The Confluence: Focus on our Speakers

There will be a panel highlighting how watersheds are helping watersheds through coalitions and mentoring.  Speakers include John Wenzel of the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, Tali MacArthur of the Pennsylvania Organization of Watersheds and Rivers, and leaders from the Washington County Watershed Alliance, and West Virginia Rivers.  This panel will also solicit good governance and resource sharing ideas and recommendations to streamline the work of volunteer stream stewards through good governance.

Most of the day will be for attendees to directly engage in activities of monitoring, learning, and sharing that can be taken back to local watersheds throughout the Upper Ohio River Basin.

A selection of activities include:

For instance, the artist group, Creative for the Climate, will have their climate playground kit of activities

  • The Shenango Climate and Rural Environmental Study Team (SCREST) will have their “Climate Cards” and demonstrate them as a tool to learn more about and spark conversation about climate change across the Basin;
  • The Creatives for the Climate will bring the Climate Playground kit of activities for kids and their adults to directly engage with what impacts watersheds and streams.
  • The Washington County Conservation District and the Penn State Watershed Steward Program will lead a Macroinvertebrate hike to the adjacent stream, and the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, and the Blacklick Creek Watershed Association will provide microscopes to view specimans.
  • The Izaac Walton League, Harry Enstrom Chapter, will have saline and nutrient test kits and leaders to demonstrate how to use them. 
  • A “Hall of Knowledge” of programs, funding, and stream assessment tools such as Keep PA Beautiful Waterway Stewards and West Virginia’s Stream Partners programs; and,
  • The Water Network itself will share and demonstrate its visual Watershed Directory
  • Information on the Ohio River Restoration Plan and the Basin Alliance’s upcoming Summit in Pittsburgh at the end of October and other organizing events scheduled for early 2025.
Speaker