Why Lancaster County’s Conestoga River is “River of the Year.”

• Karen Hendricks/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Karen Hendricks hosts WITF’s Morning Edition, heard weekdays from 5-9am. She enjoys navigating the news of the day with listeners, weaving together WITF’s compelling regional coverage with NPR’s unbiased reporting from around the globe—while simultaneously being a reliable, friendly voice as your morning companion.
  
  Karen is an award-winning, lifelong journalist. Her work has garnered more than 20 state and national journalism awards. Her true passion is bringing stories of everyday heroes to light: Her story about a weekend warrior pulling trash out of the Susquehanna River, for the York Daily Record, earned a national first-place award from the Society for Features Journalism.
  
  A Philadelphia-area native and Lock Haven University graduate, Karen has called Central Pennsylvania home for 30+ years. She’s worked for media outlets throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region and Central Pennsylvania, including Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Gettysburg.
  
  She considers her family and three adult children her brightest, best accomplishments. She and her husband enjoy exploring our national and state parks. She’s writing a memoir about running 50 races to benefit 50 causes when she was 50.

Todd Roy & Malinda Harnish Clatterbuck

One of the Susquehanna River’s tributaries, the Conestoga is Pennsylvania’s 2026 River of the Year.

Conestoga River Club (CRC) founder Todd Roy and current executive director Malinda Harnish Clatterbuck explain what the designation means: not that the Conestoga is a shining example of a perfect river, but that the long-polluted waterway is now a river in transition. There’s growing momentum, including the efforts of the CRC, to improve, respect, and enjoy the Conestoga. And it’s essential to Lancaster, because the Conestoga supplies 40% of the city’s drinking water.

Roy shares how a grassroots movement led to the CRC’s formation about five years ago. And Harnish Clatterbuck explains how the public can join CRC’s River of the Year events including a photo contest – to continue to raise awareness of this vital tributary of the Susquehanna River through 2026 and beyond.

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Susquehanna Scout, hosted by journalist Karen Hendricks, is a weekly podcast by WITF that explores the Susquehanna River and its ripple effects across Pennsylvania and beyond.