley counties about the importance of environmental stewardship and their personal connection to water resources.

Partners

• Potomac Valley Audubon Society   
• Institute for Environmental Studies at Shepherd College
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center
• Jefferson County Watershed Coalition
• Wastewater treatment plants in Shepherdstown and Martinsburg, West Virginia