As EPCAMR Executive Director, I would be remiss if I didn’t officially recognize my oldest son, Dawson A. Hughes, 13, who is now an 8th grader in the Greater Nanticoke Area School District, and long time EPCAMR Volunteer, who has worked side by side with me since he was around 8 years old. I’ve truly enjoyed the opportunity to take him along on watershed tours with schools, where he could assist as either a camera man, water sampler, macro-invertebrate sampler, and stream assessor. Dawson has been attending illegal dump site cleanups all over the Wyoming Valley, along with his older sister, and my only daughter, Hayley M. Hughes, who also started at his age spending time with me in the field, during our volunteer community events coordinated by EPCAMR. Dawson is a seasoned veteran at 13 years of age, who is also already the youngest certified EPCAMR Water Quality/Biological Monitoring volunteer in our organization. At 10 years old, he tagged along with the EPCAMR Staff as we were conducting our Watershed Assessment on Solomon Creek, complete in waders, a HACH AMD Testing Kit, camera around his neck, back pack over his shoulders, and kick net in hand.
He hiked several miles of stream with us and was officially taught how to identify macro-invertebrates (aquatic bugs/insects), conduct a visual stream habitat assessment, monitor the streams for iron concentrations, pH, acidity concentrations, alkalinity concentrations, dissolved oxygen concentrations, and stream temperature.
He also became familiar with the local geology and mining history of our region through his Father’s rambling and endless conversations during the stream walks. Dawson has also assisted in a Teacher Training Workshop with local Science Teachers from the Wilkes-Barre Area in 2012, attended a QuickBooks for Non-Profits Training Seminar in Pittsburgh, PA (that was rough…but the instructor was quick to point him out and crack some jokes about “quality time” being spent with his Father, at the expense of work), storm drain stenciling several years ago throughout Plymouth Township, community gardening and historic preservation at the Avondale Hill Mine Disaster Memorial location in Plymouth Township, the painting of the Avondale Ballad Sheet Metal Art Piece in partnership with the Wilkes-Barre Area Machine Shop Class, illegal dump site cleanups throughout the Wyoming Valley, AMD Tie Dye T-shirt Programs at many of our events throughout the Anthracite Coal Region, and most recently, our stream restoration project on Nockley’s Tributary, an impaired stream reach filled with woody debris, trash, tires, and sediment.
Dawson Hughes (in orange) , EPCAMR Stream Cleanup Volunteer and oldest son of the Executive DIrector, who has been helping out since he was 8 years old and is now going on 14
As a Father, especially during those down times, during the Summer months, where I know that most of his time is going to be spent at home in his little man cave in our basement playing X-Box 360, PS3, the computer playing MINECRAFT in his virtual reality, or on some other social media site, I think it’s more important to invite him out and get some fresh air and not be so closeted about what natural beauty and environmental degradation lie just outside the house. I am encouraging him to become a part of the solution, much like I have been since I was very young, and instilling in him that even kids his age can and should want to make a difference in their communities and become well-rounded and inquisitive about our natural history and cultural history that are some our best kept secrets in our region. Truth is not enough of it is being told at the elementary level, high school level, or collegiate level for that matter. All history is local. EPCAMR’s Staff and myself believe in teaching our youth through a place-based philosophy or getting to know your surroundings and not succumb to what’s colloquially known as “nature deficit disorder”.
I appreciate the time spent together and I know that he has enjoyed all the times that we have spent working side by side with each other, whether it’s on the football field, basketball court, baseball diamond, or mine-impacted stream, I’ve never gotten a complaint out of him. He’s a hard worker, a natural team leader, and a very smart kid, who is a straight A student in school, and doesn’t have trouble interacting with adults and other youth alike. I’m very proud to call him my oldest son, and hope that he will continue to join me on our many adventures throughout the Coal Region as we work on other interesting restoration, education, and remediation projects to improve our land and water impacted by abandoned mines.
Dawson goes on to say, “My Dad is a walking encyclopedia of all things living, historical, coal-related…a real Nature Boy and Super Hero for the environment…He’s respected by so many in his field and it seems like everyone either knows him or he knows them. Wherever we go and he is well-liked and respected for his work. I enjoy hanging with him, even though he usually just puts me to work, but at least I know at the end of the day it’s for a good cause, the cleanup of the local environment and community. The work he does is appreciated by those that we work with side by side, who wouldn’t have been able to complete it without my Dad’s support through EPCAMR. He teaches everyone and he teaches me, that goes without saying. He doesn’t yell as much on illegal dump site cleanups or stream surveys as he does on the football field or basketball court as a Coach, so in all actuality, he’s rather mild to work with on our Nature and Anthracite history adventures!”
Dawson Hughes (age 10) assisting EPCAMR as a Water Quality Monitoring Volunteer on Sugar Notch Run in the Solomon Creek Watershed
Dawson Hughes playing his Father as the “mini” Limestone Cowboy in 4th Grade during an Environmental Comedy Skit put on for his class at GNA
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