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 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
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.
Allison Yancone – Vice President
Allison has been passionate about the outdoors since she was a child. Growing up fishing, crabbing, hunting, and camping with her family in Harford, Baltimore, and Somerset Counties fostered a relationship of gratitude with our environment. Her meaningful connections with the Gunpowder and Susquehanna Rivers have inspired her to protect our natural resources for all living beings. She encourages others to embrace nature and its benefits by promoting outdoor recreation, living a life of intention, and teaching others about environmental stewardship and conservation. In May of 2018, she graduated from the inaugural Harford County Master Watershed Stewards Academy. She completed her A.S. in Environmental Science from HCC and graduated in 2020 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Studies with a concentration in Informal Education from Towson University. Allison has been a Public Safety Dispatcher for about twenty years. She lives in Street in Harford County, Maryland with her husband and two young children.
Hunter Howell, PhD – Research Coordinator
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.
Matt Hafner – Secretary
Matt has always been interested in wildlife. Until high school, that interest was mostly found in books rather than the real world. Through the mentorship of his high school biology teacher, Spike Updegrove, Matt found the joy of birds and birding. An interest became an obsession and soon he was traveling all over the county, state, and country in search of new birds. Matt has been active in the Maryland Ornithological Society for over 20 years and currently serves as Chair of Maryland/DC Records Committee. In addition, he has served as President of the Harford Bird Club, as a member of the Audubon Important Bird Area Technical Committee, and as co-coordinator for Harford County in the Maryland Breeding Bird Atlas. He has participated in multiple birding competitions such as the World Series of Birding and Great Texas Birding Classic, where his team won the Grand Prize three straight years. However, his greatest birding enjoyment comes from sharing his passion with others.
Matt has a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. He currently works as a Regulatory and Compliance Engineer at the Maryland Department of the Environment. Matt lives in Forest Hill with his wife Kim and sons Alex and Nate. The family loves spending time along the creeks and in the woods of our beautiful county.
Jessica Knouse – Treasurer
Jessica was born and raised in Northern Harford county. As a lover of the outdoors and conservation, she regularly enjoys hiking, camping, and spending time in the many parks Maryland has to offer. She attended Frostburg State University, where she studied music in undergrad and later graduated with a MBA. Currently, Jessica works as a Bookkeeper for an accounting firm serving small businesses and creative entrepreneurs. Jessica is married to her husband of 15 years and they have four children together, that are all very active in Scouting.
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
In 1972, Bob Chance founded the Susquehannock Environmental Center, a recycling facility that operated for more than 30 years. The Center was the nation’s oldest continually operating recycling center, surviving fire, unfavorable political climates and more, before closing in 2004. Chance served as a beloved teacher at Bel Air High School and C. Milton Wright High School, chairman of the Environmental Task Force of Harford County, Executive Director and trails manager for the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway, performer as Ranger Bob on the Romper Room Television program, site manager of the Otter Point estuary and much more. Bob encouraged the founding of the Susquehannock Wildlife Society as a way to pass the torch from the Environmental Center to a new generation of conservationists.
PAST CO-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.
