Project Headwaters was started in 2006 by Mike Wilson of Southeastern Montgomery County Trout Unlimited. Mike took a hard look at the restoration work his local chapter had completed over the past 6 years, mainly within Lorimer Park in Southeast Montgomery County. Although there was a dedicated corps of volunteers, and they had successfully constructed 38 streambank protection and fish habitat enhancement structures, he began to realize the scale of the stormwater problem facing Pennypack Creek and started to question whether a different approach would be better.

All this stormwater and sediment must be coming from somewhere. What if we tried to stop the problem at the source, before it got too powerful and unmanageable? How far upstream can we see these effects and what could we do about it? Mike started sounding these ideas out to some local scientists who had been working on the Pennypack Creek, namely Shandor Szalay, Richard Nalbandian and Jay Cruz, finding agreement that this was indeed a very sensible approach to restoring the watershed.

Mike Wilson has been the restoration coordinator for Southeastern Montgomery County Trout Unlimited's numerous stream improvement projects in Pennypack Creek and Harpers Run. Mike also organizes or participates in a number of the chapter's other activities. He especially enjoys introducing the sport of fishing to young people.

Mike started Project Headwaters in 2006 and has led the team through several grant applications as well as organizing the tree planting projects at the Natural Lands Trust. In his spare time, Mike is active in scouting and enjoys fishing.

Shandor Szalay leads the AKRF Inc. Stream and Watershed Restoration group and is Adjunct Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Villanova University, where he teaches a course in Rivers and Waterways Engineering. Since graduating from the University of Minnesota’s Water Resources Science graduate program in 2000, Shandor has been working with communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to implement sustainable approaches to managing their water resources.

Shandor has been deeply engaged in the development of Project Headwaters, articulating the key principles behind the Project Headwaters philosophy. Shandor is also responsible for crafting many of the grant applications we've submitted and designing conceptual plans for Project Headwaters' Phase 1 and Phase 2 project locations.

Jay Cruz performed the initial GIS analysis for the Project Headwaters project screening and serves as the Project Headwaters webmaster.

Jay has been an aquatic biologist with the Philadelphia Water Department for the last 6 years. He recieved his undergraduate degree in Biology from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, a Masters degree in Biology from West Chester University, and has taught Aquatic Ecology at Arcadia University. His interests include algae and effects on stream metabolism, urban stream restoration, GIS, and the life history/ colonization abilities of aquatic invertebrates. Jay is a certified teacher of High school Biology and very interested in new technologies to improve communication and public education.