Explore the Patuxent Teen Paddle:
Creating Environmental Leaders

By Trystan Sill

You are a high schooler. You’re getting used to a new schedule, new groups of friends; you’re thinking about your grades, college, extracurricular activities, your family, and trying to get enough sleep. Everything is zipping by in a blur and hectic doesn’t even begin to describe your life. Now, the news programs, your parents, and maybe teachers are bombarding you with, “Hello! We need to do something about the environment and can’t you find some time to save the planet?”

Take a deep breath, because we can help you with that. The Department of Natural Resources and partners will get you out of the house for a week, allow you to spend time with your friends camping and canoeing, give you leadership skills you didn’t know you had (sounds great on a college resume), all the while helping to save the Patuxent River.

“Explore the Patuxent: Teen Leadership Paddle” is a week-long program held by the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve-MD, Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary and Patuxent River Park in the Jug Bay region of the Patuxent River.

Throughout this 5-day/ 3-night trip, teens have a chance to sharpen their leadership chops, learn teamwork, and gain confidence as they navigate the river. They will measure water quality, camp by the riverside, and prepare meals together. Paddlers will enjoy a unique, on-the-water experience that features local environmental leaders: river keepers, archeologists, astronomers, park naturalists, community gardeners, and scientists who will introduce them to ways that they can become part of the solution to the problems affecting the Chesapeake Bay. Don’t let inexperience stop you. Wrote one participant: “I was very nervous at first, mostly because I had never been in a canoe...After much frustration I finally got the hang of it.”

This will be the Teen Leadership Paddle’s third summer and we are pleased to announce that we will again offer 2 sessions: July 16-20 and August 6-10. The paddle is open to all high school students (rising freshman to seniors) after submitting an application and letter of recommendation. As one student enthusiastically wrote, “I got a letter of recommendation! I have a teacher that thinks I’m worth it!”

We will select 12 participants per session.
The fee is $200 before May 25, when registration closes.

For registration information please visit: www.jugbay.org/education/teens
or contact Trystan Sill at tsill@dnr.state.md.us or 410-260-8827.

Upcoming Events

• Project WET Workshop
  Sponsored by Maryland Department of Natural Resources and MAEOE. Thurs., June 14, 2012 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Come learn about the wonders of our most precious resource: water! Watersheds, pollution, groundwater, physical and chemical properties of water and more…. Activities that you can use in your classroom, at events, and for multiple subject areas will be explored. Project WET activities are now matched to the Maryland Environmental Literacy Standards! Workshop will be targeted for grade levels 3-8. Workshop and all materials are FREE. Workshop location: Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education Headquarters – Jessup, MD. To register contact: Cindy Etgen cetgen@dnr.state.md.us - (410)260-8716
• Wild-scaping Your Backyard: Creating and Maintaining Backyard Wildlife Habitat
  DNR biologist Kerry Wixted will be giving a talk to the public on “Wild-scaping Your Backyard: Creating and Maintaining Backyard Wildlife Habitat” at the O’Malley Senior Center in Odenton, MD on Thurs., June 7th at 12:30pm. Contact Kerry Wixted at 410-260-8566 or kwixted@dnr.state.md.us for more details.
• Celebrate National Pollinator Week
  Celebrate National Pollinator Week with DNR biologist Kerry Wixted. She will be giving a talk on Maryland pollinators and their many benefits at the All Saints Lutheran Church in Bowie, MD on Fri., June 22nd at 7:00pm. Contact Kerry Wixted at 410-260-8566 or kwixted@dnr.state.md.us for more details.
• Project WILD Aquatic Workshop
  To be held on Fri., June 29th (9 am-1 pm) at Environmental Concern, 201 Boundary Lane, in St. Michaels, MD 21663. This workshop will go over various Project WILD Aquatic activities that emphasize awareness, appreciation and understanding of aquatic wildlife and natural resources. Join us for a day of activities, fun, new resources and exploration! Limited to 15 participants. Please register early.  Cost: $5 for snacks and facility fee. Audience: Educators of all sorts! To register, please contact: Environmental Concern - Email: teachwetlands@wetland.org or Phone: 410-745-9620
• Natural Resources Careers Camp Accepting Students
  High school students are invited to join field professionals for seven days of instruction and fun at the Hickory Environmental Education Center in Garrett County for Natural Resources Careers Camp. The curriculum includes lessons on traditional forestry, GIS and GPS technology, urban forestry and watershed ecology.
• 2012 Green Eggs and Sand Workshops
  Green Eggs and Sand is an award winning middle and high school science curriculum based on the American Horseshoe Crab. To obtain the curriculum, teachers attend a three day workshop (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) that consists of several presentations (horseshoe crab biology, medical research, management of the resource, value to shorebirds, etc.) presented by experts in the field, hands-on activities with horseshoe crab molts, field trips to beaches to view spawning horseshoe crabs and the shore birds feeding on the eggs, meals, lodging, various supplies and the curriculum for a modest fee. The workshop dates, locations and contact information for 2012 are:
  *May 18-20, ARE Center, Smyrna DE. Contact Gary Kreamer at gary.kreamer@state.de.us or (302) 735-8665.
  *June 1-3, Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Cape Cod MA. Contact Amy Fleischer at afleischer@massaudubon.org or (508) 349-2615 x114.
• Explore the Patuxent:  Jug Bay Teen Leadership Paddle
  This is a five-day canoeing expedition, with three nights camping, geared towards high school students. The program gives teens a chance to practice leadership and teamwork skills as they navigate the river, measure water quality, camp by the riverside and prepare meals together. Paddlers enjoy a unique, on-the-water experience that features educational programming and builds a strong stewardship ethic for the river and its natural resources. Campers will become immersed in Patuxent River issues and explore their role in solving them. There will be two sessions at a cost of $200: July 16-20 and August 6-10, but space is limited so register with the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary before May 25 at www.jug bay.org/education/teens.  Early bird registration before May 1^st is only $175.  For more information contact Trystan Sill at tsill@dnr.state.md.us.