Triple Divide Caretakers (TDC) are dedicated citizens working to research, educate and inform the public about activities within the Triple Divide watershed of Pennsylvania. In 2013, a six member group formed TDC in partnership with Save Our Streams Pa., Public Herald, and with help from Mountain Watershed Association.

The area of Triple Divide is designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an Environmental Justice (EJ) zone, and contributes to the largest section of High Quality (HQ) & Exceptional Value (EV) streams classified by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Triple Divide Caretakers will act to ensure that HQ and EV classifications are preserved; share valuable information to residents within the EJ zone; and promote outdoor educational and recreational activities to the public.

What is Triple Divide?

As one of only four triple continental divides on the North American continent, everything is downstream for Triple Divide. From this peak, rain from a single storm can end up on three separate sides of the continent – in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, the Chesapeake Bay on the eastern seaboard, and the Gulf of Mexico. This vast water basin is drained by three major rivers – the Allegheny, the Genesee, and the Susquehanna.

Triple Divide headwaters don’t just feed the largest area of Exceptional Value — specially regulated water bodies in Pennsylvania -— they also drain into part of the state’s largest stand of primitive forest, the last great wilderness. These waterways rank among the most coveted trout streams in the United States, helping to create a sustainable tourism economy upon which locals have depended for generations.

See Shots of Triple Divide in this Video Created by Public Herald for a Documentary on Fracking