The Octoraro Watershed Association

05/19/2026

RESCHEDULED TO SUNDAY MAY 31, 3 PM, SEE YOU THEN!

05/07/2026

It looks like fair weather on Sunday! If you'd like to get some fresh country air, we'll be doing a 1 hour buffer clean up (no planting) at our 782 BARTVILLE RD BUFFER in Christiana. 12:00 PM, hope to see you!! 🌿

04/30/2026

1200 lbs of trash removed from the Octoraro Creek on clean up day! Thank you to the members and volunteers, and thank you to Mother Nature who spared the rain until afterward!

04/23/2026

Don't forget the Octoraro Reservoir Clean-UP on Saturday!

04/08/2026

🏆 The Octoraro Watershed Association (OWA) Photography Contest awarded for the first time this year a Best of Show for the Youth Category. The winner was Octoraro High School Senior, Mason Prokay, Cochranville, Pa.

Photo: Chotty Sprenkle, OWA President stands with Mason Prokay with his Best of Show photograph in the Youth Category. Close up of American Sycamore seed pods.

03/31/2026

📸 One of the highlights of our annual meeting & dinner is the photo contest! The winning photos will be posted, but in the meantime, the entire exhibit will be at the Octoraro High School next week, then on to the Atglen library until May.

This contest was open to photographers of any age. There are three age categories – Adults (18 years of age and above), Youth (13 to 17 years of age), and Youth 2 (12 years of age and under).

All photographs must have been taken within the Octoraro Watershed which encompasses the following townships: Eden, Bart, Sadsbury (in both Lancaster and Chester counties), West Sadsbury, Highland, West Fallowfield, Upper Oxford, Lower Oxford, East Nottingham, Colerain, Little Britain, Fulton, East Drumore, and West Nottingham, and the boroughs of Atglen and Christiana, Pennsylvania and Cecil County, Maryland. All photographs were identified with their location within the watershed (county, township, borough).

Black and white, or color.

Photos were judged in four categories:

🏆 Wildlife – plants, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, invertebrates, fungi (please, no domestic animals)

🏆 Landscapes – sites, scenery, historic buildings

🏆 Agriculture - farm-related activities and/or farm landscapes

🏆 Trailcam – interesting photographs captured on your trailcam.

03/29/2026

What a wonderful evening at the Octoraro Watershed Association Annual Dinner! 🌿
We had a fantastic turnout and enjoyed a delicious dinner, a FABULOUS PHOTO CONTEST, a fun game, unique raffle prizes, and an engaging presentation from Trees for Graziers about the importance of trees in agricultural landscapes.
A special congratulations to this year’s award recipients:
🏆 River Keeper Award: Tom and Carol Murphy
🏆 President’s Award: Steve Berkowitz and Matt Kehoe
Thank you to everyone who joined us and continues to support the protection and stewardship of the Octoraro watershed. It was truly a great night celebrating our community and the work we care about so deeply!

03/09/2026

03/05/2026

Reminder that our 2026 Annual Meeting is March 26! Visit the link to buy tickets by March 17, and don't forget to renew your membership while your at it!! See you soon! 🐟

https://www.theowa.net/annual-meetings

02/14/2026

🐦 THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT STARTS TODAY! 🐦

For the next 4 days, you can help science by watching birds.

WHAT: Count birds for 15+ minutes anywhere
WHEN: February 13-16
WHERE: Your yard, a park, anywhere you see birds
HOW: Submit counts at birdcount . org or via Merlin/eBird app

WHY THIS MATTERS:
- Creates a real-time global population snapshot
- Tracks which species are thriving and which are declining
- Data used by researchers worldwide
- YOU become a citizen scientist

LAST YEAR:
- 385,000+ bird watchers participated
- 7,700+ species counted
- 57 million birds observed

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
1. Watch birds for at least 15 minutes
2. Count the highest number of each species you see at once
3. Submit your list online
4. Repeat as many times as you want over 4 days!

You don't need to be an expert.
You just need to look outside.

Let's count! 🐦