Maria Gereda, Kingston, PA  from the Wyoming Valley, and Dennis Dukinas, Dallas, PA, from the Back Mountain, both natives of Luzerne County, will be hosted and supervised by EPCAMR until the end of December 2025 to work with us to provide volunteer services to add some capacity to the organization starting yesterday.

Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director exclaimed, “We are thrilled to have both of these environmental and conservation professionals join us for the 20 plus weeks through the end of the year to assist us with a number of direct service projects that we currently have underway with a limited staff, who have the passion and commitment to follow through on a number of our awarded grants and professional services throughout the EPCAMR Region.”

Bobby went on to say, “I can’t say enough about Conservation Legacy, OSMRE, and especially AmeriCorps (State and National) and AmeriCorps VISTA and their support for our work. April Elkins Badtke has been a long-time friend and colleague for over 2 decades when the original Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team was formed to provide similar support to non-profit environmental organizations that were and are still working in coal country up and down the Appalachian Mountain Range. She is a consummate professional at Conservation Legacy who never has had a problem responding to my emails or messages at all hours of the night or on weekends and listening to my concerns about AmeriCorps and the funding cuts that we had to endure several months ago. We currently have Morgan Romanowski, Scott Township, Lackawanna County working with us through the end of September 2025 to finish up her year term as an AmeriCorps (State and National) volunteer fellow GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist and Mark Jones, who initially was an Energy Community Assistance Program (ECAP) Community Development Coordinator volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA, who had to placed into Conservation Legacy’s AmeriCorps VISTA Program. He will be volunteering with us until the end of December 2025.”

Maria will continue her work with EPCAMR as a GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist through the Stewards Individual Placement Program. In her new role, she will help promote food security by encouraging the creation of community gardens in coalfield communities and working with local organizations to plant, maintain, and harvest them as one project that EPCAMR has already started on with the distribution of biodegradable Waterboxxes from Groasis that we have been giving away for free to groups that are interested. Community gardens were very common in what were called “patches” in the coal towns around the Anthracite and Bituminous regions. She will also support affordable housing development by advocating for new housing developments to consider being built on reclaimed abandoned mine lands. She will also continue to engage and assist with  environmental education experiences for students in school districts throughout the region that are under the poverty level.

Dennis and Maria are “kicking for macroinvertebrates on Little Shickshinny Creek in Shickshinny Borough as a part of our Coldwater Heritage Conservation Plan where we are developing a watershed assessment for the Shickshinny Creek Watershed and Paddy and Rocky Run.

Bobby said, “Maria, a Luzerne County native, from Kingston, PA in the Wyoming Valley, joined EPCAMR just two months ago as a part-time Summer Watershed GIS Outreach and Education Intern. In that short time, she has gained a wide range of hands-on experience that will serve her well in her expanding role. She was a natural fit for this longer term position that could give her full-time hours under this program.” 

During her internship, Maria earned a certification in the Non-Tidal Streams Protocol through the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NAACC). She worked closely with EPCAMR Staff to scan and catalog both surface and underground mine maps for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Mine Subsidence Insurance Program. She also participated in field watershed assessments, surveying bridges and culverts across the Shickshinny Creek, Paddy Run, and Rocky Run tributaries in the southern Wyoming Valley—work that directly supports EPCAMR’s ongoing watershed assessment efforts in the Northern Anthracite Coal Fields funded by the PA American Water Charitable Foundation and the PA Council of Trout Unlimited‘s Coldwater Heritage Planning grant program. 

Maria also contributed to community outreach by assisting with water quality monitoring, stream flow measurements, and abandoned mine drainage (AMD) evaluations. She also helped engage local youth in environmental learning during educational events like tie-dye workshops. Her professional network has expanded by attending conferences, including the Abandoned Mine Pools as Beneficial Resources event at Bucknell University and the 2025 ARIPPA Annual Conference.

EPCAMR Staff conducted an AMD Tie Dye T-shirt Workshop for PA Inclusive in Pittston with our recycled iron oxide pigment. Dennis assisted Morgan Romanowski, Mark Jones, and Bobby Hughes in putting on the workshop for the youth and adults.

