The BWA Needs YOU as a Member in 2016!

Volume 2016, Issue 1

Bucktail Watershed Association

Winter Newsletter

Bucktail Watershed

Association

Contact information:

P.O. Box 123

Emporium, PA 15834

www.bucktailwatershed.com

info@bucktailwatershed.com

BWA Water Quality 1

BWA Needs YOU! 1

Controlling Invasives in

2015

2

Understanding Stream

Structures

3

Student attends WLA 3

SIPMA Update 4

Inside this issue:

In the spring of 2015, the Buck-

tail Watershed Association started

a water quality testing program

for volunteers in the Sinnemahon-

ing Creek Watershed. The Board

has been concerned about the ef-

fects of shale gas drilling and wa-

ter removal, and thought it would

be a good idea to monitor our local

streams for baseline information

about the quality of our water.

Watershed monitoring, including

chemical, physical and biological

factors, can give us valuable infor-

mation and up-to-date status of

watershed health. Healthy water-

sheds support excellent habitat for

fish and other wildlife.

BWA Volunteer Water Quality Testing Program

February 2016

The Board of Directors wishes you

a Happy New Year. Changes are

bound to occur in 2016 but two things

will remain the same. First, the BWA

will continue its dedication to conserve

and protect our aquatic resources and,

second, your membership is vital to

the BWA achieving that mission.

The Bucktail Watershed Associa-

tion is a non-profit organization dedi-

cated to maintaining and improving

the health of our beautiful watershed

by working to improve water quality

and wildlife habitat. It is run by a vol-

unteer Board of Directors, Much of

the BWA’s work requires significant

fiscal resources and, while your dues

are important for funding daily, rou-

tine operations, dues alone can’t come

close to paying for most of the projects

that are ongoing and proposed into the

future. That kind of money comes

from the many grants that the associa-

tion pursues through various sources.

A common denominator of these fund-

Important Dates:

Monthly meeting

1st Tuesday of each month

Cameron County Courthouse

6:30 pm

Stream Cleanup

March 20th 12:00 PM

BWA

Board of Directors

Steve VanEerden, Chairman

Kirk Bainey, Vice Chair and

Secretary

Mark McLean, Treasurer

Kim Lott

Gary Russell

Josh Morgan

Denny Neal

Todd Deluccia shows an American toad to students from Woodland

Elementary during a water quality testing day.

ing sources is that the BWA must demon-

strate that it is a legitimate entity that de-

serves these highly coveted grants. Part of

proving our worth is to show that we have

a viable membership. That is where you

come in. For just a few bucks a year, you

can help the association prove our legitima-

cy and accomplish our goals.

Also, please remember that watershed

concerns and project suggestions are al-

ways welcome from members and there are

opportunities for volunteers, like you, to

get involved with “hands on” projects.

You’re most welcome to attend any of our

meetings held the first Tuesday of each

month (except Dec.) at 6:30PM in the Cam-

eron County courthouse.

The BWA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organ-

ization, not affiliated with any government

agency although we do work in close part-

nership with the Cameron County Conser-

vation District. Your membership dues

and donations are tax-deductible.

Continued on Page 4

Invasive Weed Control work in 2015

In 2015, the Bucktail Watershed Associa-

tion continued work controlling invasive plant

species in the Sinnemahoning Creek Watershed.

Since 2009, we have been working on Japanese

knotweed in the upper Driftwood Branch. Start-

ing at the top of the watershed and working down-

stream, the BWA has treated knotweed on the

Driftwood from Indian Camp (above Rich Valley)

to Moatville (above Sterling Run). We have also

been working on the tributaries of West Creek,

Clear Creek, Four Mile Run, Cook’s Run, The Por-

tage Branch, and sections of May Hollow and Tan-

nery Run. We have surveyed and sprayed 30

(gross) miles of stream, and also treated some ran-

dom patches of knotweed around Emporium. Lo-

cals have mentioned that they can now see sec-

tions of the creek that were once covered up with

knotweed.

