Latest / Clean Water Conversations / Choose Clean Water Conference: Lessons, Stories & What’s Next

Transcript

Choose Clean Water Conference: Lessons, Stories & What’s Next · Clean Water Conversations

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Season 5 of Cleanwater Conversations is sponsored by RKK.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: RKK is a full-service design and engineering firm that provides innovative solutions to complex challenges.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: As a recognized leader in state and municipal stormwater management, MS4 permit compliance, stream restoration, and ecological design services, RKK is ready to deliver community-focused water quality improvements to urban and suburban communities.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Check out more information about RKK at rkk.com.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, RKK.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And now onto our show.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the season's theme has been about clean water education from K to Gray.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to Diana Martin for that phrase.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Every piece of education, every type of learner, every type of experience has such value and helps us get closer to that shared goal of clean and clear by 2040.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been really fun to explore how that shows up in Lancaster, how our partners are really doing education of all kinds.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And if you hear any noise in the background, we are very appropriately recording at the Choose Clean Water Conference here in downtown Lancaster.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, an education opportunity for us professionals in the conservation space.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: So lots of visitors, lots of experts that have come here to Lancaster to share stories, to share technical expertise.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: We were doing field trips yesterday afternoon.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, it was a hot day.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: It certainly was.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we are going to be grabbing people from the conference and talking to them.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you have that to look forward to.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this isn't a total live stream, everyone.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: But however, there are definitely some live elements to it.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's an exciting way to wrap up our season.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we had mentioned we this is the end of season five.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: When you look back at season five, like what stands out to you as something really memorable or something that really struck you in a way that you didn't expect?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm just so grateful for my background in environmental education and my time with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the experts that I got to meet there, but also to build my own expertise.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm thankful that we got to have Tom Ackerman on the season this year and being able to kind of revisit those pieces of using the environment as an integrating context and the importance of field experiences.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that really combined well with some of our experts that we we got to talk with from the three colleges because teaching teachers is one thing, like Nanette talked about.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: But also then being able to inspire a new generation and doing that through biology, doing that through hands-on activities that the college like Franklin and Marshall that Nick organized is I mean, those are important pieces of an entire college experience.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then taking that into a professional work, there's so many good connections.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And was what was really neat to me about that one is how they're colleges, but they also reach back like K-12 in in some cases and start them early and show them the way to go.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, yeah, that was that was really neat.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: I really liked uh Leadership Lancaster.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: They were fun.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Very simple, oh my god.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Surprise, surprise, those ladies are fun.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: There was so much in there.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and the the the new one that they just added for seniors.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: The encore class.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: I I thought that was a fantastic idea.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: That I had not heard of anybody else doing that.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't either, but when I put the pieces together that Jen loves to perform, and she talked about her Broadway ambitions as a child, I was like, oh, she of all people would call it an encore class.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that was that was so much fun.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the other ones that really struck me was uh the when we talked about FFA at McCaskey.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Valerie and Mr.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: Bixler.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and and Valerie is just so mature beyond her years.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: So put together.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I was that put together, to be honest with you, but still I wish I was that put together some days.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Man, she's going places.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really grateful she's here in Lancaster.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um Angie from Edible Classroom.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you were mentioning like starting them young.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: And she has um man, I know it's hard on a podcast, but the visuals of her and the little ones out in the garden.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: That they're doing really cool stuff.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that physical hands in the dirt, getting kids excited.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Didn't you talk about just being excited to find worms and bugs?
