Chesapeake Bay Field Trip 2019

Immature bald eagle — at Karen Noonan Center, Bishop’s Head, Md. Photo by Laura Palmer.

Carolyn Mahan, professor of biology and environmental studies, and Laura Palmer, associate professor of biology, took Penn State Altoona environmental studies and biology students on a weekend field trip to the Chesapeake Bay, where they stayed at the Karen Noonan Center and explored the surrounding marsh.

Mahan has been taking students to the Bay for 15 years. She says, “I want them to understand that even though they live in the Appalachian Mountains, they are part of the Bay’s watershed. Spring Run on the Penn State Altoona campus is a headwater stream of the Chesapeake Bay. Also, the majority of the Bay’s watershed is in Pennsylvania.” Mahan says she’s found that “students’ interest and advocacy for protecting the Bay is activated once they experience the Bay first hand—seeing its wildlife, testing its water quality, and meeting the watermen communities that depend on a healthy Bay to maintain their way of life.”

The accompanying photographs, taken by Professor Palmer, illustrate both the students’ activity and the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay.