Outreach
The third component the Susquehanna River Initiative’s vision is OUTREACH.

• Outreach and interaction between science and environmental policy
• Workshops focusing on applied watershed science such as stream restoration, contaminant remediation, and land-use impacts.
• Host conferences and workshops on watershed science and environmental humanities

The flagship conference is the annual Susquehanna River Conference, held each September on the campus of Bucknell. In 2008 the focus will be agriculture and the river.

Featured Project
Scientists from the center are gathering baseline data for Buffalo Creek Watershed (a local tributary to the Susquehanna River) on the hydrology, sediment transport, climate, geomorphic history, land use impacts, and implications for stream restoration. We’re working in cooperation with the Buffalo Creek Watershed Alliance.

This research is showing that streams in this watershed continue to adjust to land use changes (logging and agriculture) that have occurred over the past 150 years in this region. Channels are actively eroding and depositing sediment in response to deforestation during the 1800s and reforestation since the 1920s. As a result, sediment storage and transport through the channel network is complex and dynamic. Generalized engineering design and stream restoration projects often fail when these complex fluvial processes are poorly documented and understood.

We’re interacting with multiple watershed groups and environmental planners through teaching, providing expertise in fluvial geomorphology, hydrology, and stream restoration.