By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

Years ago, an ardent supporter of the Stroud Water Research Center suggested that teaching enough young people about the qualities of water and its responsible use could create a worldwide movement.

In those decades since, that movement may not have moved worldwide, but for 14,000 individuals a year including students, teachers and interested individuals, the Stroud Center has brought an increased knowledge of and enthusiasm for the importance that clean water plays in their lives.

The Stroud Water Research Center sits along the White Clay Creek along Spencer Road in West Marlboro Township. Its 50 or so full-time employees and scores of volunteers perform their specific roles in research, environmental education and watershed restoration – all related to fresh water and its intrinsic ecology.

The center was founded in 1967 by aquatic scientist Ruth Patrick who was seeking a site for her water research. The land was provided by philanthropist W. B. Dixon Stroud, who had a dairy farm there.

At least one area of that farm started as a cow pasture and has evolved in the intervening years into a mature forest of trees with the quality-protected White Clay Creek running through it.

The Stroud property itself is 55 acres, but neighboring areas that permit monitoring expand it to 1,800 acres.

Education Director Steve Kerlin oversees the teaching programs and says he likes the challenges of sharing his scientific knowledge, developing new hands-on methods and exercising creativity in an encouraging atmosphere.

The center is not in the business of advocating, he said, but rather researching fresh water and putting out that information.

“We are not an advocacy group. It’s not in our mission. Advocacy is not part of environmental education. It is helping to provide knowledge and skills so that people can make informed decisions,” Kerlin said.

People who come to Stroud usually live up to an hour-and-a-half away and are ages from “K to Gray,” Kerlin said. But the greatest number comes from youth in schools and teachers yearning to expand their knowledge.

Part-time Stroud teachers often are retired teachers themselves who find this a relief from all the logistics of classroom teaching. “We have some who are elementary teachers and some who were high school teachers,” he said.

Essentially, these teachers are a major source of spreading the word about Stroud as well.

In that spirit, when school kids come to Stroud, it is not called a “field trip.” It’s “field studies,” and students are required to perform as scientists, carrying notebooks and keeping records of what they have discovered.

Kerlin said these visiting groups are offered a menu of opportunities. The instructional units come in parcels of one-day stays and usually include elements of water biology, chemistry and hands-on experience.

He has innovative education centers for seating groups scattered throughout the woods as well as indoor classrooms. Perhaps the most popular location is the stream itself, where visitors can find examples of life under almost every rock.

Recently, Kerlin’s two sons, Lucas, 8, and Ethan, 6, sloshed into the crystal-clear White Clay and immediately pulled out crayfish and “stream pennies,” two species that are especially fussy about the quality of water in which they reside.

One particularly interesting educational station that Kerlin said was one of his favorites is “build a village.”

It is a sandbox into which the students place and build toy elements of a neighborhood --- houses, animals, grass, trees, streets, etc. Then they pour water on it to see the effects of a storm and what happens to the individual elements.

From the results, they can draw their conclusions.

Bringing students to Stroud involves transportation and buses. But if the inconvenience of bus travel of financial limitations make the trip difficult or too expensive, Kerlin has a trailer loaded with instructional equipment that can be taken on the road. It is colorful and student-interactive.

When he was asked how students, particularly those from urban areas, respond to a day at Stroud, Kerlin said that some are hesitant at first, but mostly they embrace it.

“Sometimes they say, ‘Oh Wow! I didn’t know that!’”

They are invited to draw their own conclusions, some as simple as the resolve to turn off the water when they are brushing their teeth to reduce the amount of sewage that goes into processing plants.

Instructional activities go on all year, even in the cold of winter. Kerlin said summer is the most popular time, but when weather limits outdoor activities, there are several classrooms and lecture halls for indoor experiments and education.

The Stroud Water Research Center operates by the income of numerous grants and individual or corporate support.

Stroud has always conducted research on the contents and quality of fresh water and often publishes the results of its scientific findings. It also advocated for the designation of “Wild and Scenic” for the White Clay Creek national designation of care and purity.

The center also works with other bodies to restore their properties – often farms. Kerlin said 80 percent of its restoration projects are nearby farms in Chester and Lancaster counties.

Stroud personnel study their problems and offer solutions to them.

For more information about Stroud Water Research Center and its programs, visit them online at stroudcenter.org.