• 4:54
  unknown: Yes.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And being able to grow your own food is such an important part of education.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Making it the whole way from K through twelve, but then even beyond that, the research component that education incorporates, and we've got to keep learning and exploring and testing things.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: So being able to also hear from our partners at Stroud and the research that's being done on waterways and fluvial morphology, I think, was her expertise.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: There was some of that that was a little over my head, but you know, I'm I'm glad that they're that they're out there doing that because it's such important work that they're doing.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: We need those people doing that research.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: What a fun season because education kept coming up, you know, like when we were revising the common agenda, education, outreach, both about water quality specifics, water quality policy, education just kept coming up.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: And people have very different definitions of what that is or different types of education they have in mind when they say it has to happen, quote, air quotes are happening.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so I feel like this season has given us a better inside look at how partners are doing education across Lancaster.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, this is not an all-encompassing seven episodes of um every type of education.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: However, it definitely is a really exciting way to explore the kind of education that's been happening for years across Lancaster County.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's helped us with the momentum though.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And in that same episode with Leadership Lancaster, and you're gonna hear it in this one as well.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sally Gregory from Lancaster County Conservation District told us about Youth Conservation School, which is coming up in July.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's such a unique piece.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: And again, for years, they have been leading that effort and inspiring so many to be actively engaged in conservation or go that direction with their career.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: So shout out to the conservation district.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sally Gregory.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the education and operations coordinator at the Lancaster County Conservation District.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: As co-director of the Youth Conservation School, I facilitate planning and organization along with a volunteer leadership team and other organizations to plan the week.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's an immersive field school experience for students who are 14 to 16 years old.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: The weeklong experience is an overnight program, and the idea is to immerse students in learning about the true definition of conservation, the wise use of our natural resources.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: The school is not a traditional overnight camp.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: We begin the programs each day after breakfast and go until well into the evening at 9:30.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Each opportunity is the type of experiential learning where students can interact in a career with a professional that they can look at some opportunities for the future in terms of what they want to study or what they find interesting just for their own personal background.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: The entire week has a different focus each day on different types of natural resources.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: We might start out with doing something that relates to kind of the overall environment, looking at orienteering, survival.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have a study focus each year that really looks at water quality, land use, and that's something that students will focus on as group learning throughout the week.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Wednesday is our focus on wildlife management, Thursday on water quality, and Friday is a culminating day where they put together everything that they've learned throughout the week.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Youth Conservation School in 2026 will be held July 19th through the 24th.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a six-day, five-night program.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Students are asked to enroll online, and they can find that at the LancasterConservation.org website.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: The registration fee is minimal for a student.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's$25.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: The remaining tuition is paid for by cooperating organizations within communities and sportsmen's clubs throughout Lancaster County, and that's really the historical partnership that was created 47 years ago between the Conservation District and sportsmen's clubs throughout Lancaster County.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: That cost, along with grants, tremendous donations from individuals and corporations, make the school possible so that we work to make sure that any student can attend who's interested in Lancaster County.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Youth Conservation School today.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: If anybody has any further questions about youth conservation school, please call the Lancaster County Conservation District office at 717-299-5361-Extension 5.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And as I mentioned earlier, we are recording here at the Choose Clean Water Conference, which is a great educational opportunity.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Certainly for me, I've been learning a lot as we're sitting and listening to the city.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, being able to have professionals all come together to talk about clean water across Chesapeake Bay watershed and have it be here in Lancaster this year is is super wonderful.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's a joy to be able to celebrate.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's celebrate with those professionals right now.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: We found Ashley's spots.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, one of our local experts.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: She is really good at educating farmers and landowners.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: So Ashley, what kind of things are part of a typical day for you?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um I do a lot of field visits with my farmers and landowners.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh we check in on uh their existing buffers, or I do eligibility visits for new buffers.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this this whole season has been about education.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody has a different learning style.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: What is your learning style?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: I'm more of a visual person, so I like to be on site with the landowner pointing out concerns or what they're doing right.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: Uh to me, looking at something is the best way of explaining it.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can see that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: And you've been doing this work for a long time.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: I have.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I've been with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation 20 years, and before that, I was with the Natural Resource Conservation Service for almost four years.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_04: So it's I've been doing buffers my entire career.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your commitment to buffers and Lancaster and conservation.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: What are some of the biggest, I'll say, lessons learned that you have over that time?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's just meeting them, meeting the landowners and farmers where they're at.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: I want them to know that this is voluntary, that I don't want them to see their forested buffer as a place that they're throwing away or getting rid of.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_04: I want it to be a spot that they can enjoy.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_04: They can picnic or they can, you know, harvest things from the buffer.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_04: I want them to see that it's a benefit.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for all that you have done for buffers and for Lancaster.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's really made a difference.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: So my pleasure.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love it here.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yay.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_04: Enjoy the conference.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_04: So good to see you both.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And we are talking with Amanda Bush.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you're with HRG now, and what are some of your favorite kind of projects to work on?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_05: I really like the Stormwater Bay collaborative projects.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_05: And being a part of those, seeing a bunch of municipalities come together to meet requirements, I think is really fascinating.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of opportunities for that coming up, huh?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: I guess there's some unknowns too.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, little A.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_05: Hopefully not for long.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, man, yeah, yeah.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: How do you tackle educating your clients when either there's a lack of information or sometimes it's so technical you can lose people really fast?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, we try to keep it basic and just start from there.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_05: And then the more interested they are, we can build it out, add more detail, get more technical, but really just starting basic and then building over time so that they understand, well, I know what the MCMs are, and then adding more to it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_05: So Yeah.
