Presentations

The PA AMR Conference Planning Committee is developing a conference program! Here are the presentations approved to date in no particular order.

Kiski Valley Watershed Association Capacity Development – Laura Hawkins, Allegheny Ridge Corporation

For more than a decade, many watershed associations have experienced little or no increases or turnover in board leadership and volunteer rolls.  They devote their time and expertise toward projects, and have little to devote to board and volunteer recruitment/donor development, training and orientation, recognition and retention.  To help address this issue, Allegheny Ridge Corporation is working on a capacity development initiative with 3 watershed associations in the Kiskiminetas Valley. The goal is to establish sustainability for watershed associations using the following objectives: evaluate board, volunteer, and financial needs/strengths; create board and volunteer training and orientation materials; implement local, targeted marketing; engage 5-10 new board members, volunteers, donors per each association.  The project is designed to leave associations with replicable materials and strategies for ongoing application.  This project was financed in part with a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, the Heritage Areas Program Fund under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, and managed by Allegheny Ridge Corporation as part of its signature initiative, the Pittsburgh-to-Harrisburg Main Line Canal Greenway™.  The Greenway is a 320-mile corridor of heritage sites and hub communities linked by land and water trails.  Grant funding was also made possible through the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds (FPW). FPW is a nonprofit, grant-making organization working to protect the best and restore the rest of Pennsylvania’s streams.

Laura is the Greenway Coordinator with the Allegheny Ridge Corporation, where she has worked for over 20 years.  She has 35 years of experience.  She was educated at WVU in social work and community mental health.

Understanding AMD Data – Is it Good or is it Crap? – Tim Danehy, BioMost, Inc.

Water analysis data for abandoned mine drainage (AMD) is the foundation on which all water treatment projects are built. It is paramount that the samples are collected in a location and manner that will provide the best information possible to avoid costly design mistakes. The quality of the data received from the laboratory is just as important. Over 20 years ago the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM), Tiff Hilton, Chuck Cravotta, and others led a successful effort to ensure that laboratories reported correct values for acidity. The author has witnessed an erosion of this institutional knowledge and hopes to bring the importance of good data to the forefront of AMD treatment. This presentation will discuss where and how to collect water samples, field techniques (including flow measurement), how to review laboratory results to ensure that we are using good data, and how to check if your data is crap.  

Tim is the President of BioMost, Inc, which was established 30 years ago.  He is a graduate of Slippery Rock with a BS of Environmental Science.

Update on BAMR Projects and Funding – Joe Sassaman, PA DEP BAMR

Presentation will discuss updates to abandoned mine land funding, current projects, and ongoing priorities.

Joe is the Assistant Bureau Director for PA DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR).  He has 17 years of experience with BAMR and has an MS in Geoenvironmental Studies, LPG.

DEP-BAMR AML/AMD Grant Program Stats – Cindy Wolfe, PA DEP BAMR

Join us to review the statistics of the AML/AMD Grant Program since its inception in 2022 and participate in an open discussion regarding the information shared.

Cindy is the current Grant Program Manager for the AML/AMD Grant Program.  She has worked for PA DEP for over 25 years.

AML/AMD Grant Program Updates – Cindy Wolfe, PA DEP BAMR

What’s new in 2026? Are more changes on the horizon? We’ll discuss the program updates which occurred in 2026 and discover how those changes may impact current or future applicants and/or subrecipients under the Program.

Cindy is the current Grant Program Manager for the AML/AMD Grant Program. She has worked for PA DEP for over 25 years.

Navigating 2CFR200 Compliance:  Understanding Procurement, Indirect Rate Cost Determination, and Allowable Costs – Deb Nardone, Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds

The Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds (FPW) will lead a practical and accessible session on navigating 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) for nonprofit organizations and grant recipients. This presentation will break down key compliance requirements – including allowable costs, procurement standards, indirect cost rates, and financial management systems – into clear, actionable guidance. Drawing on FPW’s experience as both a grantmaker and a steward of federal funds, the session will highlight common pitfalls, share real-world examples, and offer tools to help organizations strengthen compliance while maintaining mission focus.  Participants will leave with a stronger understanding of federal grant requirements and strategies to confidently manage and implement funded projects.