The BWA has been working on a popula-

tion of mile-a-minute vine, which makes a lot of

seeds which are spread by the birds, so it is found

in unexpected places. We have been working on a

large site west of Emporium, but in 2013 we dis-

covered a three acre patch along the Driftwood

near Sterling Run. Fortunately, the actual plants

are easy to kill. We treated all the known sites in

the spring of 2015 with a pre-emergent herbicide,

which prevents the seeds from sprouting. After

this treatment, the project coordinator was able to

easily hand pull some sites which once had mile-a-

minute climbing up the trees. Sadly, there were

still some large patches that had to be sprayed

with herbicide.

PAGE 2 BUCKTAIL WATERSHED ASSOCIATION VOLUME 2016, ISSUE 1

Spraying to control the invasive mile-a-minute weed in the Summer of 2015.

Japanese Knotweed along the Driftwood Branch of the Sinnemahoning in summer 2013 (left) has been replaced by native riparian vegetation in summer

2015 (right)

We also sprayed some scattered patches

of Japanese barberry in Clear Creek to prevent it

from becoming a problem there. This is known

as “early detection, rapid response.” It saves

countless hours, dollars and effort to treat a

small population that you know will become a

problem in the near future. This thorny shrub

can take over the understory of the forest, and

although it has many berries on it, few wildlife

species will eat them. However, the dense growth

makes an excellent breeding ground for ticks.

The BWA is grateful to the support from

the Sinnemahoning Stakeholders Committee

(the Norfolk Southern chemical spill settlement),

PA Growing Greener, the US Forest Service,

Seneca Resources and The Dominion/Western

Pennsylvania Conservancy mini-grant program.

PAGE 3 BUCKTAIL WATERSHED ASSOCIATION VOLUME 2016, ISSUE 1

The Bucktail Watershed Association membership

would like to commend 15 year old Cassie Fry on her par-

ticipation in the Wildlife Leadership Academy. The

academy’s mission is to “engage and empower high

school age youth to become Conservation Ambassadors

to ensure a sustained wildlife, fisheries and natural

resource legacy for future generations.”

In 2015, the BWA helped to sponsor Cassie’s partic-

ipation in this unique learning and networking experi-

ence for students interested in a career in wildlife and

fisheries conservation. Students learn a variety of

skills like plant ID and macroinvertebrate capture

techniques as well as interacting with top profession-

als in the field. For more information, visit

www.piceweb.org. Cassie Fry attends the Wildlife Leadership Academy

Understanding Stream Habitat Enhancement Structures

Cross vanes are a stream structure that

are typically built with stone and are used for

streambank stabilization, fish habitat, and

grade control. In 2012, the Cameron County

Conservation District decided that it was a

structures might be built with logs and rebar

rather than stone and engineered a design.

This design would reduce the cost of each

cross vane by approximately 10-20% com-

pared to stone construction and is much more

aesthetically pleasing.

The structure consists of two large logs for

arms and a large log for a throat that are lap

jointed and pinned to the stream bottom with

4-5’ rebar. There is also a geo-synthetic fabric

that acts as a barrier to prevent stone and

gravel from washing underneath the logs.

The resulting structure creates wonderful pool

habitat for aquatic life and in ways, is much

more reliable than a traditional stone struc-

ture. The structure works by funneling water

into the center of the stream creating a plunge

pool and depositing the gravel on the down-

stream sides of the arms which stabilize the

banks as well. In some instances, this struc-

ture can also be used as a grade control where

there is streambed instability.

A cross-vane structure acting to create pool habitat.

In 2013, the Western Pennsylvania Conservan-

cy along with the PA Fish and Boat Commission

determined that lower Sinnemahoning Portage

Creek was severely lacking in quality pool habi-

tat. In 2015, the Cameron County Conservation

District received a grant entitled the Portage

Pool Habitat Initiative. As part of this grant,

the Conservation District is constructing six

crossvanes in the lower six miles of Portage

Creek. Two were completed in 2015 with the

remaining four to be constructed in summer of

2016.

