.png)
Our Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association is comprised of dedicated environmental advocates and professionals focused on protecting our local waterways. Their leadership drives sustainable initiatives that safeguard the health and beauty of our rivers for future generations.
Michael Garrigan
Michael Garrigan lives along the Susquehanna River in Marietta. He teaches high school English in York County and spends time each day along the river walking his dogs, riding his bike, or looking for the next place he'll cast his fly rod. He grew up in Elizabethtown and spent many summer nights rock hopping out as far as he could on the slick diabase potholes at Conewago Falls, where he fell in love with being on the water.
Michael has a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, a teaching degree from Millersville University, and an MA in English & Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. In his early twenties, he spent three years working on trail crews through the National Park and Forest Service in Maine, Colorado, and California, where he fell in love with wild places of all kinds. When he isn't along the river, he is often found in the backcountry hiking and fly fishing for wild trout or riding a bike on a gravel road through some cherished public land.
He is the author of two poetry collections — River, Amen (winner of the Weatherford Award for Poetry) and Robbing the Pillars — and his writing has appeared in Orion Magazine, The FlyFish Journal, and Gray's Sporting Journal. His work has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, Best Spiritual Literature, and The Pushcart Prize. Michael was also the Artist in Residence for The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area and believes every watershed should have a Poet Laureate.
Mitch Hyson
Mitch is a native of York County who grew up just outside of Stewartstown. Growing up in this rural area meant spending a lot of time outside and enjoying a wide variety of outdoor activities like kayaking, camping, and hiking. This upbringing, and many years in scouting, fostered in him a passion for the outdoors at an early age, a passion that he later sought to turn into a career.
After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from West Chester University, he pursued a Masters degree in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Johns Hopkins University which he completed Spring of 24’. Mitch first discovered the LSRA while researching local environmental issues and has been excited about the organization’s mission ever since.
Sarah Jennings
Sarah is Program Manager for Earth Force. She coordinates the Caring for Our Watersheds Chesapeake Bay challenge. She also coaches and trains educators, school districts, and environmental informal educators on Environmental Action Civics, across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed region.
Sarah is passionate about connecting young people to nature in an equitable way and fostering stewardship of the Earth by empowering young people to be environmental advocates.
She loves to trek, trail run, bike, kayak, sail, snowboard, XC ski, experience new cultures and countries, and adventure with her rescue pup, Zazu.
Sarah also coaches soccer at Spring Grove High School and volunteers at the Horn Family Farm, learning and participating in ecological restoration in her free time.
Christina Kauffman
Christina "Chris" Kauffman's family has lived in York County's Susquehanna River hills for generations.
She grew up near Green Branch and baited her first hook at Cherry Rock. As a teen, she fell asleep to the low moan of train horns from across the water in Columbia.
Chris is passionate about educating the public, supporting commonsense pollution-reduction policies, and inspiring people and industry to be better stewards of natural resources.
Chris was a York County newspaper reporter and editor for 15 years before entering a career in state and national government and politics.
She likes to bike, hike, kayak, swim, grow things, make art, travel, tinker, sing made-up songs to her cat, and improve her Spanish speaking and writing skills.
Pat Larish
Pat was born in York and now lives in Lancaster, joining the LSRA Board of Directors to continue her life-long love of the Susquehanna River.
After retiring from her position as a school librarian, Pat was a chaplain at Lancaster General Hospital and now stewards an online spiritual community. From May to November she is in her kayak on the Susquehanna at least once a week.
Being a member of the LSRA Board aligns her passion for the river with the necessary action to keep it clean and available for all of us, for all the years to come.
Pam Lazos
Pam’s deep connection with the natural world, particularly water, began in the swamps of Jersey and has continued throughout her life. In 1990, she started working at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia, where she handled complex civil and administrative litigation matters, mainly under the Clean Water Act and Superfund. She stayed for 33 years. In 1994, she moved to Central PA and began writing a novel, Oil and Water, putting her long commute on the train to good use. It was her first real foray into using fiction as a teaching tool.
Pam believes that if we start with two essential premises: 1) we are all drinking dinosaur pee, and 2) everything we do ends up in the water, we might stand a chance of turning the tide on our current State of the Planet, but we need to start with the end goal in mind, and that means accountability at all levels (think globally, act locally).
