Page 24 - May-June2019 Vol37 No1
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OAK RIDGE By Shannon Bryant
Global Program Brings Perspective
Amy Snyder never saw herself as a they pursue are civic engagement, work alongside members of the Ecological
world traveler. In fact, she never realized economic empowerment, government and Observation and Wetlands Conservation
how globally connected she wasn’t. That society, and environment. (ECOTON) environmental organization.
is, until she became involved in the Young
South East Asian Leaders Initiative, Snyder is the stormwater programs Through the experience, she learned
(YSEALI for short), through the urging of coordinator for the City of Oak Ridge. much about water quality issues at home
Oak Ridge city manager Mark Watson. Last year, she was chosen to take on both and abroad, knowledge that she says will
roles that YSEALI offers, a host and an help her work right here at home.
The YSEALI program provides exchange fellow. In May, she facilitated Landlocked but Connected
professional fellowships for emerging a five-week experience for Hadi Yoga
leaders ages 25 to 35, pairing them with Dewanto, a young professional working What can a marine fisheries
professionals overseas who provide for the Ministry of Marine Fisheries professional learn from a landlocked city
practical experiences that can help them and Conservation in Indonesia. And in like Oak Ridge? Turns out, quite a bit.
grow as professionals. The four themes September, she traveled to Indonesia to
24 TPW May/June 2019 “As a host, my responsibility was
forming a daily agenda for Yoga to meet
some of his goals, things he wanted to
take back to Indonesia with him,” said
Snyder. “He wanted to do more education
and outreach to marine fisheries. That
may seem odd because Oak Ridge
is landlocked, but we still do a lot of
education and outreach through our
stormwater program to get people more
involved and caring about water quality. It
relates, trying to get people excited about
clean water and change their behaviors to
make it cleaner.”
Yoga’s particular interest was
in encouraging partnerships and
collaborations in marine protected areas.
Snyder and the stormwater team in Oak
Ridge responded by showing Yoga what
they do in compliance with the city’s
Clean Water Act and the education
and outreach goals that go along with
the city’s stormwater permit. He got a
crash course in U.S. civic involvement,
including outreach to community groups
like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, volunteer
organizations, the local libraries and
more. He learned about the Americorps
program, attended hands-on activities
like river cleanups, sat in on public
stakeholder meetings and experienced an
Oak Ridge City Council meeting.
“We were walking Yoga through how we
get people involved and get people on the
river itself so they can see these problems
firsthand,” Snyder said.
They even went fish stocking with the
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Association
and met with academics in the UT
Fisheries Department. Yoga learned how
Tennessee Valley Authority’s system of
rivers, lakes and dams functions, and
“how we regulate our water system to gain
economic benefit for our community as
