Twenty-nine students split across two days explore Wellsboro state park in HERYN expansion program7/31/2024  Twenty-nine young people representing Tioga, Bradford, Centre, Clinton and Northumberland counties participated in one of two Northern Tier HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) program days on July 24-25, 2024, at Hills Creek State Park in Wellsboro, PA.
"Both days consisted of a well-rounded experience for participants," said event organizer Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association Northern Tier Regional Director Emily Shosh, who led a Plants Hike in the morning with participants while Ryan Orgitano, Source Water Protection Specialist with PA Rural Water Association, provided a Macroinvertebrate and Stream Study.
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Early data shows benefits of analog beaver dam effort in stream management at Susquehanna Univ.7/30/2024  The following post was written by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association summer intern Jay Schofield. Send a message to Jay via email by clicking here.
Innovative approaches to ecosystem restoration are emerging across the USA, and one standout initiative is the Beaver Dam Analog (BDA) project. Led by Matt Wilson at Susquehanna University's Freshwater Research Institute in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, BDAs are dams made to mimic those made by beavers. These dams are strategically placed along fast-running streams to combat erosion and restore groundwater levels. “We’ve got a lot of stormwater runoff that comes in at the edge of Susquehanna’s property upstream, and we wanted to better capture that,” Wilson said. “These dams will slow flow down, and because they’re made of sticks and stones, they will let water pass through the middle during a big storm.” Participants on July 16 Floating Classroom learn about waterthrush, birding and citizen science7/18/2024  Nearly 50 people participated in the July 16, 2024, Floating Classroom aboard the Hiawatha Paddleboat in Williamsport hosted by the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association.
The theme was focused on the Louisiana Waterthrush, general birding and citizen science. Presenters included West Branch Regional Director Andrew Bechdel on the lower level with an overview of the Louisiana Waterthrush and the characteristics that make it an important waterway indicator and how people can be valuable citizen scientists. New West Branch HERYN expansion connects young people with kayaking, fishing & conservation7/13/2024  Shortly after the conclusion of the July 10, 2024, West Branch version of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association's HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) program at the Bald Eagle State Park near Howard, PA, Kate Elias, of State College, couldn't resist thanking Regional Director Andrew Bechdel for providing the experience.
"Eleanor and Peter just got home," she shared in an email about her daughter and son. "They had SUCH a great time! Thank you so very much!" They were among the dozen students who participated in the first expansion of the original HERYN experience offered at the 1,000-acre Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir, a popular boating, fishing and swimming destination in Centre County. Column: Chesapeake Bay water quality report card should spark us to do more for vulnerable species7/11/2024  The following column was written by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky in response to the recent release of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences 2023/24 Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card. You can contact him directly here.
As it splashed around in the bottom of a small translucent Tupperware container between being weighed and carefully measured, a hellbender regurgitated pieces of crayfish it recently had harvested from the nearby creek. Obviously, this hellbender had eaten well, especially considering the drastic increase in size of this specific creature over the past several years according to data collected by Dr. Peter Petokas at the site – one of a few dwindling pockets of ideal hellbender habitat in a watershed once thriving with the species. “The high-quality habitat that these creatures need, which includes really large rocks that they spend their entire lives beneath, we’ve lost a lot of that due to a variety of factors including excessive stream sediment and loss of water quality,” said Petokas. “There are only small patches of it left in our entire (Susquehanna) watershed.” More than 50 people learn about martens and other mammals at July 9 Floating Classroom on Hiawatha7/11/2024  More than 50 people participated in the Martens and other Mammals Floating Classroom on July 9, 2024, aboard the Hiawatha Paddleboat in Williamsport.
The program included an overview of the American Marten, a species long missing from our state's forests and one recently considered for reintroduction by the PA Game Commission, by Tom Keller, a biologist for the agency who has been studying the species and leading the reintroduction analysis.  Verdant mountainsides, open farmland and sprawling suburban communities – these and other diverse landscapes offer a mosaic of habitats along Route 45 in Pennsylvania’s Centre County.
Throughout each meanders a small stream – Slab Cabin Run – and the Musser Gap Greenway. This new trail is a part of Penn State’s land conservation project that aims to connect the residents of State College with the Rothrock State Forest while protecting the natural resources, especially the groundwater resources beneath the surface. 2024 HERYN program days serve 84 young people with kayaking, fishing and conservation instruction7/2/2024  A total of 84 young people ages 8-13 participated across six Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association HERYN (Helping Engage our River’s Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing day camp programs at the Central PA Wesleyan campground.
"I learned new ways to cast and fish and had never kayaked before today," said Maddie Maxwell, age 12, of Watsontown, in an exit survey. “Maddie absolutely loved it! She said it was very fun and she would do it a million times,” said her mother, Lindsy, a few days later via email. “She greatly enjoyed the fishing and liked the chance to actually fish in the lake. Thank you for putting on a fantastic program and we look forward to being involved in future events.” New study shows key behavioral, physical impacts of increasing water temps on sculpin, headwaters7/2/2024  Susquehanna University graduate Danielle Tryon, center, recently completed a study on how sculpin react to thermal changes in streams. At left is a sculpin at Stony Run, near Lewisburg. Top right is the network of manmade stream channels Tryon used to study the sculpin at Susquehanna's Freshwater Research Institute and bottom right is a sculpin being measured in the lab. Riverkeeper note: The following story and podcast package was created/written by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky. You can contact him directly here.
Much more active than originally anticipated, freshwater sculpin instinctively swim upstream when threatened by thermal changes in headwater environments even when cooler water options are not accessible according to a study by recent Susquehanna University graduate Danielle Tryon. “We expected to see changes over time in their physical condition, but what we didn’t realize was that this species moves around as much as it does when stressed by water temperature changes,” said Tryon, who conducted the study over the course of a year using manmade stream channels at the university’s Freshwater Research Institute (FRI). “These channels are recirculating, and each is the same temperature throughout, but in channels with higher temperatures, the sculpin instinctively swam upstream to search for cooler water, which is fascinating,” said Matt Wilson, head of the FRI. “It would be easier to say they found cold water randomly and just sat there, but in these channels where temperatures were consistent across the moving water, they automatically swam upstream to look for relief. There wasn’t any randomness about it.” Students engage with Riverkeeper presentation on the hellbender during annual Envirocamp program7/1/2024  Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky presented to four different rotations of kids at the 2024 Snyder and Juniata County Conservation Districts' annual Envirocamp program in Richfield on Tuesday, June 18.
The focus of the presentation was about the Eastern hellbender. Students learned about the creature, its behaviors and some of the environmental issues it faces in our watershed. They also helped created hellbender posters for awareness, engaged with rusty crayfish and played a game designed to illustrate how hellbenders are impacted by various environmental factors. |
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
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