Celebrate Success

Spotlight on Success

Community Watershed Organization volunteer and staff leaders, along with key partner organizations and agencies, work together to accomplish great things for local watersheds and rivers. From streamside and in-stream habitat restoration projects, invasive species removal, and trash clean-ups to watershed educational events for youth and families and river paddling sojourns, a CWO near you is making the watershed a cleaner and healthier place to fish, explore, enjoy, recreate, and live.

Each month, we will feature a Spotlight on Success- a story about a member watershed organization or partnership that is working hard to improve the quality of a local stream, raise awareness and understanding of a key watershed issue, or provide an opportunity for engagement and recreation along a waterway.

Feel free to contact us with a story you think should be featured here!

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An archive of previous Spotlight on Success stories can be found below.

Chalfont Run-Thompson Run Watershed Association: Making an Impact!

When neighbors gathered in 2018 to save the defunct and no longer operational Churchill Valley Country Club – located about ten miles from Pittsburgh – and turn it into a dedicated community green space, they had no idea that this effort would eventually evolve into something much bigger. After successfully permanently protecting the beloved 150-acre rapidly rewilding greenspace, now officially known as the Churchill Valley Greenway and owned by the Allegheny Land Trust, the group realized that the lovely little stream, the Chalfant Run, didn’t end at the Churchill Valley Greenway, but continued for many miles and joined with the Thompson Run. In an effort to improve stream health and water quality, they joined forces with other active community members from Thompson Run to create the Chalfant Run-Thompson Run Watershed Association (CRTRWA). Located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh PA in Allegheny County, the Chalfant Run-Thompson Run Watershed covers approximately 18 square miles with about 33 stream miles. CRTRWA has had remarkable success since its establishment, from hosting stream stewardship events to watershed-wide water sampling.

Recently, POWR had the opportunity to meet with Renee Dolney, Executive Director of the CRTRWA, and chat about the progress the organization has made since its founding.