Bucknell University will host the 12th annual Susquehanna River Symposium, “The Spirit of Two Great Rivers: The Susquehanna and Delaware,” on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10 and 11, in the Elaine Langone Center. All symposium events are free and open to the public.
The symposium is offered by the Watershed Sciences and Engineering program of the university’s Center for Sustainability and the Environment to bring the region’s university students, faculty, and staff together with planners, consultants, regulators, watershed organizations and members of the public to discuss environmental issues regarding the Susquehanna River and Delaware River watersheds.
The two-day symposium includes a poster presentation session and keynote address on Nov. 10, and plenary talks, break-out sessions, oral presentations, and exhibits on Nov. 11.
Thomas R. Porter, also known as Sakokwenionkwas, will present the symposium’s keynote address on Friday at 7:30 p.m. A member of the Bear Clan of the Mohawk Nation, Porter is founder and spiritual leader of the Kanatsiohareke community near Fonda, New York, and author of several books. He is a former director and instructor at the Akwesasne Freedom School and a former instructor at the Kahnawake Survival School. Porter taught Mohawk language, philosophy, and history for both institutions.
Porter also will give a plenary talk on Saturday morning, as will Elizabeth Boyer, director of Penn State’s Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center, and David Strayer, senior scientist in freshwater ecology at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Boyer will speak on “Nutrient Pollution in the Susquehanna and Delaware Watersheds from the Headwaters to the Bays.” Strayer will discuss “What Is a River Worth?” The three speakers will lead breakout discussions following their presentations.
After lunch on Saturday oral presentations will be grouped into six categories: water quality of streams in agricultural areas, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, watershed education and sustainability, stream restoration, watershed mapping and modeling, and flood hydrology and policy.
For more information and a schedule of talks and weekend events, visit www.bucknell.edu.riversymposium.