As per the guidelines for having an academic internship at King’s College, student interns must come up with objectives to reach by the end of their internship. The goals that Carolyn set for herself were as follows:

1. Perform 10 North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NAACC) culvert assessments to determine ease of fish passage through aquatic infrastructure
2. Use a flow meter or a bucket to determine flow rate at 10 sites affected by abandoned mine drainage (AMD)
3. Use a YSI meter for water quality and perform a field titration for pH at 10 sites affected by AMD
4. Use a photometer to determine the turbidity and concentrations of calcium carbonate (alkalinity), aluminum, iron, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate in samples of water from 3 sites affected by AMD
5. Collect 10 different species of macroinvertebrate specimens for educational use 
6. Foster community involvement and education through overseeing 5 volunteer opportunities, educational events, or workshops hosted by EPCAMR

Generally speaking, these objectives aimed to help Carolyn familiarize herself with the tools and tests done during monthly AMD sampling, help her work towards getting certified as a NAACC Lead Observer for field culvert assessments, and be able to better promote and represent EPCAMR at community events.

Carolyn posing in her waders while holding a stadia rod on her first day of culvert assessments this past summer.

By the end of her internship, Carolyn had successfully completed and even exceeded some of these objectives. Her most notable achievements were that she helped facilitate 9 events rather than only 5, and completed 15 culvert assessments rather than just 10, which brings her close to the 20 assessments needed to become certified as a NAACC Lead Observer. 

For the final project of her internship, Carolyn took Dr. Brian Mangan’s Water Quality Analysis class of King’s College students out in the field to show them some of the culverts she helped assess. She demonstrated to the students how routine maintenance of culverts is essential, using the example of one set of culverts which were so obstructed by tree branches that they trapped more water than they transported.

The inlet (left) and outlet (right) of the set of culverts that Carolyn showed to the students. Note the extreme difference in the height of the water in the two photos and woody debris blockage at the inlet culverts along Shickshinny Valley Road on Little Shickshinny Creek.

Carolyn expressed her thoughts on returning to work with EPCAMR, saying “I’m glad to be back. I’ve ‘returned’ to EPCAMR a few times now, but I know I’ll keep coming back to do my federal work-study with EPCAMR in future semesters. This organization is essential to the community and I’m glad to be a part of it. I can’t wait to see where this organization will take me and how much more I can learn from the team at EPCAMR.”

Recently, Carolyn joined EPCAMR in the collection of AMD samples from several sites, some sites near EPCAMR’s office in northeastern Pennsylvania and other sites in southeastern Pennsylvania. She then went with EPCAMR to deliver the samples to a partner from the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, who will test the AMD samples to determine their content of rare earth elements. The outcome of research on rare earth elements in AMD may be revolutionary for the abandoned mine land reclamation industry, having the potential to drive greater efforts for treating AMD while extracting rare earth elements.

Carolyn sampling AMD from the Mary D discharge treatment system that flows into the Schuylkill River to deliver to the University of Pennsylvania for rare earth elements analysis.

In the coming months, Carolyn will be working on several different projects, such as a draft of the Coldwater Heritage Plan for Shickshinny Creek, which is Carolyn’s hometown watershed. Carolyn also continues to be highly involved in EPCAMR’s routine AMD sampling at sites in the Nanticoke and Loyalsock Creek watersheds. She hopes to complete her final 5 culvert assessments to become certified as a NAACC Lead Observer this Fall and expects to participate in a few illegal dump site cleanups of tires and trash.

Bobby stated, “It’s great to have Carolyn back with us again this Fall. She has seen the value of obtaining an internship early and often and as a returning intern, she keeps building on to her skill sets, adding additional training under her belt, gets to explore new watersheds, and be a major part of our small team here that has fun at work and gets to learn about even more watershed efforts of EPCAMR and our community partners. She loves nature, bugs, moths, butterflies, and critters of the creek. How could I not bring her back? She’s really smart, soft-spoken, listens to my storytelling adventures and random rambling on our field investigations calling out tree species, wildflower species, birds, frogs, and describing numerous AMD treatment system types from around the region. She has great ambition, shows tremendous initiative, and helps us out anyway that she can and is asked to by members of the Staff. I’m sure her parents are very proud of her. She’s getting a very immersive experience and the Community Based Work Study Program allows her to participate in the internship with the guidance and mentorship of Kelly Gibbons, at King’s College.”

The post Carolyn M. Phillips Returns as a Work-Study Intern for the Fall Semester appeared first on epcamr.org.

Jakob with a fully grown adult Northern saw-whet owl during a banding survey (Aegolius acadicus).

Joining us on September 28th as an AmeriCorps Member working with Conservation Legacy Stewards Individual Placements, is Jakob Snipes. He is from Scott Township, Lackawanna County, just outside the Northern Anthracite Coalfields, in the Lackawanna Valley. Jakob graduated from Keystone College on May 16th with a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology. Jakob was in the Eco Club where he found many volunteer opportunities such as Hellbender surveying, song bird banding, and northern saw-whet owl banding.

