The Susquehannock Wildlife Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
PURPOSE STATEMENT
We exist for one reason, to protect wildlife. This may be done in many creative ways but it will always be the glue that binds us together as an organization. Whether it is through public education, conservation efforts, rescue, research or legislation, we will stand as a helping hand and voice for wildlife.
VALUES
• This society is a built on the passion and love of its members for wildlife and conservation.
• We speak as a collective voice for the common good of those we seek to protect. There is to be no individual gain or profit.
• We will do everything in our power to restore health to injured, orphaned or sick wildlife, utilizing our partners to ensure prompt and proper care.
• We will be steadfast in our goal to build a place for people to enjoy, learn, and talk about wildlife; a centralized home to research and provide refuge for species in need.
• At times we will affiliate with and support other like-minded organizations with common goals to further our reach and effectiveness.
• We will teach at every opportunity we are given. This is the most certain way to ensure wildlife survival. Through teaching we create a bridge for the next generation to take the torch and continue our work.
• We are an active group who practices what we preach. We should find ourselves out in the forests, rivers, and wetlands more than not. We will seek to always choose natural over man-made venues for our gatherings.
• We can support legislation and engage in issues that will affect wildlife but do not endorse politicians.
• We are not merely a social club but an action oriented society driven by the collective energy towards saving wildlife. We are not here to dwell on philosophy but make a difference.
SUSQUEHANNOCK WILDLIFE SOCIETY, INC. STAFF & BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Scott McDaniel – President, Creative Media Director, Founder
Growing up in Carroll County, Scott spent most of his childhood playing in streams, searching for reptiles and amphibians (with a particular obsession with turtles), reading books about wildlife and watching nature shows like Wild America. His family would go crabbing around the Chesapeake Bay and explore local parks every weekend it could. Through his involvement in Boy Scouts he would learn valuable outdoor skills and how to serve one’s community, eventually receiving the honor of Eagle Scout. He sought to pursue an educational path where he could share stories and advocate for issues he felt passionate about so he studied photography, video and graphic design in college, earning a Bachelors of Science in Electronic Media & Film at Towson University.
A few years after graduating he moved to Harford County where he now resides with his wife April and sons, Jude and Dylan, having fallen in love with this region of Maryland due to its incredible diversity of wildlife habitat and species as well its wealth of opportunities for outdoor recreation such as hiking and kayaking. He loves to travel around the country and take roadtrips, especially to enjoy wildlife and our National Parks, but has always felt strongly about protecting local wildlife in our own communities. Wanting to find ways to contribute to public education and conservation, he served on the board for the Mid-Atlantic Turtle & Tortoise Society, volunteered for various research projects with Maryland Department of Natural Resources and became a Harford County co-coordinator for the Maryland Amphibian & Reptile Atlas Project, a five year survey of the distribution of herp species in the state. From there Scott wanted to expand his formal knowledge in research and environmental education so he trained to become a Maryland Master Naturalist.
In 2011 Scott helped co-found Susquehannock Wildlife Society as one of the original directors of the then 100% volunteer organization. From its humble beginnings, he would help lead the organization as its first board president, serving the community and its wildlife through hands on rescues, environmental education, ecotourism events, habitat restoration, conservation efforts, advocacy, and scientific research while using his creative media background to create a variety of engaging video, articles and graphics for the organizations growing social media presence. Scott was proud to transition to Executive Director, as the organization’s first full time paid staff member, so he could be dedicated for five years to complete the construction and open of the Wildlife Center while helping to build a successful future for the organization.
As of summer of 2024, he again serves as a volunteer member of the board, starting a new term as President.
John Garrison – Conservation Director & Research Coordinator
John Garrison has spent the majority of his life in Harford County, Maryland where he developed his passion for wildlife on his family’s farm. He began connecting with the outdoors as a child while hunting and exploring with his parents and two siblings. John’s love for reptiles, amphibians, and nature led him to cross paths with Susquehannock Wildlife Society in 2016, and since has contributed to various research projects with the organization.John graduated from Harford Technical High School, then attended Harford Community College and Frostburg State University, where he earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Wildlife Biology. John received a Masters of Science degree studying Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England, where he collaborated on research projects involving Spotted, Bog, Red-bellied, Wood and Blanding’s Turtles. John hopes to combine wildlife research and environmental education to get more people interested in environmental protection throughout his career.
John is now employed by SWS as its first Conservation Director. This role serves to provide a stronger focus to our scientific research projects, in particular our NFWF Chesapeake WILD grant funded Wood Turtle study, and fulfill needed outreach, event planning, and land management.
Hunter Howell, PhD – Vice President
Hunter grew up in Southern Harford County on the edge of Gunpowder Falls State park where he explored extensively as a kid and where he worked for six years throughout high school and college. He received his undergraduate degree in Organismal Ecology with Honors from Towson University. During this time he joined the SWS in 2013 as the research and intern coordinator. In 2023, Hunter received his PhD at the University of Miami where he was awarded a Dean’s fellowship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Hunter’s research focuses on the intersection between population biology and conservation by seeking to understand population dynamics and apply those data to conservation problems. While the majority of his research focus on the conservation of imperiled turtle populations, he has also worked on behavioral ecology, community declines in amphibians, and the impact of conservation techniques on communities across the Everglades landscape.
