Robert "Bobby" E. Hughes on LinkedIn: #restoration #epcamr #habitat #fish (2024)

Over 1200 students from 28 school districts worked their way through the exhibit areas, including ours at the Junior Achievement event at the Mohegan Sun Casino Career Planning Event earlier this week. I reeled in the students with my bright orange colors of AMD and Bigfoot hat without even having to use a hook 🪝 except for Brookie the Trout and Rainbow.

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From the big kids the other day to some more positive coverage with the little kids last week, I've been making my way around our Anthracite Coal Region to continue to educate our youth and teachers on our important work and how they can become a part of the solutions as they get older. We need our students invested and engaged. This project and activity was a fun and exciting day last Friday for the entire Shamokin Elementary 2nd grade class who were very interested and learned a lot in a short period of time probably without realizing they were learning and retaining new information on coal mining, their local watershed, watershed restoration, and art all at the same time. I sneak all of the education standards that are relevant to their grade level so that they retain the knowledge through hands-on learning, asking questions that required critical thinking, and a bit of show and tell. Maybe they'll have me back for another grade in the future if funding can be secured. The kids were really great I enjoy the smiles on their faces during and after the reveals of the shirts made with recycled, dried, iron oxide pigment.

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Have a read at an exciting and engaging educational program I put on for the students in Shamokin Elementary who may see EPCAMR around town sampling streams in the Shamokin Creek watershed throughout the year and remember us as the guy who helped them make rusty iron oxide t-shirts in school! 😎😉😏

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Good article that was well written on the Nantico*ke Creek Restoration Project that will soon get underway by the Earth Conservancy. EPCAMR hopes to continue to play an integral role in the project.

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It was great to be a part of this special to talk about one of my mentors in my career and his lifelong contributions to both the Lackawanna River and to EPCAMR as he takes on a new role with the Lackawanna River Conservation Association. It's a must see documentary on AMD and Bernie and his partners efforts, which has always included EPCAMR, to focus on the cleanup of the River for the last few decades.

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After a few months of studying off and on to obtain my Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) FAA Part 107 Airman Knowledge Certification & License, 🪪 to commercially utilize our EPCAMR drone for education purposes as opposed to just recreational flying, I'm happy to have passed the test this weekend. Pilot Institute had a great online course and an ever expanding community of drone pilots that were super helpful and supportive. Class of 2024 graduate as of yesterday! Can't wait for the free t-shirt in the mail for getting a 90% or better on the test and becoming a Remote Pilot. It's not nearly as rigorous as it is to become a private or commercial pilot to fly planes ✈️, but you do learn how to read sectional charts, weather forecasts and reports, airplane mechanics and engineering, and all the airspaces and restricted areas. Many people might not realize that when you are flying certain categories of drones that there is a difference in flying for recreational purposes as opposed to commercial purposes. If anyone has some questions on the Part 107 License or the TRUST Certification for recreational flying , let me know. Proud member of the PA Drone Association too! They've been very helpful in connecting drone professionals in PA! Now I can fly over our rivers, streams, and abandoned mine lands with a little more confidence for work with the knowledge necessary about flight plans, weather conditions, airspace safety, and proper authorizations. Up! Up! and Away!

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Mother Nature had thrown everything at us today, including cat briar shoots and several downed tree branches, except the kitchen sink! A crazy weather pattern swept through the Shamokin area today while we were sampling, yet we survived and lived to sample another day. It was kind of amusing!

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