From the Club he even got an internship for the summer working for Lackawanna County Parks and Recreation where they were taught to maintain the quality of the parks under the department and the Lackawanna  Heritage Valley trail. While working on the trail they would work to clean the trail while fighting back against invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) and Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycorma delicatula). During his final days working for the County, Jakob went on the Lackawanna coal mine tour in McDade Park, Scranton, where he was given a crash course in the history on Anthracite coal mining and the legacy of what it has done to the landscapes and waterways surrounding nearly 474 square miles of northeastern PA.

Jakob (right) working with Morgan (left) doing a culvert survey and measuring the average wetted width of the stream channel in the Shickshinny watershed on Shickshinny Creek on the Kittleson property.

Jakob originally joined EPCAMR as a volunteer in the Spring of 2025, attending illegal dumpsite cleanups and doing culvert surveys, but will now be working with EPCAMR for 10 weeks, thanks to the AmeriCorps program, which fully funded his position with his host site at EPCAMR, supervised by Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director. Jakob is already certified in Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) through his earlier volunteer experiences with EPCAMR that was completed online for free with the NAACC. While he was a volunteer, he got to experience all that the Shickshinny watershed had to offer by doing culvert surveys, macro-invertebrate studies, and water quality sampling and everything EPCAMR was trying to do to restore stream health from mine drainage pollution and abandoned mine land degradation on State Game Lands 260 in the Shickshinny area, as well as stormwater runoff and streambank degradation from episodic flooding within the watershed and a number of tributary creeks. 

Bobby stated, ” It’s great to have Jakob back with us for the Fall to give him some additional field experience and to pick up where he left off as a volunteer with us over the last year. He’s been in and out of a number of watersheds with us already and is familiar with our work. It won’t take long to give him a refresher on the field work sampling and to get him caught up on our newer projects that we are working on. I can appreciate his love of nature and wildlife, especially birds of prey, since we see all kinds of birds, owls, turkey vultures, osprey, American black ducks, mallards, Great blue herons, and even American Bald Eagles on our field excursions, in addition to songbirds on the abandoned mine lands that are reclaimed and red-winged black birds at AMD treatment systems we visit. I’m thinking he will be able to do an educational article or two on his familiarity with wildlife and tie it in to our reclamation and restoration work while he’s with us.”

Jakob, along with Carolyn Phillips, a returning intern from King’s College, will have plenty of projects to keep them busy with assisting us in our work. Look for another feature article on her in our news section. We also will see the return of Ian Padden, our Wilkes University, Bonner Leader Program volunteer intern, who just finished a Summer State and National volunteer position with EPCAMR.

The post EPCAMR Welcomes Jakob Snipes as our Fall AmeriCorps State & National Volunteer Watershed Outreach Specialist through Conservation Legacy and Stewards Individual Placement appeared first on epcamr.org.

In 1997 the Susquehanna was designated an “American Heritage River” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; an initiative that aimed to represent a diverse group of waterways in need of, or revitalized examples of, environmental restoration, cultural protection, and economic revitalization. The environmental nonprofit American Rivers named the Susquehanna the year’s “Most Endangered River” in 2005, and “#3 Most Endangered River” in 2016. This designation is in part due to the excessive amounts of pollution the river receives.

Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) impacts both branches of the Susquehanna River along their entire lengths. The Main Bituminous Coalfields (soft coal) drain polluted water to the west branch, and the Anthracite Coalfields (hard coal) drain polluted water to the eastern portion of the river basin. In Pennsylvania, AMD is the second highest cause of water pollution, behind only agricultural runoff. Only 30% of streams in the Susquehanna basin demonstrate the natural hydrological and ecological qualities of a healthy stream. Many outside of this 30% have been declared “biologically dead” as they support no aquatic life due to the level of pollution in the water.

Old Forge Borehole AMD picture as it flows into the Lackawanna River.

Aquatic organisms are only the “canary in the coal mine” in this situation. In addition to impacting alkalinity, which on either extreme of the spectrum will harm aquatic life, AMD releases sediments, dissolved metals, and unfriendly gasses. Released gasses, like CO2 and methane, attract mosquitoes which can cause further harm to organisms in the nearby environment. Sediments and dissolved metals such as aluminum clog the gills of organisms living in the polluted waters and can eventually drive these organisms out of the ecosystem. Downstream effects include the leaching of these dissolved metals (think lead, manganese, iron) into groundwater supplies, which are used for municipal drinking water. American Water Works Association raises awareness of impaired groundwater with Source Water Protection Week. This year, it begins on World Rivers Day!

Treatment of Abandoned Mine Lands takes years, millions of dollars, and continued maintenance efforts. Simply “waiting it out”, i.e. waiting for the underground pollutants to deplete, would likely take hundreds of years. Treatment of AMD runoff involves raising or lowering the pH (alkalinity) of the water and removing heavy metals to allow the waterway to return to a state that can again support aquatic life and natural biological processes.

Read about the professional services and technical assistance that EPCAMR provides across PA and our region impacted by AMD and abandoned mine lands in our EPCAMR presentation folder. You can also find out more about our work in our latest EPCAMR brochure 2026.

Learn more about AMD Treatment Systems here, or visit the “Fact Sheets” section of epcamr.org!

The post For World Rivers Day: Cleaning Up and Restoring AMD for the Susquehanna appeared first on epcamr.org.