Plastics, PFAS, pharmaceuticals, arsenic, lead, nitrates, and nitrites (fertilizer), organic chemicals like glyphosate (roundup), and trichloroethylene (used to make refrigerants and degreasing solvents) are just a few examples on an agonizingly long list of harmful contaminants, all of which ultimately end up in our rivers and streams, all of which are cruel to our aquatic systems and crueler our bodies. According to the UN, over 85,000 children worldwide die from diarrhea each year due to a lack of access to WASH — water, sanitation, and hygiene. According to USGS, microplastics have reached the world’s most remote places, from the deepest parts of the ocean to the highest mountains on Earth.
Pam believes we do this work because our children and their progeny deserve to inherit a planet free of environmental contaminants where they can drink the water, breathe the air, and eat the food without worry. It’s possibly the most critical work of our time. What do you say we create a space where we and the planet can flourish together?
Justin Mando
Justin Mando, a Pennsylvania native, has been serving on the LSRA Board of Directors since late 2019. He has been an Assistant Professor of Science and Technical Writing at Millersville University since 2016. Prior to that, he lived in Pittsburgh where he earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University. Through his academic career, Justin has studied how people argue on behalf of the natural world. He has published articles in the journal Environmental Communication among others and has a forthcoming book on the rhetoric of the fracking debate in Pennsylvania.
Justin Mando was born and raised on Lake Erie, spent summers at Chautauqua Lake in western New York where his father worked, he attended college in Vermont along Lake Champlain, and he taught English as a Second Language along the Vltava River in Prague and the Danube in Bratislava. Standing on Charles Bridge astride the Vltava, he met his wife, Marika, and they started a family together at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. They have two children, Nella and Sonia. Despite being close to water his whole life, coming to know the Susquehanna River and this watershed has been a revelation. Standing waist deep in the mighty Susquehanna fishing for smallmouth bass for the first time, he found a new sense of purpose. This has led him to focus his academic work on connecting students to the Susquehanna and on raising awareness of issues facing this enduring place.
Jason McGarry
Jason is the owner and operator of Cornerstone Barbershop and Shave Parlour, located in the heart of historic downtown York. For the past six years, Jason and his team have been actively involved in the community, organizing neighborhood cleanups, co-hosting the annual CreekFire event, and collaborating with local non-profits to raise funds and collect donations for various causes.
A lifelong connection to the region's waterways has shaped Jason's personal and professional life. Born in his family home along the banks of the Susquehanna River in Wrightsville, Jason spent much of his childhood exploring the river's natural beauty. His deep love for the outdoors continues to drive his passion for conservation, and he is often seen hiking, fly fishing, and cycling throughout the Susquehanna Valley.
Jason is a staunch advocate for the preservation of local waterways, believing that every individual can contribute to their health and sustainability. Whether through volunteering for cleanup efforts or reducing single-use plastics, Jason encourages others to take proactive steps toward protecting and improving the environment for future generations.
Sally Reynolds
Sally is originally from Erie but has lived around the country and in Canada, landing in Lancaster about 25 years ago. She has a BA in History from Temple University and an MPS in Hotel Administration from Cornell University. Sally has spent the past thirty years working in digital marketing, database marketing, marketing analytics, operations management, and project management, currently serving as the Director of Digital Marketing Operations at LNP Media Group.
Sally is a bird watcher, hiker, and runner and loves reading fantasy and sci-fi. She has a strong interest in preserving our natural world and hopes to spend her retirement volunteering with organizations that contribute to environmental preservation in Lancaster County.
Sally lives with her husband of 33 years, Dan, and they love to spend time with their three daughters and two dogs.
Scott Tryon
Scott was born and raised in the Finger Lakes region of western New York, as well as years spent in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania, and was introduced early to the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers.
Scott is a proud veteran of the United States Navy and a grateful father of three terrific children (two daughters and a son).
Scott has resided in Lancaster County since 2006 and enjoys time spent on and around the river (and its tributaries) kayaking, hiking and appreciating the beauty that is all around us.
Scott is naturally drawn to the water and as his grandfather would say: “we are all stewards of the land” – and so he is committed to being an active and supportive part of LSRA.
.png)