On Aug. 19, 2020, as the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association searched for new ways to engage and educate people across an 11,000-square-mile watershed while mindfully navigating through the uncertainties of a pandemic, we published our first podcast conversation.

Dr. David Lieb, an aquatic biologist with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, chatted with Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky about the invasive rusty crayfish and its impact on the greater Susquehanna River Basin.

In the year since, we have produced 47 episodes with a combined runtime of 704 minutes (11.7 hours) chatting with a wide variety of people who share a passion for our river-based resources.

​“Is that some sort of alligator?” 

The asker – a 20-something-year-old young man wearing a Brooklyn Nets jersey – hesitated several yards from the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association table at last weekend’s Sunbury River Festival before asking a follow-up question.

“Is it alive?”

More than 60 people participated in the Aug. 17, 2021, "History Aboard the Hiawatha" Floating Classroom session, featuring historian John Moore as "Susquehanna Jack" and musician Gary Gyekis as "Swampfoot."

The Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association is offering an additional Floating Classroom session aboard the Hiawatha Paddleboat near Williamsport, open to the public, on Tuesday, Sept. 28, from 9:45-10:45 a.m. focused on bird species that frequent the river, wetlands and other regional waterways.

Dan Brauning, from the Lycoming County Audubon Society, will offer a presentation on these species on the lower level of the Hiawatha Paddleboat, and volunteers from the society will conduct a bird watching/identification experience on the upper level of the boat as it travels along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

Late in 2020, the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association (MSRKA) started accepting original songs inspired by the Susquehanna River and its tributaries for "Songs of the Susquehanna," a project designed to safely engage and educate people about the river while promoting the region's diverse pool of talented musicians.

On Saturday, Sept. 25, from 6-8 p.m., the MSRKA will celebrate the success of that project via a benefit concert aboard the Hiawatha Paddleboat near Williamsport featuring six artists involved with the inaugural effort -- William Ryan, Johanna Kodlick, Don Shappelle, Hannah Bingman, Gary Gyekis and Steve Hulslander.

"I boarded the Hiawatha knowing very little about the fish species in our area, and left knowing quite a bit," admitted one mother via an exit survey after the Tuesday, Aug. 10, Floating Classroom session aboard the Hiawatha Paddleboat near Williamsport.

The program, provided via the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, included two presentations -- an upper-level look at warmer water species via taxidermy mounts and discussion led by Montour Preserve naturalist Jon Beam, and a cold-water focus via Fish and Boat Commission Waterway Conservation Officer Darrell Miller on the lower level of the Hiawatha.

Considered by some expert to be the largest source of acidity and metal contamination along the Susquehanna River's West Branch, the Moshannon Creek has seen a number of improvements over the past year since the formation of the Moshannon Creek Watershed Association.

The group's president, Eric Skrivseth, and vice-president Eric Rosengrant share their story in the newest episode of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Podcast, including how they adopted six treatment facilities via the PA Game Commission and are working to refurbish them, what they've found along each stretch of the waterway and what their plans are for future endeavors, including how the community can get involved.

The following report was compiled by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association intern Danielle Tryon, of Susquehanna University.

“The most precious commodity in the county, commonwealth, US, and world is fresh clean water," said John Levitsky, watershed specialist at the Luzerne County Conservation District. "We all live upstream or downstream of someone and it is critical for everyone to work together as a community to better the watershed. One person can’t do it all but if we all join hands as a community, we can protect our waterways for drinking, fishing, swimming and boating."

In an effort to keep everyone on the same page to protect the Chesapeake Bay and the waterways that feed her, county conservation districts throughout the Susquehanna River watershed have been working on Countywide Action Plans (CAPs) which “provide an opportunity for everyone involved to learn more about their local waters and … outline how to achieve local clean water goals in a way that fits with local priorities,” according to the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).