• 13:22
  unknown: Yeah.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: And what is an MCM?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_05: A minimum control measure for stormwater.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_05: So the minimum you're supposed to do in the permit, and then there's a bunch more that goes on.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_05: Very good.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_05: Very good.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_05: Amanda, what kind of education do you have?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_05: Like how'd you get into this?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so I studied environmental science actually at Penn State for two years, and then I decided I didn't like the cold, so I went to Orlando.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_05: And then after I graduated, I was still in Orlando and I got into construction stormwater doing inspections for construction sites.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and then I wanted to move back home because COVID hit, and um, EPA Region 3 had an internship for MS4 stormwater coordinator.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_05: I got I was lucky enough to get chosen for that, and I worked there for about two years, and then I went private.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_05: So Wow, that's pretty fun.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, it was definitely an experience.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, construction in Florida and the heat was a lot.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: It was like yesterday here at the conference.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: Jeez.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_05: Which which field trip did you do?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't I had to pick up my son, so I did to go on one, but I'm hoping the rain held out for most of them.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, I think it did.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, good.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the buildup of the thunderstorm intensity.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the loom and gloom.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh everybody learns in a different way.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, what is your preferred learning style?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_05: I'm definitely visual.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_05: I think like visual timelines, visual education, all of that's probably the easiest for me because it kind of sums things up.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_05: It's not too wordy.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And what what's your big takeaway so far from the conference here?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_05: I love seeing all the different backgrounds come together and all the different topic ranges, and it's just been really interesting and you see everyone's perspective.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: From your work in the private sector, are there other types of conferences or learning sessions or other ways that people within that industry find new things?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, is it research-based or is it field-based completely?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm just curious how other people learn.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, a lot of our clients come to us for questions and then we'll point them to the MS4 forum that we have.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_05: I point a lot of my clients there.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um, the Villanova has a really good symposium.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_05: So it's a mix of conferences and just like education throughout the year from us and other sources.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna drop in MS4 and me beat me to it.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, no, I think that's a great resource.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_05: I actually have clients that are interested going from York, and I know we had people from all other counties last time, so it's definitely growing.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_05: I'm excited to see it this year.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're excited.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: We just got the date and location finalized.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I can't wait to start getting speakers and see what kind of topics we're gonna talk about.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_05: This is a great setup and to give some ideas and topics and speakers.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's a good point.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Just like poll people around here of like what else do you want for the next round?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, enjoy your last day of the conference.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, you as well.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Fun being a presenter and a vendor.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, okay, good.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Very good.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you guys.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we're here with Emily Thorpe.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh Emily is not a Lancastrian anymore.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: Never a fitly was.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Right, Pennsylvania, yes.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, no longer Pennsylvanian, but have a soft spot.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and who are you working with now?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_06: Uh University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Still doing education.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, watershed education, restoration, protection.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: And very much in line with the theme for the season.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and I was so impressed with the session that that you and Vernon had yesterday talking about um Jonestown, not that one.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_06: Jonestown in Maryland.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_06: Not the Jonestown you think of.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Talk a little bit about that, because there's a lot of education involved with that as well.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_06: So um that was Vernon Murray, who's the community engagement coordinator for Envision the Chop Tank.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_06: And he and I have been working together in an informal capacity for the last four years and sort of in a formal capacity for six months before I transitioned to my new job.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_06: And but now we get to work together as partners, which is really incredible.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_06: And so, yeah, we were presenting on our framework, our community engagement framework that we developed through uh the Envision the Chop Tank Partnership as a way to work with underserved communities to really understand their needs, um, listen to their experiences, and help develop solutions with communities rather than coming in and saying, you know, we know you've got a problem.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_06: Here's what we're gonna do to fix it, right?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_06: Instead, we want to listen to what they have going on, listen to what they want for their community, and really find ways to kind of address problems together and look for mutually beneficial activities.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_06: And Vernon has just been such an incredible partner in that and the Jonestown Community Development Corporation that he's also the president of, in addition to, you know, working full-time and coaching high school basketball, like being a dad, like yeah.