The event was held at Sand Springs Resort, who did a magnificent job of setting up the venue. The food was excellent. The beer selection on tap was great, which included EPCAMR’s very own beer label, thanks to a partnership between Coal Creative and Groove Brewing in Scranton, called a Coal Dust Blonde Summer Stout. It tasted delicious. Shout out to Gerard Durling from Coal Creative and Ed Genovese-Brew Master from Groove Brewing for making it happen. 

Our sponsors really came through for us. See the list on our and in the EPCAMR Banquet Program (Final). 

We had some great acoustic dinner music provided by JD Ashford, from JD Ashford Arts, who doubled as a photographer for us for the evening, and is the grandson of John “Chief” Sedeski, who has since passed on, but was an integral member of the Stanley Cooper Chapter of Trout Unlimited that historically had a fish hatchery in the Bowman’s Creek watershed.

It is one of the watersheds that had been impacted by legacy acid deposition from coal fired plants in Western PA and the Ohio River Valley. JD, Bobby, and Dr. Joe Simons III, are all still members of the chapter and recall working closely with John nearly 30 years ago on monitoring in the watershed. Today, a Bowman’s Creek revival is happening and we are all working in partnership on continued monitoring and completion of a Coldwater Conservation Heritage Plan for the watershed that was initially assessed by EPCAMR back in 1998, when the now dissolved Bowman’s Creek Watershed Association was formed to address issues in the watershed. The effort is being led by Angie Tuttle, an active volunteer with EPCAMR, who wears many hats in the watershed and is an outstanding conservationist with roots in the Noxen area of Wyoming County. The Luzerne Conservation District, Wyoming County Conservation District, PA Game Commission NE Region, private landowners from the former South Mountain Land Association, municipalities in the watershed, and other partners are all in it together. 

Bobby gave the opening remarks and his speech which gave an overview of the past 30 years; where we’ve come from, how we got there, and where EPCAMR is going.

Before his talk, he asked everyone to bow their heads in a moment of silence for our EPCAMR Board Members that had passed away.

Our oldest former Board Member, Paul Lohin from the Schuylkill Headwaters Association, was in attendance at the age of 92.

It was a heartfelt speech that showed his passion and dedication to the organization and the region as a regional and sometimes national leader for the Coalition. Bobby credited his staff and the board for a lot of the behind the scenes work. His reflective and chronological highlights of the last 30 years speech can be found Bobby’s Opening Remarks Speech. 

Dr. Joe Simons, III, President of EPCAMR gave his remarks on the importance of EPCAMR’s work in the region. Watch a video of his speech below.

Dr. Simons then presented our Keynote Speaker, Dave Hess, former Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection and owner of PA Environment News LLC, with the inaugural “2026 Elevating the Environment Award” for his decades of support of EPCAMR in the media and on the PA Environment Digest. His speech was extemporaneous! He talked about the awakening that we are in right now and that organizations like EPCAMR are needed now more than ever. 

View Dave’s speech, on his blog, here.

Joshua Coleman, from Kings Raising Queens LLC, posted a very nice reflective recap of his impression of the evening that can be found on his social media page. 

Two of Bobby and Mike’s earliest mentors and past Presidents, Ed Wytovich and Bernie McGurl, were in attendance to share in the festivities and walk down memory lane. 

Bobby’s wife, Tara put together a little video clip of some candid photos from the event to music while his youngest son Ethan, who always helps his Dad with cleanups, was styling and profiling at the event. Bobby also gave an initial recap of how grateful he is to be the Executive Director and what it meant to him to watch the evening unfold on his social media page. 

In addition to a slideshow with 30 years of EPCAMR photos, we displayed our trout puppets, Brooky and Rainbow, some iron oxide chalk, our EPCAMR portfolio materials, and dozens of 3D printed commemorative 30 year EPCAMR magnets.

A treasured Board Member of ours, Dr. Andrea Nerozzi, created a wonderful 8″ x 8″ piece of art with iron oxide incorporated into a stream scene of a native brook trout rising for a fly on the water. Contact us if you would like a print!

We express sincere thanks to every one of our Coalition supporters for helping us fulfill our mission of reclaiming abandoned mine lands and restoring waterways impacted by AMD in PA. Here’s to the next 30 years!

See a small photo gallery by the Citizens’ Voice and Hazleton Standard Speaker. Want to see photos from our slideshow and more taken at the dinner? Click the link to our shared folder here.

The post EPCAMR’s 30th Anniversary Showcased Hope and Hard Work across the Anthracite & Northern Bituminous Coal Regions on Reclaiming Legacy Abandoned Mine Lands & Mine Water Pollution appeared first on epcamr.org.

Joining us on September 8, 2026 as an AmeriCorps VISTA, in partnership with Conservation Legacy Stewards Individual Placements, is Kali Mellin. Kali is an anthracite region local, having been born and raised in Jermyn, Pennsylvania. A graduate of West Chester University of Pennsylvania in December of 2021, Kali holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in STEM-H (the H stands for Humanities!). Her degree comes with three minors: Biology, Geography, and Science Education. She also holds a Certificate in Desktop GIS from Pace University as of 2025. Kali will serve as a Stewards VISTA: Digital Mobilization Coordinator for a one year term with the goal of building capacity for EPCAMR to expand their education and awareness efforts in relation to abandoned mine lands reclamation, watershed assessments, and abandoned mine drainage (AMD) monitoring of flows, chemistry, and macroinvertebrate populations and stream health around the EPCAMR Region. Storytelling about our work and building databases of regional artists that we’re looking to pull together in the future to utilize our iron oxide pigment to create enough pieces of work to hold an Art Show highlighting the various mediums used for art will are just two examples of service work that are in her Volunteer Activity Description (VAD).

