STROUD TOWNSHIP -- A group of student researchers from East Stroudsburg University and their professor met at Cherry Valley National Wildlife Sanctuary near Stroudsburg to study Cherry Creek.
The information collected is part of a much bigger project designed to ensure clean drinking water.
"This is very important. A lot of times you're looking at rivers as a drinking water supply, as habitat, as recreation," said Christa Reeves, ESU student.
The Delaware River Watershed Initiative involves a number of groups working to conserve and restore streams that supply drinking water to millions of people throughout Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
The data collected will go to the Academy of Natural Sciences.
"A lot of my partners within the watershed are involved in conserving the land, protecting the land, and improving it. I am on the science side of it, so what I have to do is tell their story. We look at improved water quality. Is it more drinkable than it used to be? Improved habitat. Are there brook trout here now when there used to not be brook trout? And so that is really my job is to tell their story," said Paul Wilson, ESU professor.
Not only is this research important to the restoration and conservation of water in the Poconos, but it also gives students a hands-on learning experience that they can't always get in the classroom.
"Having that real-life experience is huge. Being able to say that you've been out doing the work in the field is great, especially in the job market as well as field research and things like that," said Weston Strubert, ESU student.
"They go onto research projects and actually begin to do the work on their own and contribute and present that scientific work, so hopefully it will help their careers as they move forward," said Wilson.
Through this ongoing project, Professor Wilson also received money from the William Penn Foundation to support his classes as well as future research.