WV Students Stock, Clean Streams with Help from Local Business, Law Enforcement

The State Journal
1 April 2016
stincher@statejournal.com

More than 35 Noble employees joined about 135 elementary, middle and high school students from Marshall and Ohio counties at the company's second annual Stocking and Cleaning the Streams event Friday morning. The group partnered up to clean and stock a four-mile stretch of Wheeling Creek, as well as Bear Rock Lake, with nearly 5,000 pounds of trout raised at Indian Lake Fisheries in Elkview.

“We find it’s a great opportunity to give back to these communities and be a part of these communities that we operate within,” said RJ Moses, Noble’s Senior Operations Manager of the Marcellus Business Unit. “We really wanted to think of a way to give back to the community and better the environment and find a project that really helps folks kind of learn about something.

“Really what it’s about here today is having a good time and enjoying the outdoors, enjoying the environment (and) respecting the environment,” Moses said.

Volunteers with Noble, Cabela’s, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the Wheeling Fraternal Order of Police were also at Bear Rock Lake to teach students about fishing, various species of native West Virginia trout, and the importance of being good environmental stewards.

“These types of outside-the-classroom experiences leave a lasting impression and help reinforce science material taught in the classroom,” Woody Yoder, director of Curriculum and Instruction at Marshall County Schools, said in a statement. “Through this partnership, our students are learning the values of community service and environmental conservation, as well as supplementing classroom biology and physical science material with hands-on learning. We’re grateful to partner with Noble Energy to provide our students this unique experience.”

The students also went home with fishing poles donated by Cabela’s and tackle boxes from the Fraternal Order of Police.

“It’s a great interaction, everyone loves the program,” said WVDNR officer Steve Haines. “At the end of the day it’s a great program for the kids.

“Also, it kind of brings science and what they’re learning in the classroom to life here,” he added.