Graphic by Kali Mellin. A rundown on how her position falls under all of these different organizations at one time.

EPCAMR actively works toward the reclamation and redevelopment of land affected by past mining practices. This includes reducing environmental hazards to health and safety and returning land affected by past mining practices to productive use, thereby improving the economy and livelihoods of those living in the region.

EPCAMR’s current initiatives include, but are not limited to, illegal dump site cleanups (with tire recycling!), Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful “Open Your Eyes to Litter” Program for elementary students, participation in Trout in the Classroom through a partnership with PA Fish and Boat Commission and PA Council of Trout Unlimited, and water quality monitoring programs such as that at the Rocky Run Headwaters in State Game Lands 260.

Clip originally from The Times-Tribune, October 2009. Scan courtesy of Scranton Public Library.

Kali’s first impression of EPCAMR was in October of 2009 when they attended Lakeland Elementary’s “Water Festival” and introduced 4th grade students to AMD with iron oxide tie-dye. She was re-introduced during the pandemic year of 2020 through a Facebook post from PA Environment Digest, then followed EPCAMR’s Facebook page to keep up with the great work they were doing locally with hopes to get involved. Building a career in an environmental field has been the natural progression of Kali’s life; she grew up in Pennsylvania’s forests, streams, and ponds getting dirty and, most importantly, asking questions. Most recently her education has continued through volunteering as a Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward and substitute teaching at her local high school. Both opportunities have offered a wealth of experiences to “teach the teacher”! Kali considers her insatiable thirst for knowledge a main personality trait.

“I’m looking forward to assisting EPCAMR in serving my community by participating in education and outreach and building capacity by creating, improving, and expanding the reach of EPCAMR’s educational and informational materials” says Kali. “This opportunity allows me to use my strengths in research and organization combined with my passion for improving environmental literacy to serve my community in a way that can cause great impact.”

Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director went on to say, “I just love finding out that there are students that still remember pivotal core memories of working with us over the last 3 decades when we had conducted an outdoor environmental meaningful watershed experience when they were in elementary or high school and come to find that they continued to have a passion for the environment as they got older. Knowing that Kali was a part of a program that we ran 17 years ago is heartwarming and makes me feel very proud and happy to know that she’s found a way back to EPCAMR in this capacity as an AmeriCorps with us. She’s a coaltown kid herself. She can relate. She’s lived it and is still living with the legacy and now gets to play an active role in helping us to address these environmental issues within our most underserved communities by helping us build capacity, provide environmental education opportunities, and encourage environmental stewardship of our youth, much like I did for her when she was younger at Lakeland Elementary as a part of the Watershed Festival. She’s a natural teacher and I can see that already in her. I told her she has the same name as my only granddaughter, except she spells it with a C and not a K, and she has a lot more sass to her at the ripe old age of 6, and she gives my oldest and only daughter, Hayley, a run for her money. I’m looking forward to her service term with us over the next year and am excited that she’s hear with us. She’s off to a great start and has already become certified in our NAACC Stream Continuity Aquatic Organism Passage training program for when we go out and assess culverts and bridges for aquatic passage as a part of our development of coldwater conservation plans.”

Formed in 1995 by concerned conservation districts, EPCAMR represents a coalition of watershed organizations and reclamation partners. Members range from individuals to the active anthracite mining industry and co-generation power plants, to non-profit organizations, 16 county conservation districts, and other organizations in the anthracite and bituminous coal region of eastern Pennsylvania that are involved with abandoned mine reclamation issues. Counties covered by EPCAMR in Northeastern and North Central PA include: Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne, and Wyoming. As of the last census (2020), the population we serve equates to approximately 1.7 million people. 

The post EPCAMR Brings on Kali Mellin as AmeriCorps VISTA Digital Mobilization Coordinator through Conservation Legacy and Stewards Individual Placement appeared first on epcamr.org.

This means Pennsylvania must increase our energy supply to keep costs down – and the
cheapest and fastest type of energy to deploy is renewable energy, namely solar and energy
efficiency measures.

Many households that go solar or use energy efficient measures save hundreds to even
thousands of dollars a year – and organizations that consume a lot of energy can save tens of
thousands a year or more.

Our Executive Director, Bobby Hughes, is a volunteer with Energy Independence for Pennsylvania and has been writing Op-Eds and been posting information to various social media groups to talk about Solar Energy in PA. We’ve done a lot of research on assessing solar suitability for abandoned mine lands. See our Assessment Report co-authored and written by LaBella Associates and EPCAMR back in 2024.

We are presenting and giving the Energy Independence for PA Presentation to our EPCAMR Board Members for their review and further digestion after the meeting on August 20th, 2026, so that they can take it back to their communities and see if it’s something that might be of interest to their members of the community groups, watershed associations, and Conservation Districts that many of them represent. Check out the Energy Independence for PA website for resources and ways that you might be able to save money for you and your families as homeowners and for businesses and non-profits.  

