Meet ​Mobile Baykeeper AmeriCorps Team.

William Strickland, Executive Director and Program Manager, Emilee Foster, Operations Manager and Program Director, Ilka Porter, Education and Outreach Director and Site Supervisor, and Cade Kistler, Baykeeper, and Site Supervisor Serving Mobile, Baldwin, and Jefferson County.

Program Description:

The Baykeeper Patrol Program researches local pollution problems to improve water quality, reduce impacts from stormwater, sewer, and/or industrial pollution. AmeriCorps Members will work in target areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties. Core activities include conducting site inspections, patrolling local waterways, assisting with comment letters and policy issues, investigating citizen concerns, collecting water quality samples, documenting environmental pollution, and creating environmental issue fact sheets.

Member Responsibilities:

The responsibilities of the members include conducting site inspections, patrolling local waterways, assisting with comment letters and policy issues, investigating citizen concerns, collecting water quality samples, documenting environmental pollution, and creating environmental issue fact sheets. AmeriCorps Members will receive experience with environmental issues including stormwater, sewer, and industrial pollution, state and federal regulations, and permit reviews and gain skills in field sampling techniques. 

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

By the end of the program year, Baykeeper 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. Other outcomes include specific actions taken to reduce stormwater pollution, an increase in stormwater runoff prevention measures by contractors in communities where monitoring occurs, and water quality data produced to supplement decision-making in Watershed Management Planning implementation. Ultimately, the long-term outcomes of the program include a decrease in stormwater pollutants reaching Alabama's waterways, improved water quality resulting in healthier aquatic habitats, and the cultivation of environmental stewards. 

Thank you for your service, MBK!