Deb is the Executive Director for the Foundation of Pennsylvania Watersheds.  She has spent over 30 years working on water quality issues.  Deb has a BS from Juniata college in geology and political science, MS from Penn State in Environmental Pollution Control.

Nonprofit Organizational Management and Capacity Building – Tali MacArthur, Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR)

This presentation will focus on various elements of Community Watershed Organization (CWO) best management practices and requirements for effective, sustainable, fair, and responsible organizational management. Topics covered will include: Board of Directors and Officers Recruitment BMPs, including fiduciary responsibilities and rights, Risk Management (Insurance), Accounting and Records Retention BMPs, Nonprofit Registration Required Reporting to maintain charitable status (BCO, 990s, etc), Donations Acknowledgements. This presentation will also present and share nonprofit capacity-building tools and tips, including resources related to: Volunteer Recruitment, Retention and Acknowledgment, Fundraising and Sponsorships, Assessing Stakeholder and Constituent Opinions of your Organization for improved services, Identifying Board Needs, Fiscal Sponsorship. Please note that this presentation will not be giving legal advice. The presenter is not an attorney.

Tali has been the Director of POWR for 8 years and in the industry for about 20. She has a BS in Marine Science and an MS in Marine Affairs

Long-term Performance and Costs for Passive Treatment Systems in PA – Bob Hedin, Hedin Environmental

Many substantial passive treatment systems are approaching 15-20 years of operation. The treatment performance, construction costs, and operational costs will be presented for several systems operating in PA. Similar evaluations will be conducted of conventional chemical treatment systems. The comparison will provide insights into treatment reliability and long-term treatment costs.

Bob Hedin has a BA from St. Lawrence University and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Rutgers University.

How to Develop a Watershed Restoration Plan – Ben Hedin, Hedin Environmental

Your watershed is polluted by AMD, so you formed a watershed group, got the conservation district and DEP interested in funding projects, and located some discharges. Now what? Where to start? What problems to prioritize? You need a plan! A proper watershed restoration plan prioritizes projects and guides restoration efforts based on data. A good plan 1) documents baseline conditions, 2) prioritizes projects, 3) determines Title V/IV eligibility, 4) determines stream mile benefits per project, and 5) monitors priority discharges. The presentation will discuss what information is needed to create a good watershed restoration plan, pitfalls to avoid, and successful examples.

Dr. Ben Hedin, PhD, is the President of Hedin Environmental and has worked in the field for 13 years.

Phillips Discharge Phase 1 Feasibility Study – Ben Roman, Tetra Tech (Tt) & Deb Nardone, Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds (FPW)

The Foundation for PA Watersheds retained Tetra Tech to complete a Phase 1 Feasibility Study to evaluate options for controlling abandoned mine drainage impacting Redstone Creek near Uniontown, PA. The Phillips Discharge is the largest source of AMD in the Redstone Creek Watershed and contributes to the lower 16 miles of the stream being impaired. The study reviewed historical mine pool and discharge data, evaluated current flow and water chemistry, characterized the mine pool, and assessed treatment site alternatives through parcel screening for key treatment components and conveyance routes. Based on the discharge characteristics, Tetra Tech also developed a conceptual treatment design tailored to the net alkaline, Fe(II)-dominant source water, incorporating oxidation, flocculation, gravity thickening clarification with sludge recycle, and related solids handling considerations. Collectively, the study established a technical and siting framework for future centralized AMD control and treatment within the watershed.

Ben is a new Environmental Engineer with Tetra Tech and recently graduated from Penn State.