The post Energy Independence in PA! What’s it going to take? Can Solar be a Major Player in the Clean Alternative Energy Mix? appeared first on epcamr.org.

Carolyn assisted with the AMD Sampling with the EPCAMR Staff in the Loyalsock Creek Watershed.

EC worked with the King’s College Office of Career Planning to offer King’s students the opportunity to apply for one of two EC Summer 2026 Scholarships. This EC scholarship allows King’s students to gain hands-on experience through an internship which aligns with EC’s mission. Furthermore, the work that students do in this internship counts for three college credits, funded by the scholarship, which helps students work towards earning their degrees. Carolyn has been selected as a recipient of the Earth Conservancy Summer 2026 Scholarship and has chosen to return to work with EPCAMR for this internship opportunity.  You can read about Carolyn’s initial time with EPCAMR in this previous news article. 

Carolyn tells us, “I’m so honored that I was selected as a recipient of this amazing scholarship! I never would have expected that such an opportunity would have been made possible for me so early in my college career. Without this internship, I would have needed to wait until the fall semester of college to return to work with EPCAMR as a Community-Based Federal Work Study student intern. I would have missed getting involved with all the sampling and monitoring that EPCAMR does throughout the summer, which I’ve really wanted to be a part of! Now, thanks to Earth Conservancy, I can focus on getting out in the field without worrying about falling behind with course work!” 

“I really like how this internship is run differently from my other college courses. There are virtually no assignments, except for updating my supervising professor, Dr. Brian Mangan, on my tasks and activities each week. Instead of me taking a midterm and final exam, Bobby has to complete a midterm and final assessment of the quality of my work. It’s more like I’m giving him homework! I’ll have to work hard so that he has only good things to say about me!” Carolyn joked. 

Carolyn organized the Holy Cross Day of Service EPCAMR AMD Tie-Dye Activity on Campus in Wilkes-Barre just before the Spring Semester came to an end with Bobby and Maria.

Carolyn mentioned, “In all seriousness, I’m very grateful to have been chosen for this opportunity. There are a lot of people who helped me secure this internship. Dr. Brian Mangan, who is the Director of the Environmental Program at King’s and my supervising professor for this internship, informed me of the opportunity and encouraged me to apply. I am so thankful for his unwavering support. The Office of Career Planning was extremely helpful in the application process, answering any and all questions I had. They were also partly responsible for deciding which students would be awarded the scholarship, so I’m grateful they chose me. EPCAMR has my gratitude for welcoming me back so soon after I finished this semester’s Community-Based Federal Work Study with them. I look forward to continuing to be a part of the EPCAMR team! And finally, a big thank you to Earth Conservancy, who proposed and funded this scholarship. This scholarship truly reflects their efforts to increase involvement in similar causes to their own.”

Carolyn attended the Schuylkill River Watershed Congress at Alvernia College in Reading to be a Room Facilitator, along with Maria, while Bobby was there to present.

Bobby stated, “Carolyn has been a valuable member of the EPCAMR team through her involvement in the Community-Based Federal Work Study Program. It is very beneficial to us, since we often do not have the funds to create paid internships, unless grant funds are budgeted and can be allocated to support the internship positions. The students are paid through the Work Study Program, I serve as their Supervisor and Mentor, and they follow our activity description of tasks and work projects that we are currently working on during the time that they are with us. She will continue to get lots of hands-on learning and applied science activities during her internship over the next 12 weeks. This scholarship from Earth Conservancy is wonderful for her and for us. They have been a very strong advocate and supporter of our work over our entire time we’ve existed and we’ve been a part of their work in many capacities and still are. Carolyn already works very well with the rest of the Staff and our community volunteers and has already gained a lot of knowledge on the work that we do in the region to assess and restore our watersheds impacted by legacy AMD. She’s been very instrumental in helping to categorize my Google Contacts list to help EPCAMR target reaching out to vendors and partners of ours to invite them to attend our Fall 30th Anniversary Banquet and Dinner/Reception to celebrate this amazing milestone of ours. That’s no easy task with over 7000 contacts to be sorted and labeled,” Bobby joked.

Carolyn lives in Shickshinny, at the southern part of the Wyoming Valley, where we are working on completing a Coldwater Conservation Plan for the Shickshinny Creek, Rocky Run, and Paddy Run watersheds. She’s familiar with the area and is currently reaching out to the Shickshinny Historical Society and Museum’s Director, Jimmy Bach, to research any historical mine maps of the area that EPCAMR can scan and utilize in our report. Jimmy has an amazing YouTube collection on the site and his History with Jimmy videos are great! We’ve offered to scan the maps for Jim and provide them to him digitally for allowing us to borrow the maps and scan them to get them into our report and possibly into the Mine Subsidence Insurance’s (MSI) Mine Map Atlas and PA Historical Underground Mine Map Inventory System (PHUMMIS). We will be scheduling some days in June for additional stream and culvert assessments in both the Shickshinny Creek and following up with our partners in the Bowman’s Creek watershed too! Welcome back Carolyn! 

The post Carolyn M. Phillips, returns to EPCAMR, sponsored by an Earth Conservancy Summer 2026Scholarship appeared first on epcamr.org.