BWA Sponsors Student for Wildlife

Leadership Training

Continued from page 1

We started with the schools, visiting the third,

fifth, and sixth grade classrooms at Woodland Ele-

mentary in Emporium. Our newest member of the

BWA Board of Directors, Kim Lott, worked with the

new WQ Program coordinator, Tanya Meyer, to cre-

ate a series of power points introducing the topic of

water quality and the issues that lead to its impair-

ment. With the help of Cameron County Conserva-

tion District Staff, we then took the students out to

the Driftwood Branch, where they used our equip-

ment to test the quality of the water in the creek.

In June, we held three trainings for adults, who

learned about water quality issues and how to use

our equipment. We trained a total of 12 people, who

borrowed WQ testing kits from our “testing kit li-

brary.” Throughout the summer and into the fall,

these folks tracked the health of their favorite

streams, from western to eastern Cameron County

and into Potter and Elk Counties.

In the summer, Trout Unlimited contacted the

BWA, and recruited our coordinator and several of

our volunteers for their Pennsylvania Coldwater

Conservation Corps program, which also collects wa-

ter quality data for baseline information. Their

training is more extensive than ours, and partici-

pants can keep the equipment for as long as they are

using it.

We plan on continuing this program in 2016.

PAGE 4 BUCKTAIL WATERSHED ASSOCIATION VOLUME 2016, ISSUE 1

The Bucktail Watershed Association is the fi-

nancial manager for the Sinnemahoning Inva-

sive Plant Management Area (SIPMA), a group

of public and private groups who work together

to control invasive plants. In 2015, SIPMA con-

tinued to treat small stands of tree of heaven.

Like knotweed, it does not provide much habitat

for wildlife. There are a few trees remaining

around the borough of Driftwood, and a big

patch at the Cameron-Clinton County line. We

have almost eradicated it along the First Fork,

right next to Highway 872, and in Clear Creek.

SIPMA has funding from the US Forest Service

to work on knotweed in Potter County, treating

parts of Nelson Run, Freeman Run near Austin

and the First Fork, covering over 15 miles of

streams.

An important goal of the SIPMA is educa-

tion, and in 2015, we did four workshops on inva-

sive plants, two conjunction with the Sinne-

mahoning State Park. We also did three work-

shops about hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny insect

that is destroying populations of hemlock. The

SIPMA thanks Seneca Resources for their very

generous cash donation to the cause of fighting

invasive plants.

Sinnemahoning Invasive Plant Management Area 2015 Update

Volunteer Water Monitoring Con’t

ANNUAL RIVER CLEAN-UP

Sunday March 20th

We will be holding the annual

stream and roadside c lean -up

on Sunday, March 20th. We will be

meeting at the railroad bridge in Cam-

eron at noon. Refreshments will be pro-

vided. Any questions please call Steve

VanEerden at 814-486-1740 or Kirk

Bainey at 814-486-3401.

Please join us for this annual event.

Each year this is held before the annual

canoe and kayak race. It is a good op-

portunity to make our river and road-

ways look great when we host many out

of town racers and spectators.

Community members and camp owners

can test their chosen stream several times

throughout the year to learn about water

quality health and what may be going on

upstream. The BWA will hold several free

trainings in the spring. If you are interest-

ed in participating, please call Steve

VanEerden at 814-486-1740.

BUCKTAIL WATERSHED ASSOCIATION

P.O. BOX 123

EMPORIUM, PA 15834

BUCKTAIL WATERSHED ASSOCIATION

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATI ON

Sign up for:

Individual Membership

Family Membership

$5.00

Annual Dues

$7.00

Signature

Name

Address

Phone

Amount Enclosed

Email Address

If you are interested in becoming a member or renewing

your membership, please send this form along with cash or a

check for the annual dues to:

Bucktail Watershed Association

P.O. Box 123

Emporium, PA 15834

BUCKTAIL WATERSHED ASSOCIATION WINTER NEWSLETTER ENCLOSED

Date