News Release 511

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES PRESENTS WATER EDUCATION AWARD TO MARGARET BAHE FROM JOHN BURROUGHS HIGH SCHOOL

Volume 34-511	Contact: Renee Bungart
(For immediate release)	573-751-4465

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, NOV. 14, 2006 -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources presented Margaret Bahe with the 2006 Water Education Award at the John Burroughs High School in St. Louis County.

"It gives me great pleasure to recognize Margaret Bahe on her efforts to educate students about water quality issues," said Department of Natural Resources Director Doyle Childers. "She is a positive influence to not only the students but to other teachers as well."

Bahe's Stream Team #507 team adopted Deer Creek in St. Louis County and Sinking Creek in Shannon County and has involved more than 941 participants. The team has spent a combined total of 2,334 hours conducting activities including water quality monitoring, workshops, inventory, presentations and forest keepers. Bahe leads a project that takes ninth grade students to the Ozarks for four days and three nights to participate in forest and stream studies at Sinking Creek. The school has stream data for more than 30 years on its Web site. She has also been a Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) user since 1994.

Bahe does more than just Stream Team projects with her students. Besides teaching biology, she also teaches a bioethics class with a history teacher. She is campus advisor on a construction project to build small catchment basins for parking lot run-off that involves the ecology students. Bahe helps school teams create videos, often with an environmental theme, and is a school photographer.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources presents the Water Education Award annually to Missouri high school or middle school teachers. The Water Education Awards focus our attention on the vital role of teachers in educating our future citizens on the importance and value of water as a critical natural resource. The department recognizes the outstanding effort and the unique opportunities that each instructor provides for their students to learn the wonders of water ecology.

The recipients of the Water Education Award are chosen based on the following criteria:

Involvement with the Missouri Stream Team Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program;
Use of Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) in classroom activities;
Personal innovative ideas that promote youth's interest in the conservation of water resources;
Continued personal commitment to provide high quality educational programs about water ecology and water resources.

For more information on the award, call the Department of Natural Resources' Water Protection Program at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-1300.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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