Connecting Youth to Local Watersheds

Connecting youth to their local watersheds is crucial to developing environmental awareness and lifelong stewardship. The Nurture Nature Center, a non-profit in Easton, PA, combines science, art, and community dialogue to support learning about local environmental issues, and recently developed new programming for youth that creates connections to local watersheds. The programming is designed for non-formal settings with activities that educate, build stewardship, and foster resilience. Importantly, it focuses on the local landscape so youth learn and appreciate how waterways are present in their everyday lives. Topics include: a global to local look at water availability and use, watershed health, watershed stewardship, and flooding. The program is built around NNC’s three pronged approach, incorporating science education, arts-based approaches to learning, and connections to the local community (including illustrated local watershed maps). The programming was developed and offered as part of a “Watershed Explorers Club” in the spring of 2025. This presentation will provide an overview of the programming and key lessons learned in its development and implementation. While the programming itself is local to the Lehigh Valley area, its structure and general content is one that could be applied to any PA watershed.