 A small crowd quickly gathered around 10-year-old Ellie Gasperine, of Waterville, as she reeled in a largemouth bass during a Friday, June 25, HERYN (Helping Engage our River’s Youth with Nature) program day at the Central Pennsylvania Wesleyan Campground near New Columbia.
“Whoa, whoa! That is a giant bass!” yelled fishing instructor Casey Magargle as he jumped to his feet alongside Ellie while she guided the bass to shore. “Holy cow! … That’s a big one!”
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 A group photo from our last HERYN program day on Saturday, June 26. During last week’s HERYN (Helping Engage our River’s Youth with Nature) program at the Central PA Wesleyan Campground in New Columbia, our 73 participants caught over 725 fish from the lake and put their new kayaking skills to the test in races and games. Some even tried fried bluegill that was caught from the lake that day!
The kids had so much fun during the program, and it is safe to say our staff and volunteers did as well.  Six consecutive HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) program days from June 21-26, 2021, introduced 73 young people ages 10-13 to valuable hands-on skills in both kayaking and fishing at the Central Pennsylvania Wesleyan Campground near New Columbia.
 It has been half a year since we first shared our 2021 Susquehanna Survey. We greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to provide feedback and help us better protect and promote our river-based resources!
 The Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association's HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) Program is offering six youth kayaking/fishing program days next week June 21-26) at a campground near New Columbia.
There is currently an opening for a 10-13 year-old female participant on Thursday, June 24. The spot will be filled on a first-registered, first-filled basis. We are also taking names for possible backup options if someone else has to cancel last-minute. The program runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a rotation between kayaking and fishing instruction by some of the region's best outdoors instructors and a team of dedicated helpers.  In response to a poster challenge by the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association heading into Earth Day, 8-year-old Liam Crames, of Selinsgrove, put crayon to paper to educate others about the threat of snakehead fish.
“I first learned about them on ‘River Monsters’ (television show). Then I learned more about them on random internet sites,” he said. “I hate them because they are invasive, they kill other fish too much and they’re bad for the river.”  In the newest episode of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Podcast, Hiawatha Paddleboat Captain Mike Strunk previews the venue's upcoming 40th season, chats about the history of the Hiawatha, reflects on some trends he has noticed in our river and cool sights of being on the river so often.
 The first set of HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) program days are set to kick off on June 21, with a different group of 12 young people, ages 10-13, participating each day over a six-day week.
Representatives with NuCanoe, an American-made kayaking and canoe company out of Washington state, have helped the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association obtain a fleet of NuCanoe Flint kayaks at a very reasonable price. To help toward matching/in kind grant funds, we are accepting donations toward the final costs of these kayaks.  Hokendauqua Creek in Northampton County, PA. Image taken by Nicholas A. Tonelli. My name is Morgan and I am one of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association’s interns for this summer! I am an Ecology and Environmental Sciences double major at Susquehanna University. I am also on my school’s swim team, involved in an outdoors club, and work at my campus garden. As an introduction, I thought I would go into detail about what drove me to want a career in protecting and advocating for the environment.
The first environmentally-focused class I took was AP Environmental Science in my senior year of high school. At the start of the class, I was still unsure of what my college major would be. I remember one of the first labs we did in the class was a stream study at Hokendauqua Creek in my hometown of Northampton, PA.  William Ryan samples water in a creek as part of his graduate research studies at Penn State University. William Ryan, a Marine Corps veteran and Penn State grad student in Environmental Resource Management, was one of 36 musicians to get involved in our Songs of the Susquehanna project.
Check out the submission, titled "If this River Had a Voice," and hear about his inspiration for the song, his studies at Penn State involving environmental resource management specifically in agricultural and soil conservation, what sparked his passion for our outdoor resources, what it means to give the river a voice and what the Susquehanna would want to tell us. |
AuthorsRiverkeeper John Zaktansky is an award-winning journalist and avid promoter of the outdoors who loves camping, kayaking, fishing and hunting with the family. Archives
December 2024
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