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_06: So anyhow it was a pleasure to have him here this week.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So you have a lot of demands on your time, obviously.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, what is the value of professional learning like coming to a conference like this?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think um, you know, just being part of the network and seeing how other people are doing this kind of work all across the watershed and finding ways to bring those lessons learned home with you.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_06: That's something that we really tried to include in our presentation yesterday was, you know, here's how we did this work and how can you like what can you pull from this and take back to your home community and how can you apply it to the work you're doing?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_06: And so I'm always looking for those little golden nuggets too.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_06: I know I already want to sit down with Alison and talk about Watershed Leadership Academy.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_06: And, you know, Allison and I go way back and why haven't we talked about that?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_05: We gotta do that.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds amazing.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody has a a style of learning that is most efficient for them.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: What what is your style of learning?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_06: I um I was a nerd, like full transparency.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_06: Like, I love school, I'm good at school, but I do really, you know, I I love hands-on learning.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_06: I can do it with a PowerPoint.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_06: I can sit there and, you know, and take it and take my notes and get an A on the test.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_06: But like I wanna I wanna be out where the action is taking place, right?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_06: And really being involved in it and and working with other people and yeah, really, you know, digging in.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: The experiential learning.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: So knowing that a conference style event can give you all kinds of different golden nuggets or templates or just inspiration for things.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a takeaway from this conference that you're gonna bring into your daily work?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_06: That's a good question.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_06: Um today I'm officially a month in to my new position.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_06: Congratulations.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_06: It's been this is my second conference in one month, so it's been a whirlwind.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_06: Um so I think this was just a good reminder about like getting back out there and talking to different stakeholders, and that's really what I'm gonna be focusing on in the next kind of three months of developing my program for my new role.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_06: And it was good to like reconnect with some, you know, former colleagues and start to talk to you know new colleagues that I'll be working with.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_06: So I think just a good like energy, re-energizing and kind of reminder of that FaceTime is really important and like getting out there and talking to folks.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_06: So awesome.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you enjoy the rest of the conference.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, thank you.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: And we are here with Kelly Slippy from Lancaster Conservancy, and I would say the mastermind behind Water Week.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: She makes the magic happen.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's a lot of credit.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, and thanks, Allison.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: Good to be with you this morning.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: So good to have you here in Lancaster with the Choose Clean Water Conference and being able to celebrate things like all of the work happening in Lancaster, but also Lancaster Water Week.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe you can give us a little bit of um the inside scoop on what's coming up this year.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: So this is actually the 10th anniversary of Water Week, which is so hard to believe that we're already 10 years in.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: But it has just been the studio audience comes with us.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it has just continued to grow and grow and grow.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: Since 2017, it started with just a small handful of events and handing out some trees from uh Fritz Schroeder's the back of his truck.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: And now with our partners, we're hosting over 60 events across the county, over 40 partners involved in hosting events and collaboration.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's just a really incredible time for our community to come out, celebrate the 1400 miles of streams and rivers here in Lancaster County, and celebrate all the work that has been done and is continuing to be done to see them restored to health.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that momentum is huge.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Huge.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now our theme for this season is education.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: How does Water Week help achieve those goals in Lancaster?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so Water Week is kind of this glorious mix of marketing campaign, celebration, and outreach and education.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's all of the above.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: And our primary goal with Water Week is to help connect people with our waterways.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: It never ceases to amaze me when I'm having conversations during Water Week that there are still people in Lancaster County that don't even know where the closest stream or river to their home is.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_03: They don't know when it's not far.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it's usually not very far.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: And they don't even know where it is.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_03: They don't know how to connect with it.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: They don't know that it's probably impaired and needs our help to be restored back to health.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so Water Week really is about that 101 level education of we have this amazing resource in our county because of human impact.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: They've been harmed, but we also get the privilege of helping to restore them back to health.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have to leave them this way.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: But what a beautiful way to describe it.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: But the cool thing about Water Week too is that we get to do that 101 level of education, but we also kind of get to dive into that 201 and even 301 level education.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: So one of our partners, Stroudwater Research, is doing a lecture on wetland restoration from one of their scientists this year.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: So those are the types of events where people who really want to get into the nitty-gritty and want to learn more are able to do that.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: We also have some hands-on workshops coming up this year.