Chesapeake Watershed Education Agreement: Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship

Description

The Chesapeake Executive Council is committed to making environmental education and outreach a priority, through a variety of mechanisms, in order to achieve public awareness and personal involvement that will ultimately benefit the Chesapeake Bay and local watersheds. Through this agreement, the Executive Council agreed to the following actions as they relate to ongoing and future education and outreach efforts: (1) Highlight the importance of geography education and hands-on, place-based education in teaching about natural resources and fostering Chesapeake stewardship. (2) Identify key benchmarks and tracking mechanisms to articulate progress toward Chesapeake 2000 commitments as well as the necessary resources for such monitoring. (3) Investigate the role of innovative technological approaches in support of Chesapeake Bay watershed environmental education. (4) Investigate the role and potential of education networks and electronic resources for information sharing. (5) Incorporate the history of Jamestown and Captain John Smith’s voyages of exploration into curriculum and interpretive exhibits. (6) Continue existing initiatives designed to achieve the goals of the Chesapeake 2000 agreement and expand upon the ongoing environmental educational efforts in all jurisdictions. (7) Continually work to ensure that graduating students have been exposed to concepts in environmental literacy, including the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, and have examined strategies to foster their restoration and protection. By this agreement, the Executive Council rededicated itself to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and to providing students and citizens of all ages with unparalleled opportunities to experience the cultural, historic and environmental richness of the watershed.