Community Partnerships and Environmental Synergy
by Carl Treff,
St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Parent Green School Volunteer
When I was just a child, my father brought home a blue-and-white bumper sticker from a fledgling environmental organization. He was always averse to putting stickers on his car, but this time he did – it read “Save The Bay.” As avid boaters, and living on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, our family found that this simple slogan from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) hit home. To this day, I have kept that mindset near and dear to my heart.
Years later, I found myself volunteering for CBF on their Speakers Bureau, travelling around Maryland providing information about the state of the bay to various groups. I also volunteered in many other ways for them, such as with oyster gardening, growing and planting underwater grass, planting trees, giving tours of their new headquarters, and even assisting on their school field trips. It was with CBF that I learned I could make a difference teaching people about good stewardship of our bay.
After a few years I shifted my volunteer work closer to home with the Magothy River Association (MRA). As their Volunteer Coordinator, I have enlisted and trained hundreds of Magothy River constituents in ways of restoring and protecting the river. It was while working with MRA that I saw the opportunity to improve synergy between various local organizations. My kids enrolled at Eagle Cove School (ECS), on the shores of the Magothy River. This was at the same time that I was coordinating the new Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) program for MRA. We needed a home base, and ECS, an established Maryland Green School, was more than willing to assist. We started an annual tradition of moving oyster spat bags from truck to the shallow water. It was a dress-down day, and all kids were happy to come away wet and muddy. But, alas, Eagle Cove closed in 2014.
Fast forward to a new year and a new school – my kids moved on to St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School in Severna Park. After discussions about St. Martin’s green initiatives, and what I could do to help, I was welcomed to provide some guidance for a few of the school’s green projects.
First off, MRA still needed muscle power to move spat bags from truck to water at the old ECS campus. So the annual tradition of the school kids getting wet and muddy moving spat bags is now on the St. Martin’s calendar for early September.
Next up was to continue the vision of planting native trees at Beachwood Park. MRA had “adopted” the park to make grass-roots improvements. ECS had started an annual tradition of planting one dozen Atlantic White Cedars at the headwaters of Beachwood Cove. The St. Martin’s 1st and 2nd grade classes recently planted their trees, which were donated by the MRA.
Continuing on with oyster restoration efforts, St. Martin’s, under my guidance, cares for six oyster cages at the Maryland Yacht Club on Rock Creek. These cages are part of the MGO program and under the auspices of the Restore Rock Creek environmental group. I arranged for a faculty professional development field trip to the Maryland Yacht Club to orient the teachers about what the students would do. Almost 100% of St. Martin’s faculty, from preschool through middle school, attended the field trip. Once a month, a selected St. Martin’s class makes the short trip to visit the oysters. While there, they clean the oysters and cages, study and count the critters that live in the small benthic community of an oyster cage, and record basic water quality data such as salinity and clarity. The capstone of their oyster restoration will be a 4th grade field trip on a Chesapeake Bay Foundation boat, where they will transport their oysters and plant them on the Ft. Carroll reef. I have arranged for the CBF boat to pick up the class right at MYC, making for an easy load/unload of kids and oysters.
Additionally, I’ve had the opportunity to pass on better recycling practices at St. Martin’s. With the support of teachers and the avid participation of students, we are creating a culture of recycling at St. Martin’s. Students have rallied around the idea of disposing recyclables and compostables in separate trash bins. I have heard reports that students are bringing the consciousness of recycling home and that students’ families are recycling more.
It has been a pleasure working with everyone across all organizations to make our young generations understand what it takes to be a good steward of the environment and why that is important. I look forward to continuing these annual traditions at St. Martin’s, as well as adding more.
by Carl Treff,
St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Parent Green School Volunteer
When I was just a child, my father brought home a blue-and-white bumper sticker from a fledgling environmental organization. He was always averse to putting stickers on his car, but this time he did – it read “Save The Bay.” As avid boaters, and living on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, our family found that this simple slogan from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) hit home. To this day, I have kept that mindset near and dear to my heart.
Years later, I found myself volunteering for CBF on their Speakers Bureau, travelling around Maryland providing information about the state of the bay to various groups. I also volunteered in many other ways for them, such as with oyster gardening, growing and planting underwater grass, planting trees, giving tours of their new headquarters, and even assisting on their school field trips. It was with CBF that I learned I could make a difference teaching people about good stewardship of our bay.
After a few years I shifted my volunteer work closer to home with the Magothy River Association (MRA). As their Volunteer Coordinator, I have enlisted and trained hundreds of Magothy River constituents in ways of restoring and protecting the river. It was while working with MRA that I saw the opportunity to improve synergy between various local organizations. My kids enrolled at Eagle Cove School (ECS), on the shores of the Magothy River. This was at the same time that I was coordinating the new Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) program for MRA. We needed a home base, and ECS, an established Maryland Green School, was more than willing to assist. We started an annual tradition of moving oyster spat bags from truck to the shallow water. It was a dress-down day, and all kids were happy to come away wet and muddy. But, alas, Eagle Cove closed in 2014.
Fast forward to a new year and a new school – my kids moved on to St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School in Severna Park. After discussions about St. Martin’s green initiatives, and what I could do to help, I was welcomed to provide some guidance for a few of the school’s green projects.
First off, MRA still needed muscle power to move spat bags from truck to water at the old ECS campus. So the annual tradition of the school kids getting wet and muddy moving spat bags is now on the St. Martin’s calendar for early September.
Next up was to continue the vision of planting native trees at Beachwood Park. MRA had “adopted” the park to make grass-roots improvements. ECS had started an annual tradition of planting one dozen Atlantic White Cedars at the headwaters of Beachwood Cove. The St. Martin’s 1st and 2nd grade classes recently planted their trees, which were donated by the MRA.
Continuing on with oyster restoration efforts, St. Martin’s, under my guidance, cares for six oyster cages at the Maryland Yacht Club on Rock Creek. These cages are part of the MGO program and under the auspices of the Restore Rock Creek environmental group. I arranged for a faculty professional development field trip to the Maryland Yacht Club to orient the teachers about what the students would do. Almost 100% of St. Martin’s faculty, from preschool through middle school, attended the field trip. Once a month, a selected St. Martin’s class makes the short trip to visit the oysters. While there, they clean the oysters and cages, study and count the critters that live in the small benthic community of an oyster cage, and record basic water quality data such as salinity and clarity. The capstone of their oyster restoration will be a 4th grade field trip on a Chesapeake Bay Foundation boat, where they will transport their oysters and plant them on the Ft. Carroll reef. I have arranged for the CBF boat to pick up the class right at MYC, making for an easy load/unload of kids and oysters.
Additionally, I’ve had the opportunity to pass on better recycling practices at St. Martin’s. With the support of teachers and the avid participation of students, we are creating a culture of recycling at St. Martin’s. Students have rallied around the idea of disposing recyclables and compostables in separate trash bins. I have heard reports that students are bringing the consciousness of recycling home and that students’ families are recycling more.
It has been a pleasure working with everyone across all organizations to make our young generations understand what it takes to be a good steward of the environment and why that is important. I look forward to continuing these annual traditions at St. Martin’s, as well as adding more.