Caitlin Beckjord – Secretary
Caitlin Beckjord has loved the natural world for as long as she can remember. She spent most of her childhood out in the woods around her family’s small farm in Howard County, returning home covered in dirt, with various bruises, and usually carrying a critter or plant of some sort. Every summer she can be found at the Howard County Fair where she showed her 4-H projects and animals for ten years and now collaborates in running the Kids & Critters Barn.
After getting her GED Caitlin started at Howard Community College and graduated in 2019 with an AA in Environmental Science. While at HCC she spent several years studying a stream. Her research was presented at multiple conferences and published in a journal. She is currently at UMBC studying Environmental Science and Geography where she is a teaching assistant and works with multiple research groups in her spare time. She also works in Howard Community College’s greenhouse and microbiology lab. She has helped with MDNR Stream Waders, Baltimore City forest patch surveys, Sea Urchin research at BIOS in Bermuda, Northern Cardinal, Box Turtle, and Spiderweb studies.
Caitlin currently works at the Maryland Reptile Conservation Center in Dickerson Maryland, where she cares for the Center’s various turtles, crocodilians, venomous, and nonvenomous snakes. With her background holding multiple 4-H officer positions, secretary roles in other organizations, and passion for field research, Caitlin seeks to help make a positive impact on Maryland’s wildlife and environment.
Cheryl Curry – Treasurer
Cheryl has always called Maryland home. She grew up enjoying family vacations at the Calvert County beaches and her love of being outdoors and appreciation of nature grew from there. Cheryl works as a senior accountant for a local tech company. Volunteering is important to her, and she has volunteered with Bello Machre, Boys & Girls Club, MD Food Bank, Moveable Feast and Senior Dog Sanctuary. Cheryl also served as a girl scout troop treasurer and church treasurer.
Cheryl enjoys spending time with family and friends. You can often find her exploring our Maryland parks enjoying the tranquility of the great outdoors. Cheryl loves birdwatching and the many woodland creatures that call her back yard home. She also enjoys cooking, reading and flower gardening.
Jennifer Schiavone-Blake – Rescue Coordinator
Through the military, Jenny moved to Maryland in 2010 and then to Harford County in 2017. She served for 12 years in the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a medic and flight medic, including a tour in Afghanistan, and currently works as a Specialty Care Transport paramedic with MedStar Health. She holds AAS degrees in Emergency Medical Services and Practice Nursing Technology, and recently earned her Flight Paramedic Certification. Her enlistment in the military, a decade of service in one of the busiest fire departments in the country, and her continued work on a team transporting critically ill patients, have taught her valuable skills in mission planning and operations, team building, and personnel development.
In addition to public service, Jenny has had a lifelong passion for nature, growing up in South Florida and spending much of her free time hiking in the Everglades or scuba diving on the coral reefs and in the mangroves. This passion has led her to volunteer with various wildlife and domestic animal organizations over the last 30 years. Upon moving to Harford County, her husband, John, a lifelong county resident, introduced her to Susquehanna State Park and they began participating in events hosted by SWS. Last summer, Jenny and her husband contacted SWS to assist with the rescue of an Osprey from a nest platform on Route 40. Jenny and Scott McDaniel, of SWS, assessed the first year fledgling, which was then transported to a wildlife rehabilitator by DNR, and which made a full recovery.
Jenny’s lifelong passion for nature and her love for reptiles and amphibians, and her decades of experience in followership and leadership, will make her a valuable addition to the SWS team. She looks forward to further growing the SWS volunteer program, the opening of the Wildlife Center, and serving the public and wildlife of the region.
Bob Chance – Environmental Advisor, Founder
PAST FOUNDERS NOT FEATURED ABOVE
Chris Todd – Founder
Brian Goodman – Founder
SUSQUEHANNOCK HISTORY
Susquehannock is the name once given to those who inhabited these life giving lands that border the Susquehanna river and its watershed. The “people of the muddy river” as they were sometimes called, had a bond with wildlife and the environment that was of a spiritual nature. This land and all that was found in it were critical to their survival and they felt it was their duty to protect it and treat it with the reverence it deserved. We, as an organization, want to pay tribute and where lost, reignite that bond between humans and nature that often gets forgotten as we all continue to adapt to the modern era.
We are not the first to pay tribute to the people who came before us. The Susquehannock Environmental Center was formed by a group of environmentally minded citizens at a time when recycling was not commonplace as it is today. With the endangered species act just being enacted in 1973, recycling was the most tangible environmental cause to promote on a local level. More then thirty years have gone by, now that recycling and most environmental issues are recognized by the majority of households, (thanks in part to the efforts of the Susquehannock Environmental Center) a new generation of enthusiasts seek to take the torch and lend a helping hand to one of the most critical environmental issues of our time – wildlife conservation.
While all things are connected in some way on this planet, some causes are larger than we can change on a local level. Thankfully, many groups are working hard on accomplishing improvements in air and water quality in our region. Wildlife, however, need as much help as they can get and many species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Wildlife conservation is something that we can all personally contribute to with results that will echo throughout generations to come. The Susquehannock Wildlife Society has been formed for that purpose, to protect wildlife and ensure populations remain intact and healthy for countless generations to enjoy.
