Chesapeake Watershed Initiative at F&M

04/16/2026

Get ready to dive into the 10TH ANNUAL LANCASTER WATER WEEK! 💧

With over 60 events during Lancaster Water Week, presented by the High Foundation, there's a way for everyone to celebrate, learn about, and take action for healthy streams and rivers. 🛶 Paddle on the Conestoga and Susquehanna, 🔎 explore stream restoration projects, 🌼 learn how to create habitat like a rain garden, 📖 read a book about water, 💪 join a volunteer cleanup, 🎨 connect with our streams and rivers through art, and 🎉 party with our clean water community!

Lancaster Water Week is June 5-13, 2026! Learn more and sign up for events at ➡ https://www.lancasterconservancy.org/water-week/

📸: Michelle Johnsen Photography

04/13/2026

Join us on April 30th for the premiere of “Revealing Ancient Wetlands,” a Haverstick & Mercure Production! The newest short documentary by Lancaster filmmaker and Franklin & Marshall alumna Mary Haverstick '82 and producer and composer Michele Mercure chronicles the work of the Chesapeake Watershed Initiative through the restoration of Indian Run in Millersville, PA.

The screening will be followed by a panel exploring the industrial and agricultural history that led us to this moment, while celebrating progress and future opportunities for restoration in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Click below to register! 🌱

Join us for the premiere of “Revealing Ancient Wetlands,” a Haverstick & Mercure Production. The newest short documentary by Lancaster filmmaker and Franklin & Marshall alumna Mary Haverstick and producer and composer Michele Mercure chronicles the groundbreaking research and critical ecological...

04/01/2026

A recent transformative $2.1 million gift to Franklin & Marshall College from an anonymous donor established the Distinguished Professorship of Geosciences in the Department of Earth & Environment in perpetuity in honor of CWI Principal Investigator Robert C. Walter, Ph.D. ’75 and created the Earth & Environment Instrument Support Endowment. The gift shines a light on the prolific career of Walter, whose expertise in geochemistry, geochronology, and hydrogeology has not only advanced the field but also shaped the lives of generations of F&M students.
Click the link in our bio to read the full story on the F&M website. Congratulations Bob! 💚🪴🪨

A transformative $2.1 million gift from an anonymous donor celebrates Franklin & Marshall’s renowned Department of Earth & Environment and the impact of its esteemed faculty. The gift establishes the Distinguished Professorship of Geosciences in honor of Robert C. Walter, Ph.D. ’75, and creates ...

03/31/2026

Kick off your spring this Wednesday by joining the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeepers for a lecture and discussion with Dr. Dorothy Merritts & Dr. Robert Walter on the power of restoration! Register here: https://action.lowsusriverkeeper.org/a/speaker-series-legacy-water

02/06/2026

Under the guidance of PI Patrick Fleming last summer, seniors Nancy Nguyen ’26 and Vu Nguyen ’26 used AI as a preliminary expert to gauge the influence of six water-quality indicators on children’s health, fish health and flood risk. The six key indicators - nitrogen, phosphorus, turbidity, E. coli, water temperature, and water discharge - are a part of CWI’s ongoing stream monitoring efforts.
Click the link in our bio to learn more about Nguyen and Nguyen’s purpose-driven work by reading the full story on the F&M website!

02/03/2026

This past summer, F&M seniors Roselyn Ovalles ’26 and Grace Uwezukwe ’26 interned with the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, a CWI partner organization. Uwezukwe and Ovalles were tasked with community engagement and monitoring bacteria levels at 22 sites along the Susquehanna River and its local tributaries, including the Little Conestoga Creek (pictured). Alongside CWI’s ongoing monitoring efforts, this work is a crucial puzzle piece of tracking changing water quality along the Blue Green Connector project restorations, to be displayed on our upcoming Blue Green Connector online water quality dashboard.
Click the link in our bio to learn more about Uwezukwe and Ovalles’ purpose-driven work by reading the full story on the F&M website!
📸: Deb Grove