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Pam Meade
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“Pam Meade personifies watershed
work in Pennsylvania. Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious
and her commitment is second to none. It’s people like Pam that
make you feel good about going to work everyday.”
— Ben Wright |
Pam Meade — Cowanshannock
Creek and Crooked Creek Watersheds
By Producer, Kelly Meinhart
 f
it were up to me to come up with a catch phrase to describe
Pam it would be "Because I can." I
think Pam would attribute some of this 'can do' power to her
Scottish/Irish heritage; she herself admits that as things began
to get done in her watershed that it became a quest for her
to make it continue. She comments, "I see what a beautiful county
we have, a gem really, and we need to fight hard to save it
and preserve it." Twenty years later, she's still fighting and
leading the way.
spent two days in Pam's home watersheds of Cowanshannock Creek
and Crooked Creek, located in Western Pennsylvania in Indiana
and Armstrong Counties. By the end of our tour I was totally
immersed in the area. All in all we visited over a dozen project
sites that have been completed through volunteer community efforts
of the folks that call these beautiful watersheds home. I saw
everything from fish hatcheries to rail trails to complicated
abandoned mine treatment projects.
 he's
just one of those people that gets you going. I'm not quite
sure where she finds all that spunky energy, but it's electrifying.
Maybe it's because prior to being a full-time volunteer for
the environment, she made her career as a pre-school teacher.
It takes a special kind of energy to keep up with 4-year olds
— and I think it's to everyone's benefit that Pam retired
early from teaching, and now expends that energy on watersheds.
he
grew up in Western Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood summers
learning about nature by traveling. "I spent my summers with
one month at a farm in Mercer County, one month at Lake Erie,
and one month on the Chesapeake Bay." She says that seeing the
differences between these areas gave her a unique appreciation
for the natural world. To that, she adds that she's always been
a nature lover and a conservationist, "I was recycling before
it was hip, and I've always lived my life in a non-consumptive
way - consume as little as possible and make it better than
the way you found it."
 hen
it comes to conservation and volunteer efforts, Pam is serious
business. "I've always been a firm believer in that the idea
that the things that get done in a community, get done when
people in your own backyards are working together to make it
happen. It doesn't come down from Federal or State agencies
— it comes up from your own community." The counties in
which Pam works, Indiana and Armstrong, are vast and rural —
yet everyone seems to know Pam. That's because she's out there
making the connections and pulling people in to work together.
ick Pinizzotto, Director of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's
Watershed Assistance Center, (WPCWAC), has worked with Pam on
many watershed projects, and calls her friend, comments: "When
you look up the word commitment in the dictionary, don't be
surprised if you see a picture of Pam Meade. Pam is the glue
that holds both the Cowanshannock and Crooked Creek Watershed
Associations together. For over twenty years she has been an
environmental activist in Armstrong County, and if those years
are any example, hold your breath for the next twenty! Pam's
energy and commitment are directly responsible for dozens of
projects being completed in the community. She is a great mover
of people, is well liked in the community and is a great personal
friend of mine. Naming her a Watershed Hero is entirely appropriate."
hen
I asked Pam how she got involved in watershed work, she had
this to say: "I went to the meetings because it was my local
community doing things, and I wanted to know what was going
on. I stayed because of the people." While Pam works in two
watersheds, it is the Cowanshannock Creek watershed that she
calls home, not only because it's where she resides - but also
because her fellow volunteers are like her family. "The board
is like a family, we socialize together, our kids grew up together,
we truly do things as a community. Most of the work that has
gotten done in our watershed has happened because we all got
involved. Some people may not be big volunteers, but if I ask
them to help out with something — they're committed, and
they show up. Most of the original work we've accomplished in
the watershed got done not because of State or Federal monies,
but from the nickels we gathered together, and because of the
sweat we contributed."
 nother
friend of Pam's, Ben Wright, is the Watershed Resource Specialist
for WPCWAC, and actually coordinated much of our two-day tour
of the watershed projects, comments: "Pam Meade personifies
watershed work in Pennsylvania. Her energy and enthusiasm is
contagious and her commitment is second to none. It's people
like Pam that make you feel good about going to work everyday."
 am
isn't just one of those folks who gets involved, drives hard
and forward, and sets out to change the world in a week. For
Pam, conservation is a way of life. She lives on 100-acres of
preserved forestland where she lives with her son, David and
their two dogs. The house itself sits near Little Craig's Run,
which is a tributary to the Cowanshannock Creek. A nearby natural
spring provides water for the house, and a pond supplies water
for the toilets in times of drought, as well as fish for dinner.
She's always grown a garden, composts everything, and believes
in working 'with' the land rather than trying to change it.
 er
lifestyle isn't just her way of living, but it seems like it's
also her way of communicating with others. Her son, David, is
a writer, and at 24 is on his way to publishing his first novel.
David is clearly Pam's pride and joy. He's grown up surrounded
by the teachings of the natural world, and with Pam's watershed
family. She comments, "The natural world has been there as a
line of communications between us — even when there otherwise
would've been nothing else."
am
has touched the lives of so many people, most likely everyone
she has met, and has accomplished incredible things for her
community. She is a true advocate for the environment, friend
to all things wild and natural, and understands the bigger picture
and her place within it. I think that Nick said it best with
"if those years are any example, hold your breath for the next
twenty!" Indeed, hold your breath!
 hanks
to Ben and Carla from the WPCWAC for organizing my two-day trip,
and to Pam Meade for not only spending two days with me, but
for sharing herself and her time to make the world a better
place for everyone.
More information:
 Watersheds.tv
weekly feature on Cowanshannock Creek Watershed
Watersheds.tv weekly feature on Crooked Creek Watershed
See past Watershed Heroes here!
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