Watershed Alliance of York

A nonprofit organization

$15,826 raised by 108 donors

100% complete

$0 Goal

Watershed Alliance of York (WAY) is a group of volunteers and stakeholders working together to restore, enhance, and conserve our local watersheds. A watershed is an area of land where all the water drains to a particular waterway. We all live in a watershed! In 2025, WAY hired its first ever employee, an ambitious, yet very much needed step for the organization. The amount of work WAY has carried out since 2020 has grown exponentially and continues to do so. 

Our mission is to improve York County's water, making it cleaner and healthier for all. WAY's main focus to achieve its mission is

working directly with landowners to obtain project funding to implement a waterway enhancing project. These types of projects include stream restoration, floodplain restoration, wetland restoration/creation/enhancement, converting lawn to meadow, planting riparian forest buffers along streams, and more. No project is too big or too small! By acting as a grant passthrough on behalf of landowners, we save landowners thousands of dollars is taxes that they would otherwise be responsible for if completing a project on their own. Not only that, but private landowners are not eligible for many of the grants that fund water quality improvement projects. 

In recent years, WAY has also been focused on the research, restoration, and conservation of freshwater mussels. Freshwater mussels are filter feeders, cleaning our waterways as they eat. Their populations have been negatively affected by dams on the Susquehanna River as the migratory American Eel is a leading host fish for freshwater mussel reproduction. There is much to be researched, and restoration of mussel population is the goal. Freshwater mussels all the way!

Above all, WAY loves hosting and participating in

events and brining watershed educational opportunities to our community.  Our next big event on the horizon is the 23rd Annual Watershed Week this September 13-20. We hope to see you out and about!

Check out our website and get involved! Be sure to like us on Facebook (Watershed Alliance of York PA) and follow us on Instagram (@WAYorkPA) to keep up to date with all the happenings.

A donation to WAY directly supports water quality initiatives in our County!

Are you interested in learning more or becoming a volunteer? Reach out to Emily at watershedallianceyork@gmail.com 


THANK YOU!

Mission

Our mission is to improve York County's water, making it cleaner and healthier for all. Watershed Alliance of York is a group of volunteers and stakeholders working together to reduce the pollutants in our streams, creeks, and the Susquehanna River. We work to get projects on the ground that will help us to achieve pollutant reductions such as planting trees, installing riparian buffers, stream restoration, conservation planning, and more. We have three committees of volunteers that help along the way. A donation to WAY directly support water quality initiatives in our County. Interested in learning more or becoming a volunteer? Check out our April newsletter that's uploaded to the documents area or reach out to Rachel at rstahlman@ycpc.org also be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @WatershedAllianceofYork THANK YOU!

Background Statement

WAY was founded in 2001 as a 501c3 non-profit organization that operates as a volunteer lead, non-member umbrella organization serving over 50 academic, civic, for-profit, government, non-profit, and other stakeholder groups and individuals.

Needs

Education & Outreach Priorities:

Tabling Events

School Programs

Watershed Week

Project Implementation Priorities:

Stream Restoration

Dam Removal

Freshwater Mussel Research, Restoration, and Conservation

Water Quality Monitoring

Watershed Forestry

Buffer Plantings

Riparian Rangers

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

Watershed Alliance of York

Year Established

2001

Tax id (EIN)

41-2028968

Address

28 E Market St
York, PA 17401

Phone

717-478-8838

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