Published on November 14, 2007
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On September 27, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary held its annual fundraiser, the Experience the Estuary Celebration, on the waterfront at Turbine Hall in Chester, Pennsylvania. A record 380 guests joined together to help make this event the organization’s most successful fundraiser to date.

The theme of this year’s event was “The Delaware…A Living River, A Working River,” a fitting title given that Turbine Hall is housed within The Wharf at Rivertown, an early 20th Century power plant that has since been redeveloped from a riverside brownfield into a modern-day office complex.

Highlights of the evening included dinner and silent and live auctions featuring merchandise contributed by dozens of businesses from throughout the tri-state region. Guests, meanwhile, were able to socialize between bids as they familiarized themselves with some of the environmental initiatives currently underway within the Delaware Estuary.

The event raised over $50,000 to help support the Partnership’s programs and activities. Major sponsors included: Exelon Corp., BP America, Inc., DuPont, Rohm and Haas, AKRF, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, PSEG’s Estuary Enhancement Program, and Wawa, Inc., among many others. For more information regarding this annual celebration of the Estuary, please visit www.DelawareEstuary.org or contact Karen Johnson at (800) 445-4935, extension 101, or KJohnson@DelawareEstuary.org.

In the words of Lisa Wool, program director at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, it was “a banner year” for Southeastern Pennsylvania Coast Day on September 15 when a record crowd turned out at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia to celebrate the region’s environmentally-sensitive coastline.

Thousands of visitors took advantage of the fall festival by stopping in at Walnut Plaza to enjoy family-oriented entertainment and hands-on activities offered by many of the region’s top environmental organizations. Among these were two new attractions: a visit by Professor Green, an interactive robotic teacher presented by DuPont’s Clear into the Future Initiative, and free boat rides aboard the A.J. Meerwald, a historic oyster schooner maintained by the Bayshore Discovery Project.

Other activities included visits to the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center via charter bus, music, and prizes for thousands of children and adults. Freshly roasted Delaware Bay oysters were also available thanks to the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Task Force.

Sponsors for this year’s festival included Clear into the Future, the Philadelphia Water Department, Pennsylvania’s Coastal Zone Management Program, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For further insight into Southeastern Pennsylvania Coast Day, please visit www.DelawareEstuary.org or contact Dee Ross at (800) 445-4935, extension 106, or Dross@DelawareEstuary.org.

A group of 16 teachers sharpened their science skills on August 6-10 when they toured a variety of demonstration sites during the 11th annual Delaware Estuary Watershed Workshop for Teachers. Since 1997, this weeklong training session organized by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary has helped more than 200 educators in the region gain professional instruction in environmental science they can later use in the classroom, and beyond.

Destinations ranged as far north as Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and as far south as Lewes, Delaware, providing participants with a better perspective of the Delaware Estuary in which they teach and reside. These excursions offered a variety of laboratory experiments, field experiences, and lectures on topics like identifying and sampling fish populations, water chemistry, wildlife conservation, and much more.

In addition to the training they received, each teacher who successfully completed the workshop took home $250 worth of educational materials and equipment. They also earned clock hours, continuing professional education hours, or professional development hours that will help them renew their teaching certificates in their respective states.

Sponsors of the 2007 Delaware Estuary Watershed Workshop for Teachers included the Bucks County Conservation District, BP America, the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, and Public Service Enterprise Group. To inquire about next year’s program, please contact Lisa Wool at (800) 445-4935, extension 105, or LWool@DelawareEstuary.org.

James A. Lauser, executive chef of the Wilmington/Christiana Hilton Hotel in Newark, Delaware, competed in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleanson August 4. Though he came up short of being crowned the “King of American Seafood” to Tim Thomas of Georgia, Lauser did succeed in promoting Delaware Bay oysters on this national stage.

Lauser earned Governor Ruth Ann Minner’s endorsement to represent his home state when he won the Delaware Bay Oyster Appetizer Competition, a contest organized by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary on behalf of the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Task Force at the University of Delaware’s 2006 Coast Day celebration in Lewes. The task force sponsored Lauser’s entry to raise national awareness about Delaware Bay oysters, its restoration project, and the efforts underway to revitalize one of America’s first commercial shellfish industries in Delaware and New Jersey.

For more details on the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, including Lauser’s detailed oyster recipes, please log on to www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com. To find fresh oysters you can use to prepare these and other recipes, please consult your local seafood vendor or explore www.JerseySeafood.NJ.gov. And to learn more about the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project and its 10 member-organizations, please visit www.DelawareEstuary.org or contact Shaun Bailey at (800) 445-4935, extension 113, or SBailey@DelawareEstuary.org.

On October 30, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary hosted a workshop on behalf of the Schuylkill Action Network at Montgomery County Community College in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. This third-annual gathering was facilitated by Dianne Russell of the Institute for Conservation Leadership in Washington, D.C., and its theme was “What’s working to engage local governments in watershed protection?”

This event brought together approximately 80people representing conservation organizations, government agencies at all levels, and businesses, among others who share a similar interest in protecting water quality in the Schuylkill River Watershed. Throughout the day, attendees were encouraged to share their experiences carrying out projects that help to alleviate nonpoint source pollution in the form of stormwater and agricultural runoff, abandoned mine drainage, and industrial or municipal discharges.

The Schuylkill Action Network is a voluntary collaboration of more than 100 member-organizations working together to transcend regulatory and jurisdictional boundaries so they can implement water protection measures in the Schuylkill River Watershed. For more information on the Schuylkill Action Network, please visit www.SchuylkillActionNetwork.org or log on to the SAN Web pages located at www.DelawareEstuary.org.

On September 25, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary convened a day-long workshop co-hosted by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences entitled “Smart Ecosystem Restoration for Tomorrow’s Delaware Estuary.”  Throughout this event, nationally and regionally renowned experts in the field of conservation and restoration planning detailed strategies, tools, and techniques that can be used to maximize environmental-improvement efforts throughout the Delaware Estuary.  Some of these presenters included:

• Dr. Mike Beck of The Nature Conservancy
• Dr. Perry Gayaldo of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Restoration Center and the University of Washington
• Mark Kieser of Kieser & Associates, LLC
• Bill Mates of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

The Partnership is currently working to compile the proceedings from this workshop so it can continue to work with others toward a regional restoration blueprint that will guide future environmental investments throughout the Estuary.  For more information on the Partnership’s regional restoration efforts, please contact Dr. Danielle Kreeger at (800) 445-4935, extension 104, or DKreeger@DelawareEstuary.org.