The local nonprofit Riverlife, in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh, has launched UpKeep — a new riverfront preservation and rehabilitation initiative dedicated to the routine care and maintenance of Pittsburgh’s 15-mile network of riverfront parks and trails. Riverlife and the City plan to tend to litter removal, vegetation management, invasive species control, and pressure washing.
Riverlife is a nonprofit organization created in 1999 to promote cleaner rivers and a vision for the future of Pittsburgh’s marine ecosystems that will benefit both human residents and wildlife that inhabit the areas.
The UpKeep initiative is the latest step in Riverlife’s plan to “Complete the Loop” — an ambitious $30 million undertaking to connect the 15 miles of riverfront space between the West End, Hot Metal, and 31st Street bridges. The initiative has already gained significant momentum, securing $28 million to date, with hopes of reaching its goal by Memorial Day.
Cory O’Connor stood with president of Riverlife Matthew Galluzo to announce the official launch of UpKeep.
President of Riverfront, Matthew Galluzo, stood next to Mayor Cory O’Connor at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center this week to announce the organization’s riverfront maintenance plans and detailing the strides made in the pilot effort conducted over 2025: collecting over 15,000 pounds of litter, clearing 8,000 square feet of invasive species, and pressure washing around 215,000 square feet of riverfront.
“We know it works,” Galluzo said. “And we’re ready for a full launch of the program.”
Riverfront has entered into a 20-year agreement with the City of Pittsburgh to maintain and care for the network, and plans to coordinate efforts with Allegheny CleanWays, Friends of the Riverfront, Landforce, and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership to maintain year-round care of park and greenspaces.
“In the first decade alone, UpKeep will deliver $6 million in maintenance services on our riverfronts,” Galluzo said.
Mayor Corey O’Connor spoke about the important relationships between the city and its rivers.
“The three rivers are an important part of Pittsburgh’s identity and so it’s important that Pittsburghers can engage with all that the rivers have to offer,” O’Connor said. “Through our UpKeep partnership with Riverlife, Pittsburgh’s families will be able to enjoy clean and world-class parks and trails along our riverfronts.”
Funding for the UpKeep initiative comes from a maintenance endowment made possible by an anonymous funder as well as investments from organizations like The Heinz Endowments, the Hillman Family Foundations, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the NiSource Charitable Foundation.
The Heinz Endowments president Chris DeCardy also attended the riverfront announcement, and spoke to the value and historical significance of Pittsburgh’s rivers.
“These rivers drove the commerce that made us the center of industry in the 20th century — offloading and bringing right there in the strip everything that we used to run this region,” he said. “And on the other side was the throughway that made this, the place that created the steel that won World War II.
“Our rivers have continually reinvented themselves to meet the moment.”