Discarded vehicle tires. Construction debris. Fast food bags. Plastic drinks. Aluminum cans. Did we mention that these are mostly recyclable products? Old mattresses and other household junk. Ugh!

Getting rid of the messes – whether strewn on a grassy stream bank or across abandoned mine lands – should be a high priority, because the debris can lead to many problems, including water and soil contamination, diseases that harm people, even environmental catastrophes. Illegal dumping, for example, has been blamed for sparking or contributing to certain underground coal mine fires, like Centralia.

That’s why the nonprofit organization where I serve as Executive Director gets so involved in organizing cleanups and advocating for changes, not only in attitudes and behaviors, but also to state laws.

For 30 years, the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) near Wilkes-Barre has consistently teamed with project partners and volunteers in the region’s coal communities to improve landscapes and lives. This year is no different.

During April – recognized as Earth Month – EPCAMR was especially active in bringing increased attention to illegal dumping and its harms. Here’s a bit of what did.

EPCAMR organized a community forum titled “Illegal Dumping: Let’s Talk Trash and Tires,” featuring guest speakers from dozens of organizations including Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau and the North Branch Land Trust. The event on April 11 at Luzerne County Community College allowed for a great exchange of information about illegal dumping enforcement and prevention initiatives.

Bobby providing an overview of the EPCAMR Regional Community Assessment on Illegal Dumping of Tires and Trash at LCCC for the Illegal Dumping: Let’s Talk Trash & Tires Educational Forum on April 11 coordinated by EPCAMR and hosted by LCCC.

Presentations that were made are included here for you to download and see what was discussed and talked about in great detail with a tremendous amount of positive energy and questions and answers from our speakers as well as our audience in attendance.

EPCAMR x KPB Community Assessment.pptx

Hanover_PD_Lets Talk Trash & TIRES.pptx

Columbia_County_Recycling_4-11-26 .pptx

Illegal Dumping Sierra Club Pre_ByMuncie

MDC EPCAMR Forum Presentation_4.11.26 v2.pptx

Open Your Eyes to Litter presentation.pptx

Illegal dumping_NEPAPAC.pptx

Bloomsburg_Community_Creek_Cleanup

PennEnviroScreen and illegal dumping.pptx

KPB_epcamr.pptx.pdf

EPCAMR and its partners scheduled several trash cleanups, the first of which was held on April 18 along Tomhicken Road in Black Creek Township. 35 EPCAMR volunteers and volunteers from the Friends of the Nescopeck Creek watershed association, successfully removed an estimated 175 bags of garbage (4.375 T), 150 diet iced tea gallon jugs (last year there were 53 jugs), and 60 vehicle tires from the watershed.

Ice T jugs being counted before being disposed of and emptied.

Ethan Hughes, Bobby’s son, did a little dance after picking up the last of the 150 Iced T jugs.

What a great day we had today along the Black Creek in lower Luzerne County with our partners on our Tomhicken Road Roadside Cleanup.

Special thanks to Marie Welsh, a 50 year community volunteer from Sugarloaf Township, who reached out to us to help her continue the cleanup efforts in her community. She’s into her 70s now, and her mobility isn’t what it used to be since her surgery. * made her an honorary EPCAMR volunteer and provided her with a VOLUNTEER safety EPCAMR T-shirt today! She even donated towards the pizza and hoagie lunch today along with the Maylath’s Farm.

Bobby providing Marie Welsh with an Honorary EPCAMR Volunteer T-shirt for her 50 years of service in cleaning up her community in the Sugarloaf Township and Black Creek Township areas.

Black Creek Twp. Supervisors and Road Department and Sugarloaf Township were willing to pick up the trash. Mumaw’s Garage picked up all the trash and centrally located it at the Black Creek Township Municipal Building.

Mumaw’s Garage out of Nuremburg donated the use of their flatbed to pick up all of the trash, scrap and tires for the event.

Thanks to Clint for making the pizzas and the hoagies!

Friends of the Nescopeck volunteers showed up as well and helped with the coordination.

Friends of the Nescopeck Creek watershed volunteers picking up some roadside litter along Tomhicken Road.

Luzerne County Community Action Coalition-LCCAC assisted too!

Bobby and Annie from the LCCAC, getting the job done along Tomhicken Road.

Keystone job corps did a great job in helping out as well.

Keystone Job Center Volunteer Crew walking along the guardrail below the Coal Mine Road on the bend near Yamulla’s property.

Many previous EPCAMR volunteers joined us as well and we welcomed many new ones today who recieved a free EPCAMR VOLUNTEER safety T-shirt for joining us.

Chris O’Rourke, long-time EPCAMR Volunteer brought his neighbor and friend Lucas Warman to the cleanup who is excited about future cleanups now.

There are a few stretches remaining that have very thin road shoulders that remain to be cleaned up that had limited parking just south of the village of Tomhicken. That section will have to wait for another day. However, anyone driving the entire length of this road should see a very recognizable difference along the roadside and along the Black Creek.

After the cleanup, the majority of the 10 miles of Tomhicken Road looked this clean and green!

