Submitted photo by Alisen Downs 2024 Outstanding National Wild and Scenic River Stewardship Awards USDA Forest Service are pictured before a ceremony held Monday.

The Allegheny River Cleanup is being recognized by the U.S. Forest Service.

Three local leaders of the annual Allegheny River Cleanup have received the 2024 Outstanding Wild and Scenic Rivers Stewardship award – Piper VanOrd, owner and creative director of the Allegheny Outfitters, David Snyder, a longstanding cleanup volunteer; and Nathan Welker, aquatics program manager of the Allegheny National Forest.

The Forest Service annually honors employees, volunteers and organizations demonstrating a significant contribution to the protection and enhancement of rivers in the National Wild and Scenic River System. The awards recognize efforts to protect and enhance wild and scenic rivers managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

“I am proud of all this team has accomplished through nearly two decades of organizing collaborative river stewardship. Their work along with thousands of volunteers has dramatically improved the quality of our local waterways, benefited our local communities, and helped to conserve the remarkable values of the Allegheny Wild and Scenic River,” said Jamie Davidson, Allegheny National Forest supervisor.

The annual Allegheny River and Reservoir cleanup days unite community volunteers, local businesses, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies to remove trash from the waterways in the Allegheny National Forest vicinity. VanOrd, Snyder, and Welker have led these cleanups, successfully removing tons of metal, tires, and trash for nearly two decades. Their efforts also contributed to the nomination of the Allegheny River as Pennsylvania’s 2024 River of the Year, presented by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The award recipients were honored at the ANF Headquarters recently during a nationwide virtual ceremony that presented four national awards. The trio will also be publicly celebrated at the 2025 Allegheny River Clean-up afterparty.

In 1992, Public Law 102-271 added 87 miles of the Allegheny River to the National Wild and Scenic River System, classified as recreational. The intent was to protect the values of the river and to preserve it in a free-flowing condition for present and future generations. The designation applies to the following three sections, seven miles from below Kinzua Dam to the Route 6 bridge in Warren, 48 miles from the Buckaloons Campground to Alcorn Island near Oil City, and 32 miles from south of Franklin to Emlenton.

Since 2005, more than 5,500 volunteers have donated more than 44,400 hours and removed more than 1,000 cubic yards of trash from the watershed. Items pulled from the river include television sets, microwave ovens, lawn chairs, refrigerators, 55-gallon drums, more than 17,459 tires, and almost 80 tons of recyclable metal.

Crews this year worked on the stretch from Buckaloons to Allegheny Outfitters.

VanOrd also served as grand marshall of this year’s Christmas Parade and was selected as the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry 2022 Community Service Award recipient for her service leadership and efforts to boost tourism, talks with the Warren County Historical Society, downtown Warren website development, publications and efforts with the Allegheny River Clean-up among other volunteer efforts.

Snyder has turned initial interest in cleaning up the river into a leadership role with the Allegheny River Cleanup. Snyder estimated in a 2019 Times Observer story that he’s met more than 1,000 people over the years. Snyder has been part of teams that pulled bicycles and shopping carts of the river below the railroad trestle while raising boats that had sunk in the river.

“Once I saw the camaraderie, the enthusiasm, the focus on doing a good thing and having a good time doing it, it didn’t make any sense to quit. So, I kept doing it,” Snyder said.

Welker was honored in 2024 with the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Professionals’ annual Karl Mason Award, given to commemorate Mason’s vision of a strong, well-managed environmental program. In addition to WINS, Welker is a founding member of the Allegheny Reservoir Cleanup, the Allegheny River Cleanup and the Tionesta Lake and Reservoir Cleanup.