In addition, Maria will contribute to the development of “land that channels rainfall” resource maps, combining data on demographics, economic indicators, and workforce development with information on local trade schools and community colleges. She will conduct short community surveys and polls via EPCAMR’s social media platforms, update and expand the EPCAMR Partnership Database across 16 counties within our region alone, with our Community Development Coordinator Mark Jones, and will assist in identifying grant opportunities and other organizations and foundations that might be suitable for preparing future grant applications. Her work as well and Dennis’s work will be closely aligned with the goals and objectives laid out by EPCAMR’s Strategic Planning and Education/Science Committees.

Currently enrolled in an online GIS course through Austin Community College, Maria is eager to apply what she’s learning to the real-world challenges facing Pennsylvania’s coalfield communities. Her passion, commitment, and growing expertise make her a valuable asset to EPCAMR’s mission of revitalizing the region through education, outreach, sustainable redevelopment of our abandoned mine lands, and restoration of our watersheds impacted by abandoned mine drainage (AMD).

Maria participated in an AMD Tour in Schuylkill County with EPCAMR where she was able to visit the infamous “Ashland Fountain”, which is a constantly overflowing AMD discharge from the Bast and Continental Collieries that drains to the Mahanoy Creek watershed as explained by Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.

Dennis Dukinas, Dallas, PA, in the Back Mountain of Luzerne County is currently completing my final course at Bloomsburg University, where he is finishing his degree in Environmental, Geological, and Geographic Sciences with a Minor in Hydrology.

Bobby shared that “Throughout his academic career, he has gained valuable hands-on experience both outdoors as an Eagle Scout and indoors, working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) desktop environments. He has already used mapping technologies such as ArcGIS Pro and ERDAS Imagine remote sensing imagery and software to create various hypothetical scenarios in college and now gets to take those lessons learned from the hypothetical to the real world watersheds that EPCAMR works in throughout the coalfields. His experience already includes georeferencing, story mapping, census data analysis, and using tools like ArcGIS Pro Online’s ModelBuilder. He already has earned certifications through ArcGIS Online and holds a Watershed Management Training Certification. He’s also already received a free Aquatic Organism Protocol Training from EPCAMR while a volunteering two weeks before his official internship from NAACC. Maria already has this Certificate as well, however, both of them have to assess 20 culverts and or bridges before they can become a field Lead Observer.”

In his role as a GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist, prior to his start today, he’s already gained valuable experience assessing water quality, conducting visual habitat assessments, identifying, counting, and classifying macroinvertebrates as a part of the biological assessment monitoring EPCAMR conducts for our watersheds assessments, and he’s learned how to use our field photometer and YSI Multi-parameter probe already to perform chemistry tests in-stream. He will be involved in a number of projects that were highlighted by Bobby Hughes on their first day of orientation, along with some training provided to them in EarthVision, where they will be helping to digitize mine maps for another project of ours in the Bear Creek Watershed, Dauphin County and creating 3D surface and underground mine pool models to help us calculate volumetrics of water and coal remaining a region of the Southern Anthracite Coalfields. 

Bobby joked with Dennis before this week to get as much sleep in over the Holiday Weekend because he will be shifting from volunteering a few days a week to a full 40 hours a week through the end of the year. “He was in this morning ready to go and get some administrative paperwork out of the way, hear about the myriad of projects that we are going to be working on, work on his background article notes for this release, and to begin his initial training on EarthVision with Mike. I’m really looking forward to the energy, enthusiasm, willingness to jump in and learn from the Staff about all of important work in the region and the value that their efforts are going to have in the communities that we are working in that we have maintained positive, trusting relationships with, for nearly 3 decades.”

Michael Hewitt, EPCAMR Program Manager and Frank Sindaco, GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist is teaching Maria and Dennis how to use our field monitoring equipment at the Askam AMD Maelstrom Oxidizer Treatment System on Earth Conservancy’s property along Dundee Road in the Nanticoke Creek watershed.