Additional cleanups are planned later this year in Hanover Township, Ashley, Pittston, the headwaters of Nanticoke Creek off Holly Street, Columbia County in the Catawissa Creek watershed, and along Snake Road, and possibly other communities. Volunteers are welcomed. For details on upcoming events, watch EPCAMR’s Facebook page.

EPCAMR Volunteers graphic

During April, EPCAMR officially became an affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful – the state’s top antilittering organization. Our organization had long been a supporter of this program, promoting its activities and helpful resources as well as reporting the results of our cleanups (such as the number of vehicle tires collected and pounds of other trash removed) for its database. Our new status as an affiliate will strengthen that relationship and increase EPCAMR’s ability to support cleanup activities in these four counties: Carbon, Columbia, Northumberland and Sullivan.

EPCAMR will continue to collaborate with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s other affiliates across the region, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s NE regional office in Luzerne County, to hold cleanup events and spruce up public spaces.

To be clear, EPCAMR was not established as a nonprofit for the purpose of organizing and conducting litter cleanups. Instead, EPCAMR was founded to promote the reclamation of the region’s abandoned mine lands and to prevent the polluted water that pours out of old coal mines from spoiling our creeks and rivers. However, our EPCAMR employees often discover while performing their clean-water projects in the field that abandoned mine lands and sensitive watershed areas are being abused by dumpers. So, our organization takes on the additional responsibility of combatting litter.

We rely on financial support to pay for related costs such as trash receptable rentals and tire recycling fees. The Amazon Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Fund and the Greenlight Project are two grant-making entities that recently provided funding to support some of our 2026 cleanup projects.

Businesses and individuals like you can help to expand EPCAMR’s cleanup efforts by donating items such as bottled water, pizza and snacks to fuel our event volunteers. Or send a financial contribution.

Collectively, we can rid our local landscapes of illegal dumps and other eyesores that detract from the natural beauty of Northeast Pennsylvania’s forests, fields and streamsides.

The post EPCAMR Takes Aim at Litter, Illegal Dumping in Coal Region Watersheds and Becomes A Keep PA Beautiful Affilliate! appeared first on epcamr.org.

5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
────
Sand Springs
10 Clubhouse Dr., Drums, PA 18222

The former Harry E. Breaker Waste Coal Site converted into greenspace for extension of youth ballfields in Swoyersville, PA.

Join the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) in celebrating its 30th anniversary!

EPCAMR staff, members, and the public are invited to attend a banquet highlighting the organization’s accomplishments over the years. Dinner and a cash bar will be provided.

Registration is OPEN at the EPCAMR Online Store

$50 for regular registration and $30 for Nonprofit/Government/Students.

Registration will close 1 week prior to the event. Please plan accordingly.  

Sponsorships are Welcome at the EPCAMR Online Store

Several levels are suggested: Iron, Manganese, Pyrite, Aluminum, and Copper, with different perks to show our appreciation of our sponsors’ support.

If you would like to sponsor at another level than the ones suggested, please see our

Sponsorship Letter.

We hope to see you there!

EPCAMR gratefully acknowledges the support of our three manganese-level sponsors: Earth Conservancy and Gilberton Power Company, and Verdantas LLC. 

The post EPCAMR 30th Anniversary Celebration appeared first on epcamr.org.

CBWS allows eligible College and University students to use their Federal Work Study award to work off campus, at a local non-profit. Students earn their wages while supporting meaningful community work and gaining real world experiences and assisting non-profits with their impacts withing the communities that they serve by providing some additional organizational capacity to the organizations.

CBWS is designed for students who want their work to matter by contributing locally to the communities that surround their Colleges and Universities. They can gain hands‑on experience in real nonprofit settings, build skills that translate directly to future careers, explore fields like education, social services, history, environmental work, and community outreach. On top of the soft skills and opportunities for applied science, they can also earn certificates that they can add to their resumes and make a positive impact while getting paid. EPCAMR encourages students can contact their Financial Aid or Community Engagement office to learn more about eligibility and placements. Students at King’s College should inquire if they have questions or need more assistance on the process, by stopping by Kelly Gibbons’ office at the Shoval Center or book an appointment with her (in person is preferable)  Book time to meet with me

She has a passion for science, art, and nature, and especially enjoys engaging in her many creative hobbies and spending time outdoors. She will be graduating from King’s College with a Bachelor of Environmental Science in Spring of 2029.  

Carolyn Phillips is EPCAMR’s latest Community Based Work Study student intern from King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Carolyn’s interest in science began early in her life, but she had no way to pursue it until she first participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) competition in seventh grade. The process of designing a scientific experiment and then presenting her findings to a panel of judges was the perfect outlet for her ideas, and she fell in love with the competition, continuing to participate every year up to her senior year of high school. Her hard work and dedication to the program earned her a first award at the regional level all six years of her participation, three of the years having a perfect score, and five first awards at the state level. In her final year of participation, she was also awarded the Senior Excellence Award in Botany, which is presented to the participant with the highest score in the category, as well as a six-year Perseverance Award and a King’s College Scholarship. This year, she became a judge at the regional level of the competition and hopes to continue her involvement with PJAS so that young students’ interests in science may be nurtured and expanded upon, just as she experienced when she was younger.  

