On Saturday, June 15, 2024, many of the board members of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association along with family members, interns and employees of the group met at the Central PA Wesleyan Campground near New Columbia for a workday preparing for its annual HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing program, as well as enjoying a picnic together and holding its monthly meeting in person. 

Check out some images from the workday and some fun shared afterward in the photo gallery below.

"We have a great team that is dedicated to clean water and connecting people to our resources to inspire the next generation of stewards," said Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky. "It was great to have everyone together preparing for one of our flagship programs and bonding over some kayaking, fishing, a picnic and then our monthly board meeting."

Fifty-three people boarded the Hiawatha Paddleboat near Williamsport on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, to learn about snails that can be found in the Susquehanna River watershed. 

The lower level presentation was led by Dr. Edward Levri of Penn State, a snail expert who has studied the New Zealand mud snail exclusively both abroad in the local river basin. Participants learned about this invasive species, what sort of impacts they can have on waterways, why they are so successful in taking over an ecosystem and how to help reduce the spread.

Eleven young people paddled four hours down Penns Creek on Monday, June 10, to wrap up the final scheduled Blue HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) program day for the summer of 2024. 

The group got into some good fishing and witnessed a variety of interesting wildlife, including numerous sightings of a bald eagle, a water snake and much more.

On Sunday, June 9, 2024, 10 graduates of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association's HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing program participated in the next-level Blue HERYN trip down Penns Creek.

The trip included a stop to explore macroinvertebrates and other creatures on the creek bed. Participants found a wide variety of species, including larval forms of mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies as well as crayfish, hellgrammites, water pennies and more.

​Recently, Jay Schofield had the opportunity to volunteer for a unique restoration project at Susquehanna University – building manmade beaver dams.

“We wanted to restore water levels along a fast-moving creek on campus. We cut down invasive trees and built them into dam structures,” Schofield said. “There are no real beavers (involved in this project) – we call ourselves the beavers.”

The project is designed to slow the creek down and reduce sediment loss.

“The project actually effects a very big area. It is just one stream, and there is all this work, but it is so worth it to see the sediment stay where it is supposed to and to observe which of the dams hold up and even from the ones that don’t, learning and figuring out the impact we can have,” Schofield said. “I love creative problem solving and in projects like this, if is much more rewarding than you might think to get involved and be a part of.”

** Please note that the two program days for this are currently full but we are still taking students on a wait list to use as openings become available. 

The popularity of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association's HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing program days and recent development of a Northern Tier Regional Director position has led to a new Northern Tier HERYN program opportunity to be held July 24 and 25 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each day will offer the same program to 20 different participants divided into two 10-person groups each day.

The program will take place at the Sugarbush Pavilion of the Hills Creek State Park near Wellsboro.  The program will contain intro to kayaking and fishing instruction as well as a Plants Hike and Stream Study. 

Participants should be between the ages of 10 and 15 and will be learning the fundamentals of kayaking and fishing, as well as gaining a sense of environmental stewardship through watershed conservation. ​

Twelve graduates from the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing day programs paddled a stretch of Penns Creek on the Union/Snyder county border on Monday, June 3, 2024.

The Blue HERYN half-day sojourns on Penns Creek offers a next-level opportunity to connect young people with our aquatic ecosystem. It includes a stop halfway for the participants to hunt for macroinvertebrates and other life and consider how all levels of the creek habitat work together.

Among the highlights on this trip were sightings of an osprey not far from the group swooping up from the water and a mink running along the bank with a small panfish in its mouth. 

Ten graduates of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association's annual HERYN (Helping Engage our River's Youth with Nature) kayaking and fishing program participated in the next-level Blue HERYN half-day sojourn down Penns Creek on Sunday, June 2, 2024.

The journey started at a small campsite just west of the town of Penns Creek and wrapped up just over three hours later in the town of New Berlin. 

"It is great to see these kids embrace both kayaking and fishing and develop a deeper appreciation for our aquatic ecosystem," said Riverkeeper John Zaktansky. "They got to see everything from bald eagles to smallmouth bass they caught along the way and spent time studying macroinvertebrate life on the bottom of the creek and how it all interconnects. They picked up trash and left the waterway cleaner than they found it, plus we were able to continue relationships started at our original HERYN program and seeing the continuation of that effort leading to an improved collective excitement about protecting our aquatic resources is extremely rewarding."

​​Theadora Duane was so inspired by trips to Ricketts Glen State Park and hiking the trails of the Montour Preserve and her grandfather’s property as a child with her father that the Bloomsburg native started her own environmental club as a third-grader.

“It was just me and my friends picking up trash at recess, but we thought we were so cool,” she said. “We thought we were saving the world.”

From an early age, she assumed it was normal for everyone to similarly appreciate nature as she worked in environmental clubs, hiked and volunteered with different groups.