We make sure your donations matter. Since last year's Raise the Region campaign, money we received helped us achieve the following:
- We were able to mindfully expand our association to adding two Regional Directors in the Northern Tier and West Branch portions of the watershed and are looking to add one in the upper North Branch next.
- Watershed-wide BirdNet project with units that record, ID and upload bird calls that will help us use bird trends to better monitor water quality changes. To our knowledge, we are the first in the world to be doing this sort of work and were featured nationally on this podcast.
- Years worth of legal work with several other agencies on advocacy for the Eastern hellbender, specifically sharing out information about the species from our watershed, led to a federal judge's ruling that requires US Fish and Wildlife to reconsider protections later this year.
- We started a new program of Riverwalks, taking young people on guided adventures along the river and islands to better understand and appreciate aquatic ecology through exploration.
- We expanded our popular HERYN program to introduce more kids than ever to kayaking and fishing instruction, followed each day with discussion about watersheds, pollution and how to make realistic changes at home.
- We educated more than 500 people across nine Floating Classrooms aboard the Hiawatha Paddleboat in Williamsport about a wide range of river-related topics, the largest reach of this program to date and are gearing up for a full program in 2024.
- We created and collaboratively ran a Scout River Ecology Day at the Shikellamy State Park for more than 100 Scouts that picked up trash and then rotated through eight stations about a wide variety of river-related educational topics.
- We held an advocacy and awareness night at a Crosscutters baseball game, held our first Adult Prom aboard the Hiawatha and offered numerous other new ways to engage the public.
- We kicked off a quarterly surface water sampling program in the Montour County area that will continue for at least the next 29 years.
- We helped more homeowners attain clean drinking water via treatment options via a 2021 settlement agreement.
- Last, but not least, we responded to expanded funding concerns surrounding the Montour Preserve, pulling together more than 20 partnering groups to develop the Vernal School Environmental Education Partnership that has since secured additional funding for necessary projects at the preserve to assist the Montour Area Recreation Commission as it maintains the property, reinvigorate programming that will better connect people with nature while inspiring future stewards and lead to better long-term sustainability for the Montour Preserve:
There are a lot of needs specifically for the Vernal School efforts and the Montour Preserve. During Raise the Region, the Vernal School is specifically looking to raise funds towards a Trail Improvement Project that would make a specific section of trail more accessible for people in wheelchairs and strollers to experience sections of Chillisquaque Creek and an observation pond. Donate directly to that cause here.
Who We Are
We strive to clean up and protect 11,000 square miles of watershed carved out by the West and North branches of the Susquehanna River and its many tributaries. Our goal is to re-engage the next generation of potential outdoors lovers and conservationists by providing programs that demonstrate the therapeutic aspects of our many natural resources.