Meet Mobile Baykeeper AmeriCorps Program Staff

Legal Applicant/Host Organization’s Name

Mobile Baykeeper

AmeriCorps Program Name

Mobile Baykeeper AmeriCorps Team

AmeriCorps Program Staff Names and Titles

Left to right: Emilee Foster: Financial Officer and Volunteer Engagement Site Supervisor (Mobile Baykeeper Operations Manager); Cade Kistler: Program Director and Patrol Site Supervisor (Mobile Baykeeper and Interim Director); Ilka Porter: Environmental Education Site Supervisor (Mobile Baykeeper Education and Outreach Director)

Counties of Service

Mobile, Baldwin, Jefferson, Shelby, Calhoun, Etowah, DeKalb, Coosa, St. Clair, Clay, Chilton, Talladega, Elmore, Autauga, Hale, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Winston, Cullman, Blount, Bibb, Perry, Dallas, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Lawrence, Marengo, Marshall, and Morgan Counties

Describe your AmeriCorps program

The Baykeeper Patrol Program researches local pollution problems to improve water quality. Also, the Baykeeper Patrol Program reduces impacts from stormwater, sewer, and industrial pollution. AmeriCorps Members assist with target areas of Mobile and Baldwin Counties plus the Cahaba River Watershed.

The Volunteer Program at Mobile Baykeeper seeks potential volunteers and cultivates them to become local environmental stewards by organizing and providing activities that enhance the local environment and community. Members organize and host several community cleanups, recycling activities, and invasive species removals for volunteers. 

The Strategic Watershed Awareness and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) is a public awareness and education campaign and citizen-based environmental monitoring program. Members educate and train students and citizens to monitor specific waterways to solve water quality issues in their local watershed.

Number of Members Serving

15

Responsibilities of the Members

The responsibilities for members include but are not limited to:

1.) Conducting site inspections

2.) Investigating citizen concerns that arise

3.) Training/mobilization of volunteers

3.) Organizing and hosting community cleanups

4.) Outreaching to students and citizens community groups

What do the members and the program hope to accomplish by the end of the program year?

By the end of the program year, Patrol AmeriCorps members will have increased knowledge of environmental issues including stormwater, sewer, and industrial pollution, state and federal regulations and permit reviews, and increased skills in field sampling techniques including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, hardness, turbidity, and bacteria. 

Volunteer Engagement Members will increase community knowledge of our organization through available volunteer opportunities and environmental literacy. 

Lastly, Environmental Education AmeriCorps Members will increase the knowledge base of the participants in watershed basics, the environmental impacts the watershed faces, how to protect the watershed, recycling options, and ways to reduce impact sustainability principles.

Thank you for your service!