To accelerate conservation and reduce water pollution, a Penn State team composed of outreach staff and extension educators will build upon existing partnerships with organizations in the lower Susquehanna River basin. The watershed is plagued by runoff of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture.
Funded by a three-year, $1 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the team from the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center will undertake innovative outreach efforts to extend its Community Watershed Engagement Program. The program utilizes unique watershed partnerships to increase education, outreach and adoption of conservation practices to improve water quality, according to center director Matt Royer.
The initiative will build on collaborative successes and elevate existing watershed partnerships to accelerate conservation in five adjacent watersheds in the high-priority Lower Susquehanna region, noted Royer, who also is an associate research professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
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Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center staff, Penn State Extension educators and volunteers help plant a forest riparian buffer on agricultural lands in the Lower Susquehanna region. (Photo Credit: Michael Houtz/Penn State)