Given Cabot’s dedication to protecting the environment, fostering an ongoing relationship with land conservancy groups is a natural way to protect the rural nature of Susquehanna County. That is why Cabot sponsored the 14th Annual Countryside Conservancy dinner auction, an event to raise funding to protect lands and waters in and near the Tunkhannock Creek Watershed.
Cabot has worked with this particular conservancy routinely over the past few years. Last year we helped with funding for the Go Green Bike tour, a scenic ride through Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. We have an ongoing partnership with the conservancy to bring its stakeholders out for operational tours that way participants can see firsthand what stringent erosion, sedimentation, water management and land reclamation practices Cabot employs at every location.
The dinner auction was held at the beautiful Waverly Country Club. The night featured an eclectic offering of music, hors d’oeuvres and dancing while a silent auction was conducted digitally by BidPal, an automated mobile auction program that makes it very easy for the user to track and submit bids on auction items.
At the start of the live auction (big ticket items) Bill Kern, Executive Director of Countryside Conservancy, announced that “all of the monies raised during the auction will benefit the Trolley Trial Project”.
I caught up with Bill during the evening to discuss the Trolley Project. Here is what he had to say:
From 1908 to 1932, the Northern Electric Street Railway operated an interurban trolley line between Scranton and Montrose. The Trolley Trial Project will convert a large portion of this unused trolley rail line into usable trail. This new trail system, when completed, will run from Clark Summit to Dolton.
The next step is to put the trail design and planning out to bid this fall.
Bill would later explain that “most of the funding for this project has come from a DCNR grant for $556,000 and that the conservancy was required to put up 20% of the funding. That is why this year’s annual auction is so important to the cause.”
“This trail will become a great gift to the community, and I anticipate ongoing community support once folks see the actual construction begin,” said Bill Lewis, President of the Conservancy’s Board of Directors.
To learn more about the Trolley Trail project visit here.

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Bill serves as an External Affairs Coordinator for Coterra Energy. He is focused on building community knowledge and support for the organization and industry at large.

Before his time with Coterra Energy, Bill was the original Field Director for Energy in Depth’s Northeast Marcellus campaign. Within this two-year position, Bill worked to engage, educate, and mobilize supporters of Marcellus Shale development across New York and Pennsylvania. Bill received his B.S. in Management, a B.A. in History, and an MBA from Misericordia University.