Measurement and interpretations of acidity, specific conductance, and pH for mine water treatment – Charles A. Cravotta III, Cravotta Geochemical Consulting LLC

Specific conductance (SC), hot peroxide acidity, and pH are routinely used to indicate the severity of contamination and potentially applicable treatment steps for acid mine drainage (AMD). In general, AMD that has low pH and high SC tends to have elevated concentrations of acidity, sulfate, and dissolved metal(oid)s, including Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, Cu, and others. In this presentation, geochemical modeling using PHREEQC is applied to explore the contributions of various solutes to the measured acidity and SC. The Standard Method “hot” acidity is a widely used, intensive laboratory method. The hot acidity indicates the “net acidity” for samples containing alkalinity and dissolved metals. A positive value for the hot acidity indicates (1) the potential for acidic pH (< 6.0) upon reaching atmospheric equilibrium, and (2) the alkalinity deficiency (needed) to maintain pH ≥ 6. For this presentation, an independent estimate of acidity is computed according to four methods: net acidity, total acidity, speciated acidity, and caustic titration. The conventional computation of net acidity uses the pH and analytical concentrations of Fe, Al, Mn, and alkalinity. The total acidity considers these constituents plus additional elements, with contribution factors from -1 to +3. A factor from 0 to 1 is multiplied by the sulfate concentration, depending on how much is present as bisulfate (HSO4-) (factor of 1) versus SO4-2 (factor of 0). Similar to total acidity, the speciated acidity assigns a contribution factor to each species (rather than the analytical concentrations). Lastly, the caustic acidity is the theoretical amount of base to reach pH 8.3 after a sample has been equilibrated with the atmosphere. Because contributions by certain metal(oid)s and bisulfate are excluded, the net acidity underestimates the measured acidity of extreme AMD (pH <3, SC >5000 S/cm). In comparison, estimates for the three expanded methods (total acidity, speciated acidity, and caustic titration) are in close agreement with the measured acidity. Using the same analytical concentrations of elements considered for the total acidity and speciated acidity, SC is estimated as the sum of ionic conductivities of individual charged species. Considering these results, the primary sources of conductivity may be identified, particularly sulfate, metals, magnesium, and calcium. Using these new computation methods, analytical results can be evaluated for quality assurance through comparisons of the measured and computed values of acidity and SC and their corresponding element contributions.

Dr. Cravotta is an internationally recognized scientist with more than 40 years of professional experience, mostly as a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, until December 30, 2023. He established Cravotta Geochemical Consulting LLC (“CGC”) for continued involvement with colleagues, students, and watershed groups.

Request for Presentations

The PA AMR Conference Planning Committee is accepting presentation proposals for this conference. Please use our Request for Presentations form to let us know you are interested and to submit information about your presentation.

We encourage a wide range of topic submissions, including but not limited to:

  • New abandoned mine drainage (AMD) treatment system technologies, tools, and products
  • Construction case studies and lessons learned
  • Abandoned Mine Land (AML) reclamation, reforestation, and reuse
  • Water quality monitoring and other field work
  • Operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation of treatment systems
  • Non-profit organization capacity issues
  • Community involvement, volunteer engagement, education, and outreach
  • Coal mining history and heritage preservation
  • Mapping, drones, equipment, and other helpful new technologies
  • Legislative updates and concerns at all levels of government
  • Economic redevelopment, health and safety, and quality of life topics
  • Climate change, energy, and mine pool reuse (ex. geothermal and rare earth element extraction)

In the past, we have had such varied topics as the history of baseball in coal patch towns, prevention of Lyme disease, preserving collieries, computer software designed technologies, reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Fund, economic benefits of reclamation, abandoned mine land issues in Germany and Bolivia, the establishment and support of non-profit organizations, and everything in between. If your topic can be related to what our community does, we would love to consider it for the conference!

Submissions and questions should be emailed to Anne Daymut at anne@wpcamr.org.