"Ripple Effects," an interactive exhibit celebrating the natural resources of the Greater New Haven Watershed, will open on Saturday, May 30, at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. The display, which also explores some of the important water quality issues facing the region, and associated programs are sponsored by the Regional Water Authority.
Subtitled "An Exploration of Our Local Watersheds," the exhibit examines the connection and interdependence of living and nonliving things in a watershed. It will remain on view through April of 1999.
"Ripple Effects" traces the history of the Quinnipiac, Mill and West rivers -- which together comprise the Greater New Haven Watershed -- through current and archival photographs that highlight the watershed's diverse plants and animals, its geology and the human history of land use.
Hands-on displays will invite visitors to explore the ways in which the region's quality of life and the health of the watershed is affected by human actions. The exhibit includes a wooden ship's wheel that visitors can turn to see for themselves how water travels through the water cycle, and a three-dimensional model featuring the natural and manmade features of the Greater New Haven Watershed, which lights up at the push of a button to reveal the area's reservoirs, wetlands and human communities.
Boat tour. A family program titled "Splashing into the Watershed," featuring a boat tour of the Quinnipiac River and New Haven Harbor, will be offered 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, June 6. The event is being held in conjunction with the Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems and Tallmadge Brothers, Inc., Connecticut's largest shellfishing company. Space is limited. The fee is $15 per person. For information and reservations, call 432-3776.
"Ripple Effects: An Exploration of Our Local Watersheds" is the result of a unique collaboration between the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems and the Peabody Museum. A team of Yale students began developing the exhibit as part of Professor Stephen Kellert's "Environmental Education" course last fall. The students -- M.E.S. candidates Andrea McQuay, Sasha Weinstein, Christiana Soares and Elizabeth Westerfield and Yale College senior Kristin Michaelides -- worked in partnership with Peabody Museum artist and designer John Maisano and with Ken Yellis, assistant director for public programs at the museum. Also assisting in the creation of the display was Emily McDiarmid, director of the Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems.
The Regional Water Authority provides public drinking water to the Greater New Haven area from a network of reservoirs and wells that are replenished from area watersheds and aquifers. To maintain water quality, the Water Authority conducts a variey of ongoing Source Water Protection Programs. Among these are annual inspections of over 2,000 sites, public education through science programs at the Whitney Water Center; and Hazwaste Central, which collects over 600 barrels of residential hazardous waste annually.
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