Day 3: Safely returned to the mainland, our trip to the barrier island has been a success and we are all tired but thrilled to have had such an adventure. Next, our attention is turned inland to the Bay, and to one of the best places to come to grips with the issues and concerns that face the Bay: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Headquarters. It is one thing for an organization to say, “Save the Bay,” and another thing to exemplify it by lifestyle and even the construction of their facilities. The Philip Merrill Environmental Center is constructed from […]

This past week has been the first of several extended field trips for the BotS crew. This week’s goal being to experience at least a sampling of the entire Chesapeake Bay in five days. As I write this, we are on the road back to Bucknell, nearly everyone is asleep or quickly fading in that direction (except for “Dad” driving the bus and “Mr. Frizzle”[1].) There is too much to tell in one post, so here is Part I of our adventures. Day I: Normally, we have one extra seat on the bus, but to fit 14 people and all […]

Week Two of Bucknell on the Susquehanna has been largely focused on two elements: Rocks and humans. While we are no longer a Stone Age society, dependent on stone to make our tools, we are still tremendously influenced by the rocks that make up the world we live in. From quarries to sacred Native American grounds, and from outcrops of the now famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) Marcellus Shale to obscure piles of dirt that turn out to be 800,000 years old glacial deposits, we have been all over the history of the Susquehanna River Valley. Rocks are […]

Last Friday began the first of our official classes, Bucknell literally on (and occasionally in) the Susquehanna River. At Montoursville, Dr. Ben Hayes, director of the University Environmental Center, explains the significance of the region we are about to explore on this day’s kayak trip. As will be seen throughout the semester, there are many facets from different perspectives to consider. The oldest element is the geologic history of the region, as the Susquehanna here rides the border between two distinct physio-geographic provinces of Pennsylvania. To the south are miles upon miles of ridges and valleys, tortured folds of rock […]

Introductions all around: Classmates, professors, and a taste of the semester to come.

Intermittently since the summer of 2008, my home has been in the Susquehanna River Valley and so has my classroom. Come the end of this month, the river will BE my classroom for the duration of the fall 2010 semester. I cannot put into words how excited I am for this experience, especially as one of the culminating academic opportunities of my undergraduate experience. My first experience in a kayak was near my home in McHenry, Md., on the Youghiogheny River (and you thought Susquehanna was hard to spell) at the age of seven or eight; and I promptly tipped the […]