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a couple different workshops about how to install a rain garden, how to maintain a rain garden, how to build your own pollinator patch on your property.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: So these are opportunities for folks not to just get information education, but experiential education and how to actually rewild for clean water in our community.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's such a big important piece that we've learned through this season with all of our guests of experiential education.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: There has to be an action component.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Give people information, but they have to find there has to be a way for them to do something with it.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: Take action.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: And that's always our goal we want folks to explore outdoors.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: We want them to build habitat and we want them to protect nature.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so those are kind of our three goals throughout Water Week.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: And that is the call to action.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: And the number one way that we can do that is by creating habitat.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: We know that.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: We know that by planting native species, we increase biodiversity, we help filter runoff, we help shade our stream so that native fish and amphibians can survive and thrive.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so everybody is able to do that.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone is able to create habitat, whether it's in a small planter on your front porch or a large oak tree on several acres of your backyard.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: It does not matter.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: It all impacts our waterways.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this episode is going to drop on Wednesday of Water Week.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: What can people who've never done it before expect over the course of the next couple of days?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so we are already halfway into water week, but there is still so much more to come, which is so exciting.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: And there are ways for everyone to connect.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Today, folks will be out on the river down in Peckway with Sickman's Mill helping to clean that up.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: This evening, city residents are invited to participate in adopt a rain garden tour and training led by Lancaster City.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: There's some Blue-Green Connector Preview hikes and a Eurofin's Natural Trail Exploration where they're opening up this amazing self-guided nature trail that they've built right on their campus in New Holland for folks to come and explore and learn about how they're creating habitat and protecting nature right on their corporate campus.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: Later in the week, we'll also have an amazing presentation by Peggy Eppig of Lancaster Conservancy about the connections between our waterways and the Underground Railroad.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: And she has some incredible stories to tell.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: So if you have not heard her, she is incredible.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: Columbia River Crossing Trail Center is where she'll be at.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: And that'll be Thursday evening.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_03: And then at the end of the week, we always close out with two really awesome events.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: So Friday night, everyone is welcome to join us for Water Week Trivia at Sickman's Mill.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: It is a blast.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: So fun to connect with others in the clean water movement, laugh at one another, laugh at ourselves a little bit, and hopefully learn a couple things along the way.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: And then finally on Saturday, we are hosting a rally for the river.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: Because the Conestoga River was named Pennsylvania River of the Year.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: And we thought, what better way to celebrate the River of the Year than by rallying together and then uh spreading out along the shores of the Conestoga to clean it up together as a community.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, cool.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: So that is the way that we're really wrapping up Water Week this year.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: And we're really excited.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: The whole community is invited to come out.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: We'll gather at County Park for some coffee and donuts and a time of energizing.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: And then we'll divide up into smaller teams and get to the cleaning up of this beautiful, precious resource that we have right here in the heart of our community.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned action is a big piece of this.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to say thank you to Water Week and the way that you connect your sponsors to the Clean Water Fund, which is available at the Community Foundation in a way that others can take action.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: They can apply for grant money and then be able to do action themselves.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: So be inspired during Water Week, apply for a grant, and then you too can be right in the thick of it doing your own project.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really what Water Week is all about.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's about these everyday heroes who are doing the work to take care of our waterways.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you so much to Clean Water Partners for making it possible for us to uh share that grant through Water Week and empower our community members to take action.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: So what a great group of people doing great work for a great cause.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and this has been a truly great event.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's a fun event here with the Choose Clean Water Conference, but a fun season with the Clean Water Conversations podcast.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: And season five, we mention this like every episode, but it I think it's important for us to mention it again, has been sponsored by RKNK.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we would just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for partnering with us on this adventure we call the podcast.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and as we move into season six, we're looking for new partners or new corporate partnerships or new sponsors to become active with us through this podcast.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: We would love to have you as a sponsor for season six.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: So a huge thank you to RKK and Chespee Conservancy and some of our others.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: But know that we would welcome you for the next season because the audience is growing.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: We have over 5,000 downloads total.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great way to get your name out, get your organization, get your business some screen time, some airtime, some ears as people are listening, and amazing way for you to show your support for these voices of Clean Water in Lancaster.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell And a special thanks to those of you who are listening and downloading those 5,000 downloads happened because of you.