The Susquehanna Greenway is a corridor of farms, forests, parks, trails, and river towns that connects people to the natural and cultural treasures of the Susquehanna River. Nearly 500 miles long, it is Pennsylvania’s largest greenway. The Susquehanna’s water, timber, coal, and minerals built and powered a growing nation in the 1800s and 1900s, but clear-cutting timber and coal mining without proper environmental protections left contaminated soils and streams for later generations to clean up. Through the work of Pennsylvania conservationists such as Gifford Pinchot, Joseph Rothrock, and Rachel Carson, forests and streams were largely restored, and a clearer understanding emerged of the link between land use, clean water, and healthy communities. Continuing that conservation movement, the greenway offers opportunities to explore river towns and land and water trails. The Susquehanna River watershed provides drinking water to over six million people and nearly half of the fresh water entering the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary. Named for its earliest inhabitants, the Susquehannock Indians, the river’s scenic beauty and rich natural resources have long drawn people to its shores.