n Feb. 2, 1999, Sherman Roberts, a lab technician with a thoughtful manner, a sandy beard and an easy smile, asked to say a few words at the Center’s monthly staff meeting.

"Last Friday marked 27 years since I first came to work here," he began, "and over the weekend I got to thinking about why I had stayed so long." Then, with a mix of reticence and resolve, he talked about the sense of community which has meant so much to him over the years and which transcends the boundaries that so often divide people in the work place.

To Roberts the Stroud Center is not simply the place he goes to work. It is a community of people who are connected by a passion for what they do. "You are not just my co-workers," he told his colleagues. "You are my friends."

The shared sense of purpose stretches from Bern Sweeney, the executive director who came fresh out of college in 1972 and never left, to Catherine Ferranto, a laboratory aide who retired after 28 years only to stay on in a part-time role, to Sally Peirson, who followed both parents to the Center 27 years ago. It crosses all lines and it is obvious even to outsiders.

"The place just had a feel about it," remembered Laurel Standley of her first visit. "The people were genuine."

One result is remarkable continuity, an asset that is hard to overstate for an institution devoted to long-term research. In a place that is barely 30 years old, the average length of service is over 11 years. For senior staff it is almost 19 years — and that doesn’t even count the fact that both Sweeney and Lou Kaplan came as graduate students and have been there ever since.

The benefits cannot be measured solely in longevity. "We seem to attract people who believe in the team approach," said John Jackson." All our successes have been the result of collaboration."

"The low barriers between disciplines give us a power we couldn’t find elsewhere," said Standley. "They allow us to be open and adventurous, to investigate and explore, and yet to feel safe. We can really share because we really trust each other."

From the beginning, said Tom Bott, that trust has produced "a group of people who like to work together on significant questions."

"The essence of Stroud?" mused Denis Newbold. "It’s one institution with one mission."

"We bring a number of disciplines to bear on a question," said Kaplan. "We want to describe the ecology of streams and rivers. We want to understand how they work."

Our major accomplishment, said Sweeney, has been "maintaining an extremely focused mission for 30 years and pursuing it with a sense of camaraderie and an interdisciplinary approach that exists nowhere else."

"Together," said Standley, rhetorically underlining the word, "we have contributed to the basic understanding of stream and river ecology. That sometimes seems a small thing. But we have pushed science forward."

And expanded it outward. "That same sense of teamwork drives our education and public outreach efforts," said Jim McGonigle. "We want to make sure that the research done here reaches beyond the scientific community. Its applications touch everyone. We are all citizens of a watershed."