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: We really do appreciate that.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Ken gave me the inside scoop that apparently within the first week of a new episode dropping, there are more downloads in that week, right, Ken?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Than there ever have been in any previous season.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell That's awesome.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to know.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's a huge uh huge push.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for those of you who are eagerly awaiting that release of the newest episode.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of season six, our theme will be advocacy.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: Advocacy.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: That might be a trigger word for some people.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: It could be.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: It could be.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I let me go back by saying dictionary.com defines advocacy as this, and it's really simple: active support, especially of a cause.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, that's it.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: It leaves it very, very wide open as far as as far as uh usages.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell And you all in our network agreed that the term collective advocacy is one of our priorities.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we're always bringing this back to the common agenda.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: Implementing the common agenda is our big focus.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: The podcast helps us do that, and collective advocacy is one of the ways we're gonna get to clean and clear by 2040.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And Clean Water Conversations would it just wouldn't be clean water conversations without trivia.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh well, we're gonna do something a little different in this finale.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna ask the question of you, the listening audience.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you are the contestant.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we have some giveaways for the first person to email the correct answer to info at LancasterCleanWaterPartners.com.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the question is this in the history of American television, what is the most watched season finale?
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the caveat.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: What is the most watched season finale that was not a series finale?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Important, important detail.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it is.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: And we have a giveaway, by the way.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, prizes.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so make sure that you email.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: And we have more trivia.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: We do.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's let's let's do the easier one too.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we'll we'll ask this one too, and hey, we'll give away even more stuff.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what was the most watched season finale?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: It also, of course, was a series finale.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: I promise we are not implying anything.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: Our series is not ending.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're not, no.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_02: Just the season.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: That is actually why I specifically picked that first one to be a season finale.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a series finale, so didn't want to confuse anybody.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: Some clean water partner stuff.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that email again is info at lancastercleanwaterpartners.com.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's exciting stuff.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what else is exciting stuff?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: We have a big announcement to make.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have a sound effect of a drum roll.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: But we do have over 100 partner organizations.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: We have it big market.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so for our hundred plus partner organizations, we're having a party.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: We are because of course we gotta celebrate.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: We have parties on creeks and rivers because that's what we're working towards, clean and clear.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: And specifically, we are going to party at Sickman's Mill.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right along which river is that?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Pegway Creek.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Pekway Creek on July 22nd.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: It is to celebrate our partner organizations.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so the event is for our partners.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: And you all as listeners, your organizations, maybe you're already a partner, but you are welcome to become one.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: We would love to keep that number growing and come join us at the party as you join this network of official partner organizations.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of parties, they're never ending.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: They are never end excuse for a party.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's the way we work around here.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we are going to be at Green Drinks in July.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: That is at West Art in Lancaster, and that's going to be on July 16th from 5 to 7 p.m.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: And clarification: the West Art Green Drinks We is the podcast.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that one's specifically about us here at Clean Water Conversations.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: Many of you attend Green Drinks all the time.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: And we're really excited to be able to specifically focus on the podcast at that event, promote the awesome guests that we've had and the idea of getting stories out, of using the voices of you all as our network members and the successes we're seeing in Lancaster's Clean Water Work.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: So come hang out with us.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: That having been said, that is a wrap on season five.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you all for a fantastic season.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: We will see you at the end of August for the beginning of season six.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, take care.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: Bye, everybody.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: This episode of Clean Water Conversations is sponsored by RKK, Creative Solutions, Responsive People.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: And produced by Lancaster Clean Water Partners, striving for clean and clear water by 2040.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you have comments, suggestions for show topics, or are interested in becoming a show sponsor, please contact us at infol at Lancaster Cleanwater Partners.com.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.