Capital Area volunteers Art Sconing, Harvey Baney, Velda Kauffman

The Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps, a volunteer organization for seniors that helps monitor and protect water quality, celebrated its tenth anniversary in May.

PaSEC was founded in May, 1997 by the departments of Environmental Protection and Aging in partnership with the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement, a non-profit group.

"The Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps celebrates ten years of service, and offers invaluable generations of experience," Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said. "All of us are grateful for the time, energy and remarkable contribution these members make on a regular schedule of monitoring, educating, creating and living as stewards of our environment now and for the future."

“I commend the Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps on this the 10th anniversary of its service to Pennsylvania,” said Nora Dowd Eisenhower, Secretary of the Department of Aging. “Men and women, who have already completed a lifetime of service, are to be applauded for their volunteer efforts to improve water quality across the state. Their environmental stewardship is an important example of civic engagement on the part of older Pennsylvanians.”

“Ten years ago we started with 200 volunteers learning how to do water sampling in a few counties,” said Beth Grove, Statewide Coordinator for PaSEC. “Today we have over 2,900 volunteers who are mentoring high students on environmental sciences, documenting the success of abandoned mine reclamation projects, educating the public on West Nile Virus, about the dangers of radon and how to protect drinking water.”

“Our volunteers have a variety of backgrounds including science teachers, engineers, business people or avid anglers, but most do not have any background related to things like water sampling, other than a love of nature and a desire to protect the environment,” said Grove. “Our oldest volunteer-- 99-year old Homer Foster in Cumberland County-- was a steel worker and owned a Christmas tree farm, but he got the training and he’s out there every week on the sampling team.” Grove also highlighted the strong social relationships that program volunteers have developed over the years, building healthy activities and lasting support systems in the lives of retirees.

“The Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps was the first statewide volunteer program in the United States to involve seniors in protecting the environment and the first to link Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Aging programs,” said Peggy Knight from the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement. “Since then the program has served as a model for many other states and countries.”

“The Pennsylvania program and local chapters have received many local, state and national awards for their work,” said Grove. “We were extremely proud when the Pennsylvania program was recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme on its Global 500 Honour Roll for the program’s contribution to protecting the environment, joining the work of individuals like Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall.”

“The Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps has been a pioneer in many ways, but the work volunteers did to implement the first-ever Internet-based system to allow volunteer-collected water monitoring information to be posted and analyzed is being used throughout the country,” said Knight. Knight also pointed to the approval of the program’s quality assurance efforts by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

“In Pennsylvania alone, our volunteers contribute over 37,400 hours annually to do water monitoring and other projects,” explained Grove. “We now regularly monitor water quality at 628 sites around the state and have generated over 469,000 pieces of water quality data, something that’s a big help to the Department of Environmental Protection and local watershed groups.”

The General Assembly officially recognized the 10th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps by passing resolutions designating May as “Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps Month.”

The resolutions were introduced in the House by Rep. Bud George (D-Clearfield) – House Resolution 260 – and in the Senate by Sen. John Pippy (R-Allegheny) – Senate Resolution 112.

“On behalf of our dedicated volunteers, we want to thank the departments of Environmental Protection and Aging for their support and for the General Assembly’s support and recognition,” said Grove. “We are looking forward to taking on new challenges and we’re always looking for new volunteers!”

Chapters of the Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps are hosted in these counties: Adams, Allegheny-Butler, Blair, Cumberland-Dauphin-Perry, Centre, Clearfield, Crawford, Delaware, Indiana, Lancaster, Mifflin-Juniata, Montgomery-Bucks, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Venango, Washington-Fayette-Greene, and York.

To volunteer or for more information, visit the PaSEC website, or contact Beth Grove at 717-244-6248 or send email to: PaGreatSEC@aol.com .

Tag along with the PaSEC water sampling team known as the X-Team, lead by Bill Apgar, and including Homer Foster, Jack McGinley, Leon Oberdick and Stacy Russell, show how they hunt macroinvertebretes on another part of the Yellow Breeches.

Video Blog: X-Team Samples the Yellow Breeches

Video Blog: Jim Haney, Capital Area PaSEC, Presents a History of the Program

Go along as volunteers Art Sconing, Harvey Baney, Velda Kauffman and Carl Crone take their samples and then analyze them back at their lab in the New Cumberland Senior Center.

Video Blog: Water Quality Sampling on the Yellow Breeches

Video Blog: Counting Macroinvertebretes on the Yellow Breeches

Video Blog: Touring the Lab at the New Cumberland Senior Center

Video Blog: Volunteers Share Their Experiences

The Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement administers the PA Senior Environment Corps Program statewide with local partners like RSVP.

Links: Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the PA Senior Environment Corps

Session Schedule

The Senate and House return to voting session June 4 and will be in session through June.

PA Environment Digest Video Blog

On the Hill

· On the Senate/House Agenda/ Bills Introduced

· House Environmental, Agriculture Committees to Consider Environmental Bills

· Senate Committees Hold First of Two Hearings on PA Energy Policy

· Environmental Synopsis Features Overview of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful

Other News

· Electric Grid Losing Generation Three Times Faster Than New Units Added

· WREN Awards 22 Grants to Community-Based Water Resources Education Projects

· Workshop to Protect Public Drinking Water in Southeast Planned for June 13

· Three Meetings Left on Use of Federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Funds

· Landmark Settlement to Clean Up Raw Sewage Discharges in Allegheny County

· Ohio River Sweep Volunteers Sought for June 16 Cleanup Event

· Ninth Schuylkill River Sojourn to Kick Off on June 2

· Lehigh River Sojourn Starts Paddling June 22, Register Now!

· Clinton County Hosts Shad Fry Fish Stocking Event June 7

· June 6 Public Meeting on Jordan Creek Greenway/Trail Feasibility Study

· DEP Issues First Ozone Action Days of the Season

· Workshop on Tax Incentives for Preserving Land Set for Lehigh County

· Interactive Land Use and Air Quality Programs Teacher Workshops

· Governor Delays Climate Proposal, DCNR Continues Work on Carbon Strategy

· Professional Geologists to Host Underground Storage Tank Workshops

· DEP Citizens Advisory Council Newsletter Now Available Online

· Environmental Groups Urged to Update Listing in State Conservation Directory

· Gov. Rendell to Seek Ruling From Court on Ethics Commission Opinions

· Governor Submits Nominations for Public Utility Commission

Spotlight

· De Sale I Acid Mine Drainage System Maintenance a Priority

Feature

· Fish & Boat Commission’s Doug Austin Heads Out on River Sojourns Around PA

Go To: PA Environment Digest Calendar Page

6/1/2007