New Watershed Educator Comes on Board

Bill Foster began work this month in the newly created position of Watershed Educator for the Network. Bill is returning to Ithaca with his wife, Patty, and 14-month old son, Noel, after a 15-year absence, but claims he never "really" left. His formative years spent around Ithaca's lakes, streams and waterfalls established in him an abiding love of all things water.

Bill graduated with a BS from Cornell’s School of Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1987 and spent the next 12 years working with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water in Philadelphia, PA. Through his work with EPA, he gained experience in public water supply and wellhead protection, contaminated aquifer remediation, and watershed management. Bill assisted in the development and implementation of non-point source management and related programs under the Federal Clean Water Act for several Mid-Atlantic States.

Bill’s experience at EPA, and subsequently as the manager of a riparian buffer program for the Watershed Agricultural Council — a Catskill-based non-profit organization — has lead him to believe that truly meaningful community involvement is critical to the success of any resource management effort. That involvement is dependent, in turn, on well-conceived educational efforts that are sensitive to the needs and priorities of local communities. Bill feels that working with the Network will provide him with an excellent opportunity to focus on education and outreach techniques that will round out his "Jack-of-all trades" approach to water resources, and anticipates making a valuable contribution in his role as Watershed Educator. Bill noted, "This is an all-too-rare opportunity to work professionally for the benefit of a resource and community that I value
personally".