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A unique coalition in the central Susquehanna Valley is doing its part to improve the river's health. The Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies (SRHCES), or "The River Group" for short, is a partnership among six colleges and universities situated near the north and west branches of the river, along with state agencies, research centers, and environmental and economic development organizations.

Members of the Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies include representatives from six colleges and universities, as well as a medical center.

Susquehanna University is one of these partners, and a number of faculty and students have been involved with The River Group and its counterpart, the Heartland Humanities Council, which researches the culture of the watershed. Professors from academic disciplines across the campus – from English to history, environmental science to marketing – have lent their expertise to the multifaceted solutions needed to improve the river and the quality of life surrounding it. In return for their expertise, these groups have helped faculty advance their teaching methods and provided students with more research opportunities.

Jack Holt, professor of biology and director of the ecology program, says the affiliation has expanded the student-faculty research offerings that are the hallmark of an undergraduate science education at Susquehanna.

"We're not doing second-rate undergraduate research," adds Carlos Iudica, assistant professor of biology. "There's no such thing. We don't do research for students and research for ourselves. Our students actually work in the field doing the work the same way we would do it."

Catherine Hastings, associate professor of communications, had already begun documenting the lives of black pioneer settlers in the Central Susquehanna Valley when she was asked to join the Humanities Council. Her research has become a valuable addition to the group's store of historical information. She was aided in her research by Terence Thomas '06, a black student from Milton – a central Pennsylvania town that has had a stable middle-class black population since its founding.

"Terence was a work study student in the Department of Communications, and he spent many long days in the attic of the Milton Public Library reading every Milton newspaper from 1817 through the Civil War, all on microfilm. He got quite a feel for his hometown's earliest days and for the attitudes that prevailed just before the war," Hastings says.

Participants in the Susquehanna Roots Project during the fall 2004 semester included, left to right, back row: Associate Professor of Communications Catherine Hastings, Akeem Charles '06 and Director of Multicultural Affairs Brian Johnson; front row: Terence Thomas '06 and Skyra Blanchard '05.

The fruit of their efforts was the Milton Roots Project. It created a ripple effect on campus, resulting in the creation of the Susquehanna Roots Project, designed to help black students do genealogical research and write their family histories. "We want them to see themselves as part of a larger tapestry of black history, and it's more fun to learn about history when you can see the effect it's had on you, your family and your hometown," Hastings says.

The Humanities Council works in much the same way. "The group wants to recover the history of the human connections to the river and the role the river plays in shaping the lives of individuals and communities that line it," says J. Andrew Hubbell, associate professor of English. "These connections are in the stories – fiction and nonfiction, written and oral – that the people of the river have developed over the centuries. Whether the river is a destructive force or a productive force in these stories, what they represent is the way the river has made us who we are, from our music and art, to our traditions of fishing and boating, to our economies and the configuration of our settlements."

"Students who study the stories of the river are studying the way environment shapes culture. In that way, the river has value even beyond being a natural resource," he says.

The river also provides students with a deeper understanding of how culture shapes the environment. Selinsgrove native Mike Bilger, an environmental scientist who has worked for such government agencies as the USGS and the EPA, has spent his life monitoring the misuse of waterways. Bilger, who is a member of The River Group, now works for the Pennsylvania office of EcoAnalysts in downtown Selinsgrove.

"The old adage of 'we all live downstream' is as true as ever. As long as we fail to improve the water quality of the largest freshwater source to the bay, how can things improve?" he asks.

"When I see abuses to the ecology of the river through point- and nonpoint source pollution, I often wonder whether those responsible really understand the severity of the impacts, not just to the plants and animals, but to the adverse societal changes within the entire Susquehanna watershed."

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