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The Lake Guardian, the largest research vessel in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fleet, recently visited the Port of Oswego with 15 teachers aboard—including seven from New York schools—as part of a week-long Shipboard Science Workshop.

The Guardian was docked at the port’s west dock adjacent to the H. Lee White Maritime Museum.

The workshop is led every five years on Lake Ontario by New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for teachers to work along respected Great Lakes’ scientists and researchers to build curricula and lessons for their classrooms with guidance from NYSG. The Lake Guardian is 180 feet long, with a gross tonnage of 969 tons. It has a cruising speed of 11 knots (12.6 mph), and a berthing capacity of 41 people, including 14 crew and 27 visiting scientists.

The 7 teachers from NY-based school districts among the 15 teachers selected for this experience in 2023 are:

• Barbara Bibbins, Belleville-Henderson Central School, Belleville;
• Melissa Elliott, North Tonawanda High School, North Tonawanda;
• Joseph Perry, Palmyra-Macedon High School, Palmyra;
• Christy Pratt, Horseheads High School, Horseheads;
• Peter Spence, Byron-Bergen Jr/Sr High School, Bergen;
• Tara Spitzer-List, Virtual Academy of Rochester, Rochester; and
• Tucker Ruderman, World of Inquiry School #58, Rochester.

The other teachers are from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

According to EPA.gov, The Lake Guardian’s mission is to monitor and report on the status and trends of the Great Lakes ecosystem. The ship is owned by the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO), which has mandates to help restore and protect the health of the Great Lakes as required under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Sampling from aboard the Lake Guardian, which operates on all five Great Lakes, is used to monitor the water quality and health of the lakes. Sampling on all the Great Lakes is conducted from March through August. The spring survey monitors lake health during a time of low biological activity when the lakes are well-mixed. The summer survey monitors lake health during the season of high biological activity, when the lakes are stratified. During these surveys, water, plankton and lake bottom samples are taken at designated stations throughout each lake. These monitoring surveys have been ongoing in the lakes since 1983, resulting in exceptional long-term monitoring dataset for evaluating the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

NYSG leads the Lake Ontario Shipboard Science Workshop in cooperation with the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. NYSG is a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York and one of 34 university-based programs in the NOAA National Sea Grant College Program. Learn more at www.epa.gov/great-lakes-monitoring/lake-guardian/ and www.epa.gov/great-lakes-monitoring/cooperative-science-and-monitoring-initiative-csmi/. 

The Port of Oswego's strategic location at the crossroads of the Northeastern North American shipping market, puts them less than 350 miles from 60 million people.