Nearly 100 seventh-graders from Pine Grove Middle School participating in a hands-on project studying the Onondaga Lake cleanup visited the Onondaga Lake Visitors Center on Friday, October 11. The students, from the East Syracuse Minoa Central School District, are learning from experts from Honeywell, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Montezuma Audubon Center, and Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force. When they get back to their classrooms, the students will “develop, present, and defend their team’s plan/vision for Onondaga Lake’s future.”
Alex Gregory looks through a sample of the double-walled pipe that transports lake material from the bottom of the lake to the consolidation area.
“Today I learned about how Honeywell is cleaning up the lake,” said Alex Gregory. “When the cleanup is done, I want to swim and fish in the lake.”
Students learn about how the cleanup impacts the lake and the adjacent habitat by looking at a map of the Onondaga Lake watershed.
Sage Almstead learns about native plants that are part of the wetlands restoration.
Jonah Monica asks a question about the dredging and capping of Onondaga Lake.
Substantial progress has been achieved on the Onondaga Lake cleanup. By the end of 2013, dredging is scheduled to be about halfway complete; the entire project is on schedule to be completed in 2016.
Students take notes as Honeywell Syracuse Program Director John McAuliffe describes how the underground barrier wall intercepts contaminated groundwater from old industrial sites.
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Students learn from Montezuma Audubon Center about Onondaga Lake and its value as an Important Bird Area.
Left: Julia Caruana (left) and Grace Myers (right) learn how to use binoculars.
Right: Alex Sammet uses a scope to see a Great Black-backed Gull.
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Tiffany McElroy uses binoculars to identify and track birds on Onondaga Lake.
Sue Verbeck (second from left), a seventh-grade science teacher and Honeywell Institute for Ecosystems Education alumna, helps Colin Hensinger (center) and Logan Rowe (second from right) identify bird species.
For more information on the Onondaga Lake cleanup, please visit www.lakecleanup.com.