Conservation

Connecting to the river, beautifying, greening and cleaning.

Ways to Get Involved

Bow of a kayak on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River

River Town Team

The River Town Team seeks to broaden Lewisburg's connection to the Susquehanna River by

providing better access to the river,
improving biking and walking infrastructure around the river and throughout the community, and
facilitating community-initiated gatherings.

They focus on events (clean ups and picnics), planning, conservation and connectivity.

If you'd like to help us develop our River Town, contact us.

Green Team

The Green Team is a casual group of energetic people who want to

meet and talk with their neighbors
do light work in a local park on Thursday evenings, and
help beautify the parks in Lewisburg.

If you'd like to join in on our community work parties, contact us.

Tree Planting

The Green Team have planted hundreds of trees in and out of the Borough of Lewisburg. Our primary partners are the Keystone 10 Million Trees Program, which provides seedlings, and the TreeVitalise Program, which provides larger-caliper trees.

If you have an idea for a tree planting or would like to get involved as a volunteer, contact us.

Litter Pickups

Each spring and fall, we like to take care of our home by conducting litter pickups. The Bull Run neighborhood and the Susquehanna River most frequently need attention.

If you would like us to help you organize a litter pickup for your organization or would like to get involved as a volunteer, contact us.

River Town Team

In late 2014 River Town enthusiasts came out in force to participate in a River Town Community Planning Meeting. As people arrived, everyone had an opportunity to mark up a map of the area with their top two favorite and top two most frustrating areas. Then the meeting organizers from the LNC and the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership gave presentations outlining the motivation to plan ahead around our River Town identity and reviewing all the river-related ideas and initiatives that have been floated in the community in the past 10 years or so. After that, everyone divided up into focus groups on several different topics. Each group engaged in intense discussion and dialogue in response to prompt questions related to their selected focus and each group closed by listing their top 2 priorities.

Priorities

Though the groups were looking at things as diverse as community, economic development, the built environment and natural resources, their priority projects were very consistent throughout:

connecting to the river — river access
connecting the rail trail to the river and said access,
developing routes north-south along the river,
improving biking and walking infrastructure throughout the community, and
facilitating community-initiated gatherings.

For more detail on the responses summarized here, please see this compilation document: Lewisburg Focus Group notes (450k).

Events, Planning, Conservation, and Connectivity

As the initiative has evolved since the planning meeting, the work falls into categories of Events (clean ups and picnics), Planning, Conservation and Connectivity. There is now a regular annual calendar and work underway to codify Riparian Maintenance BMPs (Best Management Practices). The Connectivity group had initially deferred to other area organizations, but is now stepping up to facilitate multi-municipal planning. And we are working toward a follow up Community Planning Meeting to focus on long term physical planning for the waterfront throughout the Borough.

Join Us

Everyone is welcome to join the effort. There is no requirement to be a Borough resident or property owner, you simply need to have an interest in improving the community’s connection to the river. All River Town Team meetings are public.

Want to learn more? Contact us at info@lewisburgneighborhoods.org.

The Lewisburg Public Paddle program was introduced by the River Team in 2018.

DIG DEEPER

Lewisburg Focus Group notes (pdf) — notes from 2014 meeting
Lewisburg — A River Town? (pdf) — presentation on Lewisburg’s potential to become a River Town
Canoe-Kayak Launch Study (pdf) — review of possible public launch sites in Borough
BU River Access Trail Design Proposal (pdf) — 2013 student study of potential riverbank improvements
BVRT Future Phases (pdf) — trail network image from Buffalo Valley Rail Trail planning
Lewisburg: River Town Planning (pdf) — compilation of past, current and proposed concepts from Community Planning Forum

Green Team

Priorities

The Green Team is a casual group of energetic people who want to meet and talk with their neighbors, do light work in a local park on Thursday evenings, and help beautify the parks in Lewisburg.

While this activity is happening weekly and we would like to have ongoing participation from the community, there is no obligation to attend every week. Please take part when you’re able.

We are focusing on removal of Japanese Knotweed, an invasive species which is crowding out new growth of canopy trees and native species of undergrowth. In addition, we’ll be doing various other conservation activities beyond the regular maintenance scope of the Borough Crew. This could include litter pick up, plant care, maintenance within the no mow buffer, etc.

Join Us

Come join us at Lewisburg Landing every Monday at 6pm from April to October for Green Team. We steward Lewisburg Landing and Mariah’s Garden by tending to trees, removing invasive species, weeding beds, etc.

Want to learn more? Contact us at info@lewisburgneighborhoods.org.

Members of the community working together to preserve natural settings and streetscapes, strengthen ties among neighbors, and improve the quality of life in Lewisburg for residents and visitors.