Geoffrey Selling has spent the past decade volunteering with Penn State Extension’s Montgomery County Master Watershed Steward Program, dedicating more than 3,000 hours to service projects, both as a project manager and program leader.
Selling previously worked as a science teacher in the Lower School at Germantown Friends School, teaching fourth graders an entire curriculum on water.
Upon retiring in 2016, he sought volunteer opportunities to work with waterways and watersheds, joining various groups until he was referred to the Master Watershed Steward program.
“I spoke with a coordinator about the Master Watershed Steward program, and she interviewed me on the spot and accepted me into the program,” Selling said. “It was exactly the kind of program I wanted to be involved in.”
Selling and his co-leader, Chrissa Pedersen, of Montgomery County, have made restoring the riparian buffer along Rock Creek at Curtis Arboretum in Wyncote their primary project.
The stream area had previously been neglected for decades and was overrun with invasive vines, knotweed, multiflora roses and other noxious plants.
Since beginning the project in 2018, Selling and a group of volunteers have spent every Tuesday working around Rock Creek, removing invasive species, planting trees and bushes, weeding, and picking up trash.
Outside his work at Curtis Arboretum, Selling has volunteered at other project sites around Montgomery County, such as assisting with the Swamp Creek and Martha’s Community Garden projects alongside other volunteers.
He also has assisted with training new classes of Master Watershed Stewards at Curtis Arboretum.
Selling and the group of volunteers assisting with the repairs at Rock Creek have received recognition from Penn State, county and municipal organizations, and the Friends of Curtis Arboretum for their efforts to renovate the area.
Selling said several community members who have walked on the property remarked that they hadn’t even known about the stream before his group’s efforts to restore and reopen it to the public.
Kathleen Connally, Master Watershed Steward coordinator for Montgomery County, praised Selling’s dedication to the program throughout the years and the countless leadership roles and projects he’s taken on.
Selling and Connally encourage those with a strong passion for protecting water and the environment to join the Master Watershed Steward program, which always welcomes new members.
“You are part of a vibrant and dynamic community of fellow volunteers who like one another, spend time together and support each other in many ways,” Selling said. “It's always wonderful to work with them.”
The Penn State Master Watershed Steward Program provides extensive training in watershed management to volunteers who, in return, educate the community about watershed stewardship based on university research and recommendations.
The program was established to strengthen local capacity for management and protection of watersheds, streams and rivers by educating and empowering volunteers across the Commonwealth.
Anyone interested in becoming a Master Watershed Steward can learn more about the program on the Penn State Extension website.
(Reprinted from Penn State News.)
[Posted: September 23, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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