​Last winter, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation applied 12.3 million gallons of salt-based brine to the state’s roadways and has spread an average of 807,766 tons of rock salt a year over the last five winters.

“They are just one entity that spreads road salt in Pennsylvania, but there is a comparable amount of additional road salt spread by municipal and private entities,” said Ben Lorson, Watershed Analysis Section Chief for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. “When someone says road salt, you think PennDOT, but it is just one part of a larger problem.”

That problem, Lorson added, is closely tied to bigger issue – increased salinization of our freshwater resources across the state.

The most recent addition to the growing Board of Directors for the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, Kelly Caudle has a lifelong passion for our aquatic ecosystem sparked as a child by family trips to various waterways.

She appreciates the sheer number of waterways and experiences the region has to offer, along with the diverse variety of species you can enjoy locally. A member of the R.B. Winter Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Caudle is committed to protecting our natural resources and inspiring others to do the same.

​The Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association’s second annual Songs of the Susquehanna program is accepting original songs inspired by the river, its tributaries and the aquatic resources that depend on them through Jan. 31, 2022.

“This songwriting event is the perfect motivation to breathe life into your songwriting ideas that may be sitting on the shelf, waiting for the right moment to shine,” said Johanna Kodlick, who submitted the song “Return to Blue” in last year’s program.

“The sense of community surrounding this project is warm and embracing, so it is a safe place to allow your talents to unfold. You never know what residual benefits you may experience by just taking the leap.”

Every time Doug Fessler goes fishing on the Susquehanna River near Sunbury, he first takes time to clean up any litter he finds along the banks.

“I always leave a device to pick up litter, a garbage bag and gloves in my car, and each time my son and I go fishing, I make sure to clean up the banks first,” he said. “When you do that, and then catch a fish, there’s a deeper meaning to it. It’s almost like the river is rewarding you. There is a different sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with it versus just going down catching a fish and walking away.”

Fessler has pulled countless bags of trash from the river’s edge over the past year as more and more people turn to our natural resources for refuge from the pandemic and their hectic lifestyles.

Riverkeeper's note: This is the second of a two-part package looking at under-river gas extraction leases. It is a first-hand commentary by Riverkeeper John Zaktansky in response to the initial report, available here.

On January 22, 1959, coal miners in Luzerne County illegally dug under the Susquehanna River, so close to the river’s wall that it collapsed, causing a watery whirlpool that flooded the mine shafts and killed 12.

Decades later, some historians consider the Knox Mine Disaster the death knell for coal mining in Northeast Pennsylvania, and we are still seeing impacts of abandoned mine drainage issues that can be traced back to that specific event.

At the very least, the disaster provides an important environmental cautionary tale, one that immediately came to mind as I opened a Google Alert that took me to a tiny one-sentence “press release” on the fracking industry website marcellusdrilling.com in late November.

Riverkeeper's note: This is the first of a two-part report from the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association. Click here for the second piece, a commentary response from Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky.

​In the Nov. 20, 2021, issue of the online Pennsylvania Bulletin, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced the execution of an oil and gas lease for publicly owned streambeds in Wyoming County with BKV Operating, LLC. 

According to the short release, the lease was effective as of March 15, 2021, and included the leasing of 198.5 acres of “submerged lands” along the Susquehanna River streambed in Mehoopany and Washington townships. 
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The lease allows “the development of oil and natural gas below and between the ordinary low water marks of the Susquehanna River solely by means of directional, including horizontal, drilling on a nondevelopment basis that will not disturb the river or its bed.”

The newly published "Sentinels of the Susquehanna" paperback by the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association​, along with the first annual CD from the Songs of the Susquehanna project are now available for purchase at two local bookstores: Mondragon Books at 111 Market Street, Lewisburg, and Otto Book Store at 107 W 4th St., Williamsport.

In partnership with the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM) out of Dickinson College, the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association is looking for volunteers in Lycoming and Clinton counties to join a new Stream Team monitoring effort in 2022.

Several dates have been set for those who wish to participate in the Lycoming/Clinton Stream Team effort, including a virtual information session from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8, an equipment pickup on Monday, Feb. 28, and an online training workshop from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22.

​Among the many activities Elizabeth Bruner remembers from attending a five-day Wildlife Leadership Academy camp near State College, she located a transmitter using radio telemetry – a way of tracking whitetail deer and other species.

“It was like I was a biologist conducting research!” she said. “I really loved that sort of hands-on learning, including time at a shooting range, collecting plants and assessing wildlife habitats. This program has fueled my passion for conservation and has given me the knowledge and resources to make a difference.”

"Sentinels of the Susquehanna: Volume 1​" is a 285-page book featuring more than 50 stories that highlight a wide variety of issues facing our river-based resources and some of the people who strive to protect and promote those resources.

The book, produced by the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, includes some of the most popular blog articles and investigative reports on topics such as abandoned mine drainage, microplastics in our waterways, fracking concerns, invasive species, erosion, impacts of high and low water on aquatic ecosystems and much more.