Environment DEC
From the November 2009 issue
New Classroom Building to be Erected at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis announced that the agency is partnering with the non-profit group, Friends of Five Rivers, to construct a new education building at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar (Albany County).
Herb and Peggy Repass (to left of poster) and members of the Suozzo family pose with a rendering of the new building.
Friends of Five Rivers, a citizens' group that supports education initiatives at the center, facilitated a $500,000 donation to build a new "Guided School Program" building for students. The Repass family of Marion, Massachusetts made the donation through Friends of Five Rivers. Their daughter, Wendy Repass Suozzo, was a longtime educator at Five Rivers and ran the Guided School Program for many years.
RoseAnne Fogarty, president of Friends of Five Rivers, and Herb Repass.
Since 1980, Friends of Five Rivers has coordinated the administration of the program, which provides on-site, outdoor lessons to classes throughout the school year. The program had been based in an aging building called the Goose Lodge since the mid 1980s. Several years ago, Friends of Five Rivers approached DEC about underwriting construction of a new facility. DEC worked with the state Office of General Services to develop a Five Rivers master plan in 2007, which recommended building a new home for the school program. OGS determined the old building had outlived its useful life and was too costly to maintain. DEC staff will construct the new facility.
The new building will serve as a classroom for student orientation before venturing outside or for use during inclement weather. It also will provide space for volunteer instructors to prepare lessons and to store teaching materials. In addition, it will showcase "green" architecture and landscape design to upwards of 100,000 visitors annually.
Located just outside Albany, Five Rivers began as a state-run game farm but was converted into an environmental education center in 1970. Its 400-plus acres include 12 miles of trails and interior roads, 16 ponds and wetlands and expanses of forest, field and brush habitats.
