Formed in 1999, it is a membership organization which sponsors and operates two Environmental Study Team (EST) programs, one in Burtonsville, NYand another in Schenectady, NY.  

The Schoharie River Center, located in Burtonsville, NY is also active in a variety of community, historical and cultural programs and activities.

What is EST?

The Environmental Study Team (EST) is an award winning Youth Development Program where middle and high school age youth work with ecologists and aquatic biologists to study, monitor and improve the water quality of local streams, rivers and lakes.

The Environmental Study Team has been studying, monitoring, and documenting the water quality of the Schoharie Creek and other streams and lakes since 2002. In 2007 the program was awarded a national Environmental Excellence Award from the Conservation Matters program sponsored by Sea World – Busch Gardens –Fuji Films.

The original EST program was started in 2002 and meets in Burtonsville, NY. This program serves students from the Duanesburg, Schalmont, Schoharie and Amsterdam school districts, as well as several area private schools. Meetings are generally every other Sunday from noon to 4pm.

In 2009 a second program was started in Schenectady, NY and is located at 427 Franklin Street in the new Performing Arts and Educational Center established by the Schenectady Light Opera Company, at the former St. John's the Baptist Catholic Church complex. This branch of EST serves students from Schenectady and Scotia and meets twice a week from 3 - 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.

EST members learn how to conduct chemical tests to determine water quality, identify macroinvertebrates found in the waters, prepare written scientific reports of their findings, learn photography and videography skills, prepare slide shows, as well as make presentations to the public.

EST and ...

In addition to all of this, EST members go hiking, swimming, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing, kayaking & sailing as well as make maple syrup.

Schoharie River Center also holds a week long archeology field school each summer where youth can learn from and work with professional archeologists at a real archeological dig site along the Schoharie Creek where artifacts from hundreds of years ago are uncovered.

These are just some of the things Environmental Study Team and Schoharie River Center do. Contact us to learn more - or, click the links on the left to explore this website.