​​According to Susquehanna County Conservation District Program Coordinator Don Hibbard, the key to making a difference in our day-to-day lives for the sake of protecting natural resources can come down to observation.

“I like to encourage people to ask a simple question when they are about to throw something away – where is away?” he said. “Maybe that will encourage you to recycle more instead of throwing garbage away because a lot of times, our trash ends up in places we don’t realize and a lot of those facilities don’t process garbage the right way.”

So mindfully thinking about how you dispose of things or reuse them can be vital, as well as planting trees.

The Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association is once again hosting its HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing day camps in the West Branch region this summer.

​The nonprofit will be offering two days of programs, with a different group of 8-13 year-old participants each day, rotating through ​stations to learn the fundamentals of fishing, kayaking and conservation.

The program will be offered July 1-2, 2025, at Bald Eagle State Park's 1,000-acre Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir near Howard. Check out details and photos from last year's program at this site by clicking here.

​Taylor Weddington admits that she always had a special connection with her grandfather, David Staebler, who passed away earlier this year but leaves behind a lasting legacy for our natural resources.

“He cared deeply about the environment, with his core rule anytime we visited a new place being to always leave it better than when you found it,” she said. “Whether that was picking up a piece of trash on the walking trail or making someone’s day a little brighter.”

An instrumental mover-and-shaker within the Buffalo Creek Watershed Alliance out of Lewisburg, Staebler had become a fixture in water quality conversations and improvement projects across the watershed.

Because of his countless hours of volunteer work and dedication to inspiring others, Staebler is being posthumously honored with the 2024 Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association’s Kathleen Snavely Susquehanna River Environmental Advocate Award.

Riverkeeper's note: The following story and podcast interview was completed by Emily Shosh.

​While Amidea Daniel's duties with the PA Fish and Boat Commission may get busy this time of year, the core focus of her work is fairly simple.

“The goal is to connect folks to the resources, to themselves and to the opportunities that these resources can provide to them in the future through outdoor experiences and good health,” she said of being the agency's Northcentral Region Education Coordinator.

Statewide, she manages the fish and boat commission's Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program, women's statewide mentor events and program, along with implementing programming in the 14-county Northcentral region.

With five years of original Songs of the Susquehanna submissions accumulating and a growing need to engage young people with improving statewide standards in environmental literacy in the public school system, the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association pulled some of the more educational based submissions into a new collection called Aquatics & Acoustics. 

This project is currently available with a full-color booklet with lyrics for each song and some talking points for students on the song itself and how to tie it into the bigger environmental discussion. it also includes all songs on a USB thumb drive.

"The goal isn't just to provide songs that provide another creative portal for students to engage with our natural world, but also to hopefully get them connecting with music and the arts, as well," said Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky. "We'd love to see this new initiative lead to students developing their own creative pieces - whether that is in the form of songs or poems or other pieces of art - reflecting how they see the natural world and helping spread the excitement and learning to their peers."

​Riverkeeper note: The following feature was written by Northern Tier Regional Director Emily Shosh after a Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Podcast conversation with Andrew Mickey.

​Andrew Mickey, Conservation Program Specialist with the State Conservation Commission (SCC), has been an avid outdoorsman in the coal region of Schuylkill County - fishing and hunting since he was a kid.

"These interests, and seeing the environmental damage caused by historic mining, led me to get involved with conservation organizations and ultimately pursue a career in conservation,” he said.
 
Now, Mickey coordinates projects with the SCC within the Pennsylvania Dirt, Gravel, and Low Volume Roads (DGLVR) Maintenance Program.

Riverkeeper note: The following article was written by Northern Tier Regional Director Emily Shosh. You can contact her directly at [email protected]

Aaron Lewis is the newly appointed Pennsylvania Forest Conservation Coordinator, working to improve, maintain and establish grouse and woodcock habitat in Pennsylvania.

“Ruffed grouse benefit from a mosaic of habitat, forest types and age classes and they require them to be pretty close in proximity,” he said, adding that his efforts with the Ruffed Grouse Society on protecting and encouraging grouse habitat protects forests, which in turn protects water quality.

​"The most efficient water treatment facility is a forest which is why so many municipalities in Pennsylvania own forests, and we will work with them as well,” he said.

​​Riverkeeper note: The following column was written by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky, the first in a series of columns under the heading "Lessons from Nature." You can contact Zaktansky via email at [email protected]

Years ago, after a long night of work at the local newspaper, I threw in a load of laundry before heading to bed at 2:30 am when a metallic scratching noise from our oil furnace broke me out of a detergent-measuring trance.

Like fingers on a chalk board, yet much more sinister, the sound came again. Screeching, scratching, razorblades on the inside of our metal stovepipe that connected the furnace with the outside chimney.

What could be making that noise?