Accepting the Challenge: Developing Environmental Education Opportunities

Presenter:

Wil Taylor
Program Coordinator
Jennings Environmental Education Center

Abstract:

Don't think your project is finished once your treatment system is constructed!  Now it's time to share your success with the community and students of all ages. Jennings Environmental Education Center has been using passive treatment systems to interpret mine drainage and coal history since 1988.  Jennings has successfully developed educational programs, workshops and a variety of special events for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.  In coordination with the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition, Jennings has also produced a book about the subject entitled Accepting the Challenge. Participate in programs developed by Jennings to discover how your project can be a catalyst for education and community outreach.

Biography:

Wil Taylor is the program coordinator at Jennings Environmental Education Center. Jennings is a resource-based state park located in Butler County that features the only protected and managed prairie in Pennsylvania, several endangered plants and animals and an abandoned mine that discharges severely degraded mine drainage. Wil has developed and facilitated many educational and interpretive programs centered around the mine, the issue of abandoned mine drainage and passive treatment. These programs have included teacher workshops, agency trainings, college courses, middle school and high school programs and community events and presentations. Wil is a graduate of Slippery Rock University and has been with the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks since 1994. He is the primary author of Accepting the Challenge: a primer about the history, cause and solutions to abandoned mine drainage."