Scenic Hudson Educator Earns Prestigious EPA Environmental Quality Award

HUDSON VALLEY -- Scenic Hudson Education Coordinator Susan Hereth has been selected to receive a 2010 Environmental Quality Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The highest recognition presented to the public by the EPA, the award honors those who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to protecting and enhancing environmental quality and public health.

The organization's education coordinator since 2005, Ms. Hereth is responsible for formulating and providing hands-on lessons about ecology and the environment for students in area schools. The goal of the programs is to make youngsters aware of the natural world around them and create future environmental stewards.

Lessons connect youngster to nature in exciting ways

This year Ms. Hereth is working with 700 first- through fifth-graders in the Beacon City School District in Dutchess County, providing classroom lessons and leading field trips to Scenic Hudson's three Beacon parks -- Madam Brett Park, Mount Beacon and Long Dock Beacon. In recent years she also provided instruction for students in the Kingston City School District in Ulster County, engaging them in nature activities at Scenic Hudson's Shaupeneak Ridge and Black Creek Preserve, located in the nearby Town of Esopus.

Ms. Hereth works directly with teachers to create exciting, inter-disciplinary lessons that fully support curriculum. The "River Buddies" mentoring program in one Beacon school pairs fourth-grade students with first-graders to learn environmental concepts and develop a connection to the Hudson River. In an art-in-nature program at another school, youngsters make seasonal visits to Scenic Hudson's Long Dock Beacon. In collaboration with the classroom teacher and media arts teachers, students record changes via pencil drawings, pastels, photography and journals.

"Learn and Serve" programs Ms. Hereth has developed with teachers at the Woodstock Day School in Ulster County and Poughkeepsie Day School engage youngsters in a week's worth of environmental activities and projects at Scenic Hudson parks and on their school grounds.

Shares insights with other teachers

Ms. Hereth is dedicated to promoting environmental education and sharing her skills with other teachers. She has conducted workshops at Teaching the Hudson Valley's Summer Institute, annual conferences of the New York State Outdoor Education Association (NYSOEA) and Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges, and the Beacon City School District's Parent University. She was co-chair of NYSOEA's 2009 conference, held in the Mid-Hudson Valley, and is co-chairing its committee developing a statewide Environmental Literacy Plan. Earlier this year she received a Service Award from the NYSOEA.

"The future of the Hudson Valley—and the planet—rests in the hands of coming generations. That's why our environmental education programs are an essential part of Scenic Hudson's mission. You only have to see the smiles on the faces of the youngsters Susan is teaching to understand what an important connection she's making. Her outstanding work gives me hope," said Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan.

"Susan's environmental-education programs help awaken students to the natural environment in their own communities and position them to be active participants in shaping their future. Her work is providing an important service to Beacon," said Beacon Mayor Steve Gold.

"Susan's love for learning and growing shines in every experience she brings to the students, and this allows the students to feel that they, too, can make a difference in their community and be good stewards of the environment," said Lisa Biersack, a fourth grade teacher at Beacon's South Avenue Elementary School.

Ms. Hereth completed a yearlong Student Conservation Association internship at Scenic Hudson in 2004 before being hired fulltime. She is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz and a lifelong Hudson Valley resident. She currently lives in Marbletown, Ulster County, with her partner, Tom Pfeffer, and son, Soleil.

Ms. Hereth, who will receive her Environmental Quality Award at a Friday, April 23, ceremony in New York City, is the third Scenic Hudson employee to be honored by the EPA. Previous recipients were Steve Rosenberg, executive director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, and Rich Schiafo, former environmental project manager. The organization also received the award in 2002.

Scenic Hudson works to protect and restore the Hudson River and its majestic landscape as an irreplaceable national treasure and a vital resource for residents and visitors. A crusader for the valley since 1963, we are credited with saving fabled Storm King Mountain from a destructive industrial project and launching the modern grass-roots environmental movement. Today with more than 25,000 ardent supporters, we are the largest environmental group focused on the Hudson River Valley. Our team of experts combines land acquisition, support for agriculture, citizen-based advocacy and sophisticated planning tools to create environmentally healthy communities, champion smart economic growth, open up riverfronts to the public and preserve the valley's inspiring beauty and natural resources. To date Scenic Hudson has created or enhanced more than 50 parks, preserves and historic sites up and down the Hudson River and conserved more than 30,000 acres.

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