Georgia Adopt-A-Stream presented Catherine Warren of Bryan County with the Outstanding Outreach and Partnership award on March 24 during the nonprofit’s annual volunteer water quality monitoring conference held at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center in Buford.

This award is given to a group or individual that has demonstrated skill in effectively implementing Adopt-A-Stream outreach efforts and has created a strong network of community partnerships.

Warren has served as an Adopt-A-Stream volunteer with the Richmond Hill Schools Ecological Studies Program since early 2014. She leads sixth- through ninth-grade students in monitoring water chemistry at their adopted site on the Ogeechee River and is diligent about collecting data every month.

Warren is also in her third year of participation in the Seeds to Shoreline Project with her students in partnership with the Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division.

In this project, students collect Spartina alterniflora seeds in the fall in a local salt marsh and then plant the seedlings in an area of salt marsh that has suffered die-back.

Additionally, Warren has led students in assessing the health of waterbodies through game fish population surveys with Fort Stewart biologists, as well as in participating in the breeding of bass at the Richmond Hill Fish Hatchery.

Warren has provided students with opportunities to be citizen scientists who collect real data and to learn the importance of ecological stewardship and conservation.

For more information or to participate in Adopt-A-Stream, call the Environmental Protection Division’s State Office at 404-463-1511 or visit www.AdoptAStream.Georgia.gov.