Christine Craycroft, executive director of the Portage County Park District, will be keynote speaker at the fifteenth annual research conference of Kent State University’s Water Resources Research Institute. The title of Craycroft’s talk is “On-the-Ground Realities of Changing Land Use in Portage County,” and will take place April 29, at 3:30 p.m. in room 204 of the Kent Student Center.  

The research conference takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. on April 29, and will include a poster session on the research and educational activities by the faculty and student members of the institute.

Changes in Portage County are similar to changes in many places throughout the nation: increasing urban sprawl and declining natural and agricultural areas. The keynote address will offer the speaker’s thoughts and observations on how changes in land use patterns affect local water resources, human health and quality of life.  

A lifelong resident of Portage County, Craycroft earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kent State University, majoring in biology and science education. She has been the executive director of the Portage County Park District for the past decade. During her tenure, Craycroft has seen an increase in county parklands, which expanded to more than 700 acres with greater than 15 miles of hike-and-bike trails. 

The Water Resources Research Institute is a division of the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State.  Its mission is to facilitate research, educational and outreach activities related to interdisciplinary issues of water quality and abundance. It draws on the expertise of the departments of biological sciences, chemistry, geography and geology. WRRI projects range from local to international and include efforts in the Great Lakes and the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin.

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