ACUA is a proud host Agency for the NJDEP AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador Program (NJWAP). Watershed Management Area 15 (WMA15) is home to the 55-mile long Great Egg Harbor River. The watershed begins as a trickle in Camden County, flows through Atlantic County, and mixes with salt water in the Great Egg Harbor Bay, before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. Watershed Ambassadors have 3 main roles (1) environmental education, (2) stream assessments, and (3) community-based projects. Ambassadors serve for 10 months out of the year – September through July.
The current 2024-2025 Watershed Ambassador for the Great Egg Harbor Watershed is Morgan Crouch. Morgan is from upstate New York and enjoyed her service as an ambassador so much during her 2023-2024 term in Watershed Management Area 7 (the Watchung River Watershed), that she signed on for another 10-month term. Returning Ambassadors bring so much to the program and become great team leaders for the new cohort of ambassadors!
Morgan graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science with a degree in Conservation Biology and a minor in Forestry. During her time at SUNY, and since then, she has gained valuable work experience in her field as a research assistant, a forest health technician, and a restoration technician, and after college, as a program coordinator with the Finger Lakes Institute's Watercraft Stewardship program.
Morgan appreciates being able to tie her love of trees, plants and the interconnection between different systems in the environment with her work in the NJWAP program.
Morgan looks forward connecting with students, community groups and residents for educational programs, clean ups and community projects this term.
To schedule a visit from Morgan, please email her at wma15@acua.com or wma15.njwap@gmail.com.
Here are a few programming options available, which can be tailored to any age or grade:
- Enviroscape: Learn where our stormwater runoff goes and the differences between point v. non-point source pollution using a 3-D model of a watershed
- Macroinvertebrates: See live or preserved macroinvertebrates, learn to identify them, and learn how these critters can teach us about water quality
- Other hands-on presentations or lectures related to water: water cycle, the journey of water, weather & climate, water conservation, food waste & composting, microplastics, and Project WET related lessons
- Salt marsh ecology, chromatography, seining at the beach, and coastal ecology guided hikes