The Nature Conservancy & Western Suffolk Boces Team Up With High School Students To Restore Shellfish

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

Cold Spring Harbor, NY — October 7, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy and the Outdoor Environmental Education Program, a service of the Western Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) are working with Long Island high school students to restore shellfish populations on Long Island.

The education program entails hands-on work to help clams grow and to flourish in Long Island’s Great South Bay. The program is a three step process: first, seed clams are grown by students who participated in the BOCES Mariculture Program last year; next, the clams are harvested from a safe harbor where they have been growing by this year’s students, and third, the clams are released by Nature Conservancy scientists into the Great South Bay.

“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 the North to the South Shore of Long Island, and are helped to grow by students from east to west on the Island.”

“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 Nature Conservancy’s comprehensive efforts to restore hard clams to Great South Bay. To date, The Conservancy has stocked the Bay with over 2.5 million clams and was awarded $1,000,000 last year for its efforts by Suffolk County.

“This is a great opportunity for students to learn that what we do on land ulimately effects the health and well-being of our waters and the creatures its supports. This is a chance for the students to help restore water quality Island-wide,” added 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.”

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.

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.