PA Organization For Watersheds & Rivers Announces PA Sojourn Grant Awards

The PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Pennsylvania River Sojourn Grants. These grants are awarded on a competitive basis. 

The Pennsylvania Sojourn Program is administered by POWR in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. 

The Sojourn Program is nationally unique, distributing grants across the state to local organizations and their sojourn events. These grants support between 10 and 15 paddling events each year, encompassing over 500 river miles and 50+ on-the-water days, offering more than 100 educational programs, and engaging over 4,000 people.

Sojourns are not only a fun outdoor activity but are also an effective tool for raising awareness about our rivers and the issues affecting them, educating, and enhancing community involvement about natural and cultural resources, and promoting and encouraging watershed stewardship. 

The Sojourn program serves as a bridge to bring our communities to our rivers and streams to educate them, enabling them to become lifelong stewards of these resources. River sojourns offer a different point of view on some of Pennsylvania’s treasured landscapes and historic and cultural assets.

This year’s grants were awarded to--

-- Conemaugh Valley Conservancy for the Stony-Kiski-Conemaugh Rivers Sojourn scheduled for June 1 through June 4, 2023

--  Conestoga River Club for the Pride on the Conestoga scheduled for June 4, 2023

-- Conestoga River Club for the 3rd Annual Conestoga Sojourn scheduled for June 24 through June 25, 2023 

-- Endless Mountains Heritage Region for the Summer and Fall Heritage Benefit Paddles scheduled for July 15, 2023 and October 7, 2023 

-- Endless Mountains Heritage Region for the Youth Heritage Sojourn scheduled for June 15 through June 17, 2023 

-- Friends of the Riverfront for the Lock Through Paddle scheduled on May 6, 2023, June 3, 2023, July 1, 2023, and August 5, 2023

-- Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy for the Perkiomen Creek Sojourn and PA State Water Trail Celebration scheduled for June 3, 2023 

-- Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy for the Perki-Bay Expedition: A Youth Sojourn from Source to Sea scheduled for June 19 through June 23, 2023

-- Schuylkill River Greenways for the Schuylkill River Sojourn scheduled for June 17 through June 23, 2023

-- The Susquehanna Greenway Partnership for the Paddler’s Toolkit Workshop Series scheduled for May 20, 2023, June 24, 2023, and July 8, 2023

-- The Watersmith Guild for the First Waves – Regional Series scheduled for May and September of 2023 

-- Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition for the 2023 Delaware River Sojourn: "Running Free" scheduled for June 16 through June 23, 2023

-- Wildlands Conservancy – Environmental Ed Center for the Lehigh River Sojourn scheduled for June 10 and June 11, 2023

Click Here To view a map of sojourns planned statewide this year.

Visit the Pennsylvania River Sojourn webpage to learn more about this program.

Visit Explore PA Trails and Get Outdoors PA for recreation areas near you.

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and help available to community-based watershed organizations, visit the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers website.  Follow them on Facebook.

[Posted: May 1, 2023]  PA Environment Digest