Reflections from River Festival 2021: Connections create a vested interest in species, efforts to protect river

​“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?”

The “it” he referred to was the newest addition to the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association family – a 20-inch life-like model of an Eastern Hellbender individually hand-casted out of polyurethane resin from a mold derived from an actual museum specimen and sold via the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute.

The reaction to our hellbender model – and a waterway display featuring seven live Rusty crayfish and a few other creek-borne stowaways – was common throughout the hundreds of people who visited the booth during a combined 14 hours from the two-day festival.

Many had never heard of a hellbender, others mis-identified it as a slew of other creatures, from an alligator to a mudpuppy to a “mutant snake with legs.” A surprising number of people similarly struggled with IDing our crayfish – referring to them as crabs, shrimp and a variety of other non-freshwater sea creatures.

Ultimately, the display worked as intended – it drew in people of all different interests and backgrounds and opened lines of communication specifically about these critters, but also the bigger picture of what we do as an association striving to protect our clean water resources.

In regard to the hellbender, the Susquehanna River Basin is seeing a drastic decline in the habitat necessary for them to thrive as they once did. Numbers are dropping dramatically, and considering their role as a clean water indicator species, that reduction provides an important red flag for the quality of the river and its many tributaries in our region.

As for the rusty crayfish, the discussion focused on the concept of invasive species, how the rusty crayfish has taken over the river basin’s native species and what that means for the greater aquatic ecosystem. We had great conversations about the role we, as humans, play in helping invasive species spread to places they shouldn’t be, and what those ramifications can look like.

These discussions offered the perfect springboard into clean water initiatives, pollution and how people can step up to make a real difference, not just in tweaking their daily routines, but also by advocating for change beyond their immediate circles.

We tried to provide the start of that for younger visitors to our booth, encouraging them to create posters to “Help the Hellbenders” by raising awareness as we, as an association, join with some sister waterkeeper groups to fight for increased protections of this vulnerable creature via the national Fish and Wildlife Service’s threatened/endangered program.

The posters were colorful and creative and are on display at the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association’s office at 112 Market Street, Sunbury, PA.

If nothing else, learning more details about the hellbender and rusty crayfish species can spark at least a more vested interest in them moving forward … something I personally  consider the “Rendezvous” effect.

A number of years ago, my family purchased a Buick Rendezvous. Before the purchase, I never really noticed other Rendezvous on the road. However, after owning one ourselves, they seemed to be everywhere. I noticed the same phenomenon when we eventually replaced the Rendezvous with a Dodge Durango. To this day, I see many more Durangos than I ever did before having a vested interest in the model and make of vehicle.

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Some of our "Help the Hellbender" youth poster submissions from the Sunbury River Festival included:

Submitted by Kendall, age 8

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Submitted by Willow, age 7

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Submitted by Addison, age 10

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Submitted by Kelsey, age 6

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Submitted by Athena, age 5

Simple creature identification can be a fun way to engage ourselves and others to our natural resources, and something in which we can always be learning.

An example: One of our creek-borne stowaways in the crayfish display was a large snail, which I mis-identified as an apple snail to someone who stopped by. Thankfully, Mike Bilger was nearby to correct my mistake, which helped re-spark my research into snail ID and leading me to find some other cool facts I never previously knew.

In similar fashion, I would imagine that people who visited our booth at the Sunbury River Festival will look twice the next time they see a crayfish for the distinguishing characteristics of the rusty species. I hope the same people will have a better appreciate of the plight of the hellbender the next time the state amphibian’s name comes up in a conversation.

Along the same lines, we are excited about the vested interest we have developed with people of all backgrounds and interests through events such as the Sunbury River Festival – and the potential these new contacts have in partnering with us to better protect and promote our vast number of river-based resources.

For more information on how you can get involved, send Riverkeeper John Zaktansky an email at midsusriver@gmail.com