Carolyn has lived in Shickshinny, PA for her whole life, and has seen firsthand the scars that the anthracite mining operations have left on the landscape. She recalls frequently seeing the blocked-off coal mine entrances with mine drainage flowing from them, the foundations of old mine offices, the massive culm banks, and sites of major land subsidence while hiking in the local mountains on State Game Lands 260.

At the young age of 10, Carolyn chose to make a diorama of the Knox Mine Disaster, which devastated the Wyoming Valley community back in 1959, for a history project in middle school. Having seen the effects of this industry, Carolyn wishes to aid EPCAMR in remediating the negative local effects of coal mining and increasing outreach to the community to get young minds interested in science. 

Carolyn Phillips created a diorama of the Knox Mine Disaster in 2017, little did she know she’d be working with EPCAMR that developed maps for a feature documentary on the Knox Mine Disaster years later.

Carolyn’s environmental science lectures and labs at King’s have broadened her ambitions to new horizons as she learned about the local wildlife and the environmental issues plaguing the area, many of which result from the anthracite mining industry. She was first introduced to EPCAMR through a trip for her environmental science lab with Dr. Tara Mangan, when the class visited to learn about EPCAMR’s projects and impacts on the environment, as well as educational outreach for the community. After this initial meeting, Carolyn immediately began reaching out to King’s faculty and EPCAMR staff to determine how she could get involved with EPCAMR to make a difference in the community and local environment.  

Carolyn Phillips explores one of the sealed mine entrances and bat caves along Dogtown Road on State Game Lands 260, near Shickshinny where EPCAMR is currently conducting a Coldwater Conservation Watershed Assessment in her hometown. This is one of many sites where the water was sampled for AMD impacts suspected of reaching Rocky Run. (2021) 

Carolyn connected with Kelly Gibbons from the King’s College Shoval Center, which focuses on community engagement and learning, as well as volunteer opportunities, to help her begin working with EPCAMR. Kelly Gibbons worked with Carolyn, as well as Bobby Hughes, the Executive Director of EPCAMR, to arrange a Community-based Federal Work Study position with EPCAMR.  

Carolyn mentioned, “I’m grateful that my classes led me to EPCAMR, and even more grateful that I’ve been able to become involved with EPCAMR so quickly. The process of getting involved was far easier than I thought. I’ve been welcomed with open arms, and I’m very excited to begin working with EPCAMR in time for their 30th Anniversary, which is such a momentous occasion for the organization. I’m also looking forward to earning my Aquatic Organism Protocol free training certification to become a NAACC lead observer to analyze road-stream crossings and learn more about my local watershed after getting 20 of them surveyed under my belt later this year in my hometown watershed.” 

“I’m glad that Carolyn was so interested in seeing if she could find a way to get some hours with EPCAMR through the Federal Community Based Work Study Program at King’s. It’s a program I constantly am informing college students about how they can work directly in the community with area non-profits and get paid at the same time through the program. Since we don’t often have funds to be able to pay the students, unless they are a part of an AmeriCorps VISTA Program and are able to commit to a much longer length of time with more hours involved, this route is a viable alternative. This program allows both the students and EPCAMR to have the flexibility to see that they are getting to class, going to a part-time job oftentimes, and are spending a limited amount of hours directly in their field of interest helping to make a difference in their community outside the college campus and academic environment they are in for the time they are in college.” explained Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.

Besides working with EPCAMR through her Community-based Federal Work Study position, Carolyn also intends to volunteer with EPCAMR for various events, such as cleanups. After first hearing back from Bobby Hughes, Carolyn quickly filled out EPCAMR’s Volunteer Registration Form to get further involved with the organization. 

Carolyn tells us, “These days, it’s so easy to get caught up in your own little world. There aren’t constant reminders of what we’ve done to the environment, only problems which often can only be seen when they’re sought out. Most people would like to ignore things that don’t affect them directly, but what they might not realize is that if we don’t do anything to remediate problems in the environment now, they can snowball into even larger problems that will still need to be fixed in the future. These issues can and will affect the futures of our children and grandchildren, affecting not only the physical world they will live in but also their quality of life.” 

“I’m glad that Carolyn is from the Shickshinny area too! She may know some of the families in the area that we may need to get in touch with later in the Spring and Summer as we continue to macro surveys and bridge and culvert assessments who may live along some of the creeks and streams that we would like to just take measurements of for aquatic passage of fish and macroinvertebrates as a part of our Coldwater Conservation Planning Grant with the PA Council of Trout Unlimited for Shickshinny Creek, Paddy Run, and Rocky Run.” Bobby hopefully exclaimed. “She’s only been here for less than a day so far, and has already completed her NAACC Aquatic Organism Protocol Certificate Training, so I’m sure she’s ready to get her feet wet in her hometown waters around the Shickshinny area.” Bobby joked.

Carolyn will be coming into the EPCAMR Office twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, when she doesn’t have classes, so there is no conflict with her on campus education, and providing us with 6.5 hours a week for 8 weeks. Her activities are outlined in the following Volunteer Activity Description (VAD) entitled, EPCAMR WatershedOutreachGrantResearchSpecialist_Job Description.

The post EPCAMR Brings on Carolyn Phillips as a Community-based Federal Work Study student intern from King’s College as our Watershed Outreach Grant Research Specialist appeared first on epcamr.org.