3/15/13

SLU Project Receives Grant from St. Lawrence River Research and Education Board

CANTON -The New York Power Authority St. Lawrence River Research and Education Board has awarded a $20,000 grant for a project developed by a faculty member and graduate of St. Lawrence University.

Associate Professor of Biology Erika Barthelmess and Nature Up North Project Manager Erin Siracusa, Class of 2012, have received funding for “Nature Up North: Using the Internet and citizen-based science to understand and protect the St. Lawrence River watershed in Northern New York.”

According to the proposal, “The goals of Nature Up North are to increase community connections to, concern for, and stewardship of our reach of the St. Lawrence River Watershed. To accomplish these goals, we will use web-based technology to develop an interactive ‘virtual nature center’ and to implement a citizen-based science project made possible by the website. We will couple the website with experiential, place-based activities that enable North Country residents to connect with, and learn about, the local environment with a particular focus on the lands and waters of the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries.”

Barthelmess and Siracusa will work with key community partners, such as the Robert Moses State Park Nature Center, the Ogdensburg Boys & Girls Club, and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Environment Division, to offer St. Lawrence River-focused environmental and outreach activities to local school children, their families and other members of the North Country region.

These activities will be supplemented and promoted through the "virtual nature center" Barthelmess and her colleagues propose to create as a hub for ecological data, information sharing, and environmental outreach.