Riverkeeper reflections |
2026 Naturalist Calendar offers wide number of dates to experience nature throughout year12/13/2025  Our Middle Susquehanna Naturalist Calendar again offers a year's worth of nature-related dates, facts and other information to help better connect you to our natural resources. This includes expected sunrise and sunsets, moon phases, certain meteor showers, when various species are expected to be more active, wildflowers blooming, etc.
Included are ways for you to make and submit reports about your observations that can be used for citizen science, tips for nature journaling and information about the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association and Vernal School Environmental Education Partnership.
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A serene spot along Chillisquaque Creek is where Blue Springs empty into the 20-mile tributary of the Susquehanna's West Branch, just above the town of Washingtonville. The historic bridge is around 125 years old and dates back to the Frank DeLong estate.
The 20-mile-long Chillisquaque Creek may not be the largest Pennsylvania River of the Year finalist, but the tributary of the Susquehanna's West Branch is definitely symbolic of the greater river basin’s history, issues and potential to overcome those challenges with creative collaborative solutions, according to Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky.
“Many times, you look at the bigger Susquehanna River and can quickly get overwhelmed with the scale and scope of everything that needs to be done. However, when you focus on a snapshot like the Chillisquaque Creek and the key partners and resources available in this area, then recognition of something like River of the Year truly can make a difference,” he said. “We can showcase some incredible work that already has been done, shine a light on some of the bigger issues and how to maybe look at them a little differently and breathe life and key awareness into the groups and individuals that deserve a jolt of fresh air.” The creek joins the Conestoga River and Lower Schuylkill River as the three finalists for the 2026 Pennsylvania River of the Year award. Voting is open through Jan. 16, 2026, with the winning waterway receiving specialized awareness and funding for a sojourn and other key projects and events. Sean Reese, Program Scientist of the Watershed Sciences and Engineering Program at Bucknell University's Center for Sustainability and the Environment has lived in the greater Chillisquaque Creek watershed community for many years.  Riverkeeper note: The following column was written by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky. You can contact him directly at [email protected]
One of the things I looked forward to as a teenager raising Jersey dairy cows with the local 4-H club was the annual show season. I would take a few of the family's best animals to the local fairs each summer and take turns with my brother every other night sleeping over at the fair – making sure the cows kept clean and content, but also enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of the county fair scene with our friends. Until late at night, propped up in a sleeping bag over a few haybales trying to sleep while the neighboring goats would try to serenade me with a symphony of ear-shattering "baas." Did they want more grain? A fresh bucket of water? An extra section of alfalfa? Someone to clean their pen or rub that itchy spot between their weirdly shaped horns? Regardless, decades later, I still struggle with goats.  Recently proposed changes to the national Endangered Species Act could have devastating consequences to some of the most vulnerable species by weighing their value – and that of their habitat – against “economic impacts,” “national security” and other ambiguous and hard-to-scientifically quantify variables, according to various local environmental experts.
The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Nov. 19, 2025, four specific rules that would alter how the Endangered Species Act is implemented in an effort “to strengthen American energy independence, improve regulatory predictability and ensure federal actions align with the best reading of the law” according to a press release from the federal agency. Public comment is encouraged on these proposed changes through Dec. 22, 2025, by going to each of the following four links:
“The proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act could have devastating consequences for listed species by weakening federal protections,” said Amber Wiewel, of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and Pennsylvania’s Bird Atlas Coordinator. “These changes will create loopholes that industry groups would use to their advantage to prioritize development and other economic factors at the expense of some of our most vulnerable plants and animals.” |
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
January 2026
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