As of the close of the 2015/2016 school year, The North Shore Land Alliance Long Island Water Education Program in local schools has, in its two short years, reached 2,400 students at 17 local schools within nine school districts across Long Island.

Little did we dream when we launched the three-session program in fall of 2014 that it would so quickly become requested by so many teachers in so many schools.  But word has spread in large part because of the talents of our educator and a crew of dedicated volunteers. Their assistance and leadership on field trips to our Shore Road Sanctuary this spring and fall have been invaluable.

The success of the program can best be summed up by a quote from a parent (who’s also a teacher) whose son had recently participated in the Program. “My son Eamon is a 4th grader at St. Patrick’s in Huntington and he came home two weeks or so ago and told me ALL about aquifers.  He loved the follow up lesson yesterday, and this morning when I told him we’d be having a rainy week he said “Well Mom, that sure is good news for the aquifers!”

In September, the Land Alliance was awarded an additional $30,500 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, which will sustain the program for the 2016/2017 school year.  This grant will allow us to offer busing for students in underserved schools and broaden the range of the program by offering it to more schools.

For more information about the North Shore Land Alliance Long Island Water Education Program, please contact Jane Jackson at 516-922-10288 or send an email to [email protected]g.

You can read this article in our 2016 Fall/Winter Conservation News newsletter.