Murray State's Watershed Studies Institute, Hancock Biological Station, the Jackson Purchase Foundation, and the City of Murray have partnered to present the 2024 Four Rivers Watershed Sustainability Festival throughout the month of April. Daniel Hurt speaks to Murray State professor of biological sciences Dr. Howard Whiteman about the festival, which features a wide variety of educational, family-friendly programs that celebrate clean water and healthy watersheds and promote an appreciation and call to action for the conservation of both.
Before the Four Rivers Watershed Sustainability Festival, there was the Watershed Research Symposium. "We've been doing this for a long time," Whiteman explains. "The WSI basically helps students across a variety of departments get research done both at the undergraduate and graduate level. All we ask is that they come back and give us a talk in the spring during Scholars Week. So, as part of Scholars Week here on the Murray State campus, we have an all-day symposium."
This year's Watershed Research Symposium will take place on Wednesday, April 17, from 8 am to 4 pm in the Barkley Room of the Curris Center on Murray State's main campus. "It's undergraduate students who are presenting on the environment and the research that they've done. They're doing all kinds of research, including on Kentucky Lake, and we have faculty that work all across the nation and the world," Whiteman says. Similar symposiums have previously been conducted in other states, like Colorado, and other countries, like Mexico and Ethiopia. "We do have some interesting ones about climate change, cannibalism, and there are some other ones that will cover disease and stress and things like that."
That same week, the Four Rivers Watershed Sustainability Festival is sponsoring two screenings of the film The Human Element through Murray State's Cinema International program. The screenings will take place on Thursday, April 18, and Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 pm in Faculty Hall, room 208. The Human Element focuses on the critical role humans play in the environment. Dr. Whiteman will lead a discussion after each screening. Both the screenings and post-film discussions are free and open to the public.
The Human Element utilizes James Balog's photography to show how climate change has impacted Americans' everyday lives. As Whiteman explains, the film "is really about how humans are involved in the environment and how we are not only part of the problem. But we're also part of the solution. We have to consider ourselves that way."
The FRWSF will host additional events during Earth Week. On Wednesday, April 24, Murray State's Sigma Xi will host a Science Café at Tap 216. "Basically, we have an evening presentation that's usually pretty short," Whiteman says. "Then a discussion, sort of our Q&A phase, and we bring in somebody who knows a lot about that topic. This spring, we have Catherine Aubee, who is a Murray State alumnus. She got her Bachelor of Science and her Master's degree here and is now in a relatively high position at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. That's quite an accomplishment. She'll be here, and she'll be talking about pesticides, pesticide regulations, how they interact with the environment, and how we have to think about those."
Another element of the FRWSF is the Biodiversity Art Competition, hosted by Murray State's Department of Biological Sciences and the Murray Art Guild. Over 80 entries were submitted to the 2024 competition, 30 of which will be selected to display in the biology building atrium beginning Saturday, April 13. The public is encouraged to view the artwork at any time during normal hours of operation. An awards reception will be held on Thursday, April 25, at 5 pm in the biology atrium and is open to the public.
On Saturday, April 27, the Murray State University student chapters of the Wildlife Society and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers will host a Beast Feast of wild game and fish at Murray City Park from 4 to 6 pm. A $10 minimum donation per plate is requested for this event. The donation will help cover the cost of the meal, which includes white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, wild turkey, waterfowl, a variety of fish, and a number of surprise species.
All proceeds from the Four Rivers Watershed Sustainability Festival benefit Murray State students. A full festival schedule can be found on the Watershed Studies Institute's Facebook page.
