Lysle Sherwin

Academic Interests:

Community-based watershed stewardship, social ecology, pedagogy of experiential group learning

Courses Taught:

Watershed Issues Seminar

Watershed Stewardship Planning Seminar

Watershed Stewardship Practicum I & II

Keystone Project

Professional Affiliation:

Member, The Wildlife Society

Certified Wildlife Biologist

Recent Research/Educational Projects:

Maiden Creek "Keystone Project" in Berks and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The first watershed stewardship plan undertaken by the Penn State Center for Watershed Stewardship was located in southeastern Pennsylvania near Reading in cooperation with the Berks County Conservancy and a steering committee of more than 25 municipal, county, state and federal agencies and other stakeholders. An interdisciplinary team of 5 students engaged in a two-semester process to assess environmental conditions and non-point source water pollution causing an "impaired waters" designation of Lake Ontelaunee, the source water supply for 125,000 residents of Reading. Management alternatives and implementation strategies developed in the planning process addressed seven primary issues ranging from surface water impairment, impacts of land use changes on rural character and environmentally sensitive areas, and the need for a broad-based, proactive watershed organization to promote and coordinate watershed stewardship efforts. These proposed steps were presented orally by students and in a Maiden Creek Watershed Stewardship report to be integrated by Berks County Conservancy in a comprehensive River Conservation Plan. (The student-produced Maiden Creek report is available as a PDF file; go to "Maiden Creek Keystone Project" at the Center for Watershed Stewardship .

Selected Publications:

Sherwin, L.S. and K. Tamminga. Keystone Projects: Service Learning Practica in Watershed Stewardship. Water Resources Update, The Universities Council on Water Resources (In Press)

Sherwin, L.S. 1999. Student Watershed Planning Teams: Incorporating Science into Local Watershed Stewardship Strategies. Pages 221-226 in Eloise Kendy, editor. Proceedings, American Water Resources Association Specialty Conference, Science into Policy: Water in the Public Realm. Bozeman, Montana.

Sharpe, W.E. and L.S. Sherwin. 1994. Environmental Restoration Education: The Linn Run Acid Runoff Mitigation Project. Proceedings, Environmental Restoration Conference, The Universities Council on Water Resources. Big Sky, Montana.