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Let's meet Mr. Phil Stillerman, Tioga County, PA:
 Favorite
Water Activity: Canoeing
Favorite
Water Animal or Plant: River Otter
Favorite
Beverage: Coffee
Words
of Wisdom to New Watershed Activists: "Contact
the state DEP's Citizen's Water Monitoring Program or your local
Conservation District Office for invaluable assistance and information
before you begin."
Watershed
Public Service Message:
&"Be mindful
when you recreate; be good stewards of your surroundings. Keep
trash and old appliances out of waterways and wetlands." |
 etired
Fire Fighter/Fire Chief Phil Stillerman has a new water-affiliated
activity these days, but this one's for fun: it's canoeing.
He discovered canoeing as the result of another retirement-born
passion: watershed protection and stewardship, subjects he admits
that he had never particularly considered before retiring to
Wellsboro, PA. In 1985, when Phil and his wife Patricia first
came to live there, the list of problems faced by Pine Creek
and its tributaries was long -- but Phil didn't know that, back
then.
 hil
Stillerman was born in Washington, DC, in 1937. He grew up there
and in nearby suburban Brentwood, Maryland. His longtime enjoyment
of camping, hiking, travel and HO gauge railroads dates from
boyhood. At the age of 16 he became a volunteer fire fighter
in Brentwood. The day after graduation from high school, he
went straight to Air Force boot camp, where he spent four years
in active duty, including tours of duty in England and Holland,
followed by another four years in the Air Force Reserves. After
leaving the Air Force, Phil returned to Brentwood and to volunteer
fire fighting. Two years later, in 1961, he was hired as a fire
fighter at Maryland's Glen Echo Fire Station, where he remained
for the next 24 years, gradually working his way up through
the ranks. He took college classes over a 13-year span, part
time, to earn an Associate's degree in Fire Science and Municipal
Administration from Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.
This degree, coupled with earlier coursework through the Fire
Extension Service at the University of Maryland, opened the
door to his appointment as Glen Echo's Municipal Fire Chief.
hil
and Patricia had often traveled through and enjoyed the natural
beauty of the Pine Creek Watershed over the years, and they
had ancestral roots in Altoona, Johnstown, Uniontown and Pittsburgh.
When Phil retired from his job as Municipal Fire Chief in 1985,
they answered the call of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, their "prettiest
little town," and bought a home there in 1986. Then, it
wasn't widely acknowledged that the beauty of this lovely town
and scenic area was tainted and threatened by tributary streams
left sterile from acid mine drainage dating back to the late
1800's, and oil wells with rotting cases leaking into local
waterways, and the dumping of rusting household appliances and
other trash throughout the watershed. The veil of innocence
was to be lifted about a year later, in the spring of 1987,
when the Wellsboro Gazette ran a letter written by local
landscape artist Jack Cupper. In the letter Mr. Cupper expressed
his concerns about Pine Creek and its tributaries, and his hopes
for the future of the watershed. Cupper's letter stimulated
strong public reaction, and a handful of residents, Phil Stillerman
among them, decided to meet.
 hat
September, the Pine Creek Headwaters Protection Group
was born, and Phil emerged as their newly elected president,
a position he holds now and has held several times during the
group's 13-year existence. His first canoe trip occurred when
they organized a creek cleanup-by-canoe, something they do regularly
now. The group's membership reached a high of about 1800 at
one point and now floats at about 850, including families ("New
water-monitoring volunteers always needed!" says Stillerman).
Group members maintain many water-quality monitoring sites on
Pine Creek and others. They've received numerous awards and
had many successes (see Website link, below). Other accomplishments
include helping to restore the water quality in a 12-mile stretch
of Babb Creek, a major Pine Creek tributary left sterile for
150 years by acid mine drainage (AMD). The PA Fish and Boat
Commission shock-tested in Babb Creek last year and is considering
stocking it with fish because of the return of abundant, healthy
macroinvertebrate populations! Members of the Pine Creek Headwaters
Protection Group also serve on the board of directors of the
Babb Creek Watershed Association, which formed in the late 1990's.
The Babb Creek Association was instrumental in obtaining the
money, facilities, and training for an AMD treatment plant on
a tributary to Babb Creek. That treatment facility now has a
full-time, paid operator (and Stillerman is trained as its Backup
Operator).
hil
Stillerman has taken on some new duties, too: he has just been
elected to represent the watersheds in the West Branch Susquehanna
River region of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection's new Citizen's Volunteer Monitoring Network. Phil
and Patricia have six children and eight grandchildren, and
plan on enjoying the Pine Creek Watershed more and more, as
the Pine Creek Headwaters Protection Group and other like-minded
groups and individuals continue and further their stewardship
activities.
Interview by Karen E. H. Atwood
If you would like to speak with Phil or others in this group,
either about your own watershed or about becoming an active
steward in theirs, please call Phil Stillerman: 570-724-4843,
or their 24-hr. contact line: 570-724-5097. For a delightful
and informative look at the geology, geography, and history
of the Pine Creek Watershed, and at the work, efforts and history
of this inspiring watershed protection group, please visit their
Website: www.penweb.org/users/pinecreek.
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See past Watershed Heroes here!
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