The post EPCAMR Hosts 2 Stewards Individual Placement Program (SIPP) GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist AmeriCorps (State and National) Interns Administered by Conservation Legacy through the end of December 2025 appeared first on epcamr.org.

Kelsey is a hard worker, efficient, often quiet, yet focused, on fulfilling the scope of work of our MSI Mine Mapping Project. She has agreed to step into a leadership position where given her seniority and experience in the EPCAMR Office, she will now be able to train other Staff coming in to work on the project as positions are filled. She has done a great job to date and will be providing some training and technical assistance to David Svab, another former Watershed Outreach Intern, who is now in the GIS Technician position, fulfilling the scanning and cataloging of the mine maps for the Northern Coal Fields. EPCAMR is still taking resumes to fill the other GIS Technician position that has room to move up, following training and provided that they can show they have achieved a high level of competency in the work load that they are given.

Robert E. Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director, stated, “I’m confident that from my very positive evaluation discussion with Kelsey earlier today, that since she is moving into the GIS Specialist position, knowing I expect her to take a more assertive leadership role from within the EPCAMR Staff, especially within our GIS Team, which, albeit is small at the moment, she will do an exceptional job! She is easy going, soft-spoken, goes with the flow, is a problem solver who works around hurdles, is getting more and more comfortable with the EPCAMR Staff, who are also laid back, yet very professional, have strong work ethics, and are very efficient and produce high quality work products, no matter what we are working on. She represents EPCAMR’s exceptional work standards that are a cut above the rest. It’s my job to put my Staff in positions where they can shine, allow them to grow professionally, mentor them, help them to find their passion, interact with the public, and develop strong positive working relationships among the Staff to build the strongest team that I possibly could to promote and support the mission and goals of EPCAMR. Like I’ve told her today, I am as sincere as they come and I like to treat my Staff like Family, because we spend as much or more time with each other on a daily basis than we do at home with our own families, and when we can make work seem like play and do it together as a family or team, it makes all of our work that much easier and enjoyable.”

Mike Hewitt, EPCAMR Program Manager, who oversees the GIS Team working on the project even went out of his way to create name templates for Dave and Kelsey yesterday with their titles on them out of fancy recycled bond paper and provided them to the two of them today. They were surprised and had a chuckle at the same time. Noone has ever made them a homemade name plate before. Robert joked, “It’s the little things we do to make our EPCAMR Family happy!” The smile on her face was priceless and bigger than the one that she had when she was an intern and I caught her off-guard and took a photo of her for the Staff Page when she first started with EPCAMR.”

Kelsey Biondo, who was promoted today from her old title of GIS Technician to EPCAMR GIS Specialist is all smiles as she gets handed her new homemade name plate.

The post EPCAMR Promotes Kelsey Biondo to GIS Specialist to Lead the Way on our Mine Mapping Project for the PA Mine Subsidence Insurance Program appeared first on epcamr.org.

Kelsey Biondo, EPCAMR GIS Technician, examines scanned maps on her laptop.

Kelsey Biondo, who started as a Watershed Outreach Intern with EPCAMR in 2012, and Bridgette Robinson, who joined EPCAMR in Fall 2013, have since become valued GIS technicians and part time employee working on the PA DEP MSI Project. The maps, which come in a variety of materials such as Mylar, Sepia, etc., are usually very wide and long, making them difficult to process using normal scanners. In order to mediate this issue, EPCAMR purchased two 56′ Color Trac Scanners in order to make the maps accessible by computer. Once the maps are scanned, they are uploaded into a system called PHUMMIS, which stands for Pennsylvania Historic Underground Mine Map Inventory System, where they are cropped and aligned. After this the images, which enter PHUMMIS as tagged image files, or TIF files, are converted to seamless image database files, or SID files. Converting the images to SID files allows for them to be compressed 20x smaller than their original size, making it easier for the files to be uploaded over the internet and used in other software programs, such as ArcGIS.

Bridgette Robinson, EPCAMR GIS Technician, stand with her beloved 56′ ColorTrac Scanner.

