The Nature Conservancy and Western Suffolk BOCES Team up to Support Education and Shellfish Restoration Program with Local High School Students

KeySpan Foundation Supports Effort that Encourages Hands-on Learning with Positive Conservation Outcome

Cold Spring Harbor, NY — February 22, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy and the Outdoor Environmental Education Program, a service of the Western Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), announced that they will be supporting North Babylon High School in a program designed to educate high school students about Long Island’s bays and shellfish through a year-long hands-on education and restoration program.

“This is truly an all-Island effort,” said Carl LoBue, Atlantic Ocean beaches and bays site director for The Nature Conservancy. “The clams travel from a hatchery in Great South Bay, up to the North Shore where they are grown through the spring, summer, and fall, and then back to Great South Bay where they are released.”

“This program provides students with a year-long curriculum that teaches about Long Island’s rich maritime history, local shellfisheries, hard clam biology, mariculture, and the health of our local bays. It is an opportunity to get outdoors and participate in a meaningful, large-scale restoration project,” said Dan Stenzler, the Outdoor Environmental Education Program’s instructor for this project.

The program is underwritten by the KeySpan Foundation, whose ongoing support has helped contribute to the Conservancy’s effort to restore hard clams to Great South Bay. According to Executive Director, Bob Keller, “The KeySpan Foundation is pleased to contribute to this meaningful partnership between the Nature Conservancy and BOCES. The combined energy and expertise of these organizations are impacting the future of marine life and our youth.”

“This is a great opportunity for students to learn that what we do on land ultimately affects the health and well-being of our waters and the creatures it supports. This is a chance for the students to help restore the overall health of Great South Bay,” continued LoBue. “We are thankful to our supporters like Suffolk County and the KeySpan Foundation, whose ongoing backing of our shellfish restoration efforts helps make this partnership possible.” In 2006, Suffolk County contributed $1,000,000 towards clam restoration in Great South Bay.

Hard clams and other shellfish play a very important role in the bays – filtering water and serving as a critical link in the food web. Without them, water quality suffers and the entire ecosystem is affected. Restoring native shellfish populations is a pillar of The Nature Conservancy’s marine conservation work on Long Island. To date, The Conservancy has stocked the Bay with over 2.5 million adult clams.
.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. On Long Island, The Nature Conservancy has helped to preserve more than 100,000 acres. Visit us at nature.org/longisland.

Western Suffolk BOCES, a regional educational service agency, will provide quality, efficient, shared programs and services to school districts, their students, parents and communities. Our mission is to expand educational opportunities and alternatives enabling learners to achieve their potential. The mission of its Outdoor Environmental Education Program is to inspire a child’s sense of wonder for the natural world and enhance classroom concepts through discovery learning. Visit us at http://outdoors.wsboces.org.