YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Around 1500 middle, high and elementary school students a year attend a field trip to Shank's Mare Outfitters to learn how to keep the Susquehanna River clean.
Suddenly, these trips came to a halt and were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic last spring.
Liz, Steve and Devin Winard didn't stop their mission to educate the public to be stewards of the Susquehanna River.
According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a 2020 water quality report issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 30% of Pennsylvania's 85,000 miles of rivers and streams are impaired for various uses.
Agriculture and polluted runoff and acid mine drainage still contaminate the Susquehanna and the Chesapeake Bay even though the river is making progress under Pennsylvania's Clean Water Blueprint, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Devin Winard, sales/guide at Shank's Mare Outfitters says the business has a mission to educate people and get them outdoors to help clean the environment.
“Getting people out on the water is a good way of giving them that first-hand view of what things like runoff both agriculture and residential runoff, you know can do," said Devin Winard.
Devin Winard says for example if someone becomes accustomed to paddling a certain body of body after several days during a major rain event, they can see the amount of sediment in the water and how the miles of the creek are changing.
The Winard's work with several non-profits including the Lower Susquehanna RiverKeeper, where they help enforce laws to protect the Susquehanna.
"Eliminating plastics and things like that are all really good steps," said Devin Winard. "But it's getting people out be outdoors and helping them create the stewards that they're gonna take those lessons home and spread them."