After the map files are converted, Bridgette and Kelsey, with the help of Michael Hewitt, EPCAMR Project Manager, georeference the maps in order to align them with base maps and aerial photos. Georeferencing is a crucial part of the process because it ensures the greatest amount of accuracy for aligning the map with the actual land. Many of the maps are very old and hand-drawn, meaning that the map alone cannot serve as an accurate picture of where the mines are located. After the maps are georeferenced, Mike uploads the images and lines up the maps in order to look for specific features such as mine entrances, shaft length, depth, coverage area, and mine shaft elevation.  Determining these features allows for development of an accurate model of the underground mines. After features are determined, the plotted images are uploaded into geodatabase, the common spatial data storage and management framework for ArcGIS. If the elevation of the mine shaft can be determined, then a 3-D digital model of the mine can be produced.

Michael Hewitt-EPCAMR Project Manager, Robert Hughes- EPCAMR Executive Director, John Welsh- Philadephia Photographer, Alana Mauger- Philadelphia journalist, David Svab- EPCAMR Intern, and Bill Best- President of Membership for the Huber Breaker Preservation Society, examine an underground mine map.

“The project’s main goal is to scan and upload cropped and plotted maps to the internet so that public users will have easy access to information about mining in this area. Although many of the visible signs of coal mining, such as collieries, breakers, and entrances to mine shafts, have disappeared from this area, the vast majority of the mines remain, leaving a massive web of coal veins beneath the region’s cities and homes. By processing these underground maps, EPCAMR, in collaboration with the PA DEP, will be able to provide current home owners and business owners with the knowledge they need to secure Mine Subsidence Insurance. In addition, making this information available will help inform prospective home and business owners about what’s located under the area they are planning on purchasing or building a house or office,”  explained EPCAMR Executive Director, Robert Hughes. “You’d be surprised at how many people in the region do not have Mine Subsidence Insurance and should!,” exclaimed Robert Hughes. If you have any additional maps from private collections, EPCAMR is looking for them to be scanned and added to the PHUMMIS digital catalog. Contact rhughes@epcamr.org to donate maps!

This mine map measures 4.5×13 ft and that’s not even the largest EPCAMR has scanned!

The post EPCAMR Collaborates with Mine Subsidence Insurance Program to Bring Underground Mine Maps to the Public appeared first on epcamr.org.

Grey literature refers to reports, papers, published articles, maps, documents, studies, research, that are not commercially published (as in books or scientific articles usually) and are produced by government agencies, bureaus, Federal agencies, Universities, Colleges, or other educational institutions.

Jill has been doing a very thorough and exhaustive literature research to search out and seek to assist us with compiling an exhaustive database of Anthracite Mining Region Resources, Maps, etc. that we can add to our clearinghouse site for the public and to assist us with referencing our reports, studies, and projects that we undertake in the EPCAMR Region. She has created a database that she’s been updating over the last several months that just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Jill Mayo is EPCAMR’s Grey Literature Researcher and Database Manager of referenced documentation, resources, maps, and other historical documentation on mine water resources to assist EPCAMR with our work in PA.

She volunteers her time on weekday evenings and on weekends. She has done other work related to, GPS, ArcGIS, and Archaeology. She has previous experience in copying reference materials, archaeology site documentation, and working on shellfish studies for the Nature Conservancy, Long Island, NY.

“EPCAMR appreciates that Jill has offered to help us out and it is even more wonderful that she is doing it from the comforts of her own home more than 3.5 hours away and totally outside of the Coal Region. We appreciate her previous experience and offer to help us out in putting this information together that will only help us save time and energy looking for it ourselves, since there are only two of us full-time at EPCAMR who can only handle so much of the workload. Her hours that she has put in to date and the sheer number of great references and literature cited that she has documented is going to help us tremendously in going through the relevant resources and documents that we need to further support our work in PA’s Coal Region. I am looking forward to her continued work with us and hope to one day meet up with her or at least send her some Anthracite Coal around Christmas time as a present for her volunteer service.” Robert E. Hughes, said with a chuckle.

The post Virtual Volunteer, Jill Mayo, from Plainview, NY Doing Wonders for EPCAMR as a Grey Literature Researcher from Home appeared first on epcamr.org.