Introducing

UpKeep

What is UpKeep?
Piloted in 2025, UpKeep is a groundbreaking coordinated care initiative for Pittsburgh’s riverfronts—a long-term solution to the everyday challenges of maintaining a 15-mile “Loop” of parks, trails, and public spaces. Led by Riverlife and funded through a permanent endowment created by a landmark gift from an anonymous funder, UpKeep brings new resources, equipment, and coordination to elevate the quality and consistency of riverfront maintenance.

 

This generational investment allows Riverlife to make unprecedented commitments to maintenance equipment—such as pressure washers, service vehicles, storage facilities, and hand tools—and to contract directly with nonprofit partners for on-the-ground work. As part of the UpKeep initiative, Riverlife and the City of Pittsburgh have entered into a 20-year agreement designed to solidify the partnership for care and maintenance. The program addresses routine maintenance needs, including:

  • litter and debris removal
  • vegetation management
  • pressure washing
  • site-specific care

UpKeep is delivered through a strong coalition of public and nonprofit partners, including the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Works, Allegheny CleanWays, Friends of the Riverfront, Landforce, and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Together, these partners bring the expertise and commitment needed to care for Pittsburgh’s riverfronts—today and for generations to come.

UpKeep builds on early pilot efforts conducted in 2025. Riverlife and the City plan to grow the Riverfront Care and Maintenance Fund, deploy additional maintenance equipment, and broaden coverage across parks and trails along the riverfront, addressing pesky problems like goose droppings, invasive plant species and garbage left in and along the rivers. Partners in the initiative will each receive funding via UpKeep to expand their people power for work along the riverfront loop.

 

Support the Launch of UpKeep
  • An Allegheny Cleanways crew member is hooking onto a discarded shopping cart on the river
  • The UpKeep flag in front of a riverfront strewn with trash
  • More trash on the side of the riverfront, all being collected by an UpKeep boat
  • A photo of Allegheny Cleanways team members with a boat filled with garbage
  • The Riverlife and Allegheny Cleanways flag flies off the back of a boat on Pittsburgh's Allegheny River
  • Friends of the Riverfront volunteers in bright green vests are walking up city steps with buckets
  • Friends of the Riverfront volunteers in bright green vests pose for the camera along Pittsburgh's Allegheny River
  • Friends of the Riverfront volunteers in bright green vests are cleaning up a riverbank, along with people in kayaks
  • A Friends of the Riverfront volunteer in bright green vests smiles at the camera with big bags of trash
  • Friends of the Riverfront volunteers in bright green vests smile at the camera with their buckets and trash along the North Shore Trail
  • An UpKeep worker pressure washes the North Shore trail
  • Two UpKeep workers pressure wash the riverfront trail underneath an overpass
  • A Landforce worker can be seen through shrubbery doing maintenance work
  • Landforce workers are along a riverbank doing vegetation management
  • Multiple Landforce workers are along a riverbank doing vegetation management