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Slippery Rock Watershed
 ike
many streams of Western Pennsylvania, those in the Slippery
Rock Watershed are overwhelmed by the affects of abandoned
mine drainage (AMD) and the damage caused by over 100 years
of mining in Pennsylvania. The Slippery Rock Watershed covers
over 410 square miles of Western Pennsylvania, and was once
documented by the Commonwealth as one of the most seriously
degraded watersheds within the state, due to mine drainage,
with the most heavily impacted area centered underneath the
headwaters of the Slippery Rock Creek. Underneath these headwaters
lie 4,000 acres of underground mining operations, along with
8,000 acres of surface mining permits that were also located
in the headwaters.
 nd
so, in 1994 a very special alliance was formed to treat the
remnants of a once-booming coal mining industry. The Slippery
Rock Watershed Coalition, working together with Stream Restoration
Inc., and other private, volunteer, and government agencies
work together to treat over 500 gallons of mine drainage each
year from 16 different discharges in the watershed. All in
all, these discharges remove about 150 tons of iron, 8 tons
of aluminum, and 182 tons of acidity from the waters of the
Slippery Rock Creek - each year! That's enough iron to create
150 trucks and 273,000 aluminum cans each year…Amazing?
Yes, it is, and even more amazing is the group of individuals
who make it all happen.
had the opportunity to visit the Slippery Rock Watershed
several months ago for a 'grand opening' of sorts. We
were celebrating the beginning stages of one of their
twelve AMD remediation sites, this one called Goff Station.
We were also celebrating the installation of something
very unique, a bat hibernaculum. A bat what? Well, I'll
start by telling you that it's the first of its kind east
of the Mississippi. And simply put, it is a man-made hibernating
cave for bats. But what is most amazing about it is its
location. The hibernaculum has been placed in the hillside
of the Goff Station remediation site. Why there? Simple.
The wetland and surrounding wooded areas provide the perfect
habitat for many species of bats, including the Indiana
bat. The hibernaculum has a large underground plastic
piping system with an outside entrance at the end of the
pipe. This pipe acts as a tunnel for the bats to enter
the housing area to roost. The housing area itself is
a large round structure that is placed 10 feet into the
ground. It's really quite amazing, and it's unique to
the east coast.
 ot
only are these organizations motivated to protect the
water resources of the region and provide habitat for
wildlife, they also work with the community to provide
educational sources about the affects of pollution on
our waterways, and provide a valuable resource to their
community through educational tours and programs at their
AMD sites. They also work together with the PA DEP, and
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, along
with the Jennings Environmental Education Center to promote
clean water resources, not only in the Slippery Rock Watershed
- but for all watersheds.
 etting
the community involved is another story. These folks are
not only excited about the work they're doing, but they're
also like a family - and they'll bring you right into
the family to tell their story. They're an incredibly
warm, hosting group of people whose ideals about the environment
and our place in it is not only admirable but inspiring.
They bring this inspiration to the community through many
outlets, but one of the most recent and most impressive
is their work with a community effort to help first-time
juvenile offenders get a second chance. This past summer
the group worked with these young adults through a program
called "Working Opportunities to Repay the Community"
or WORC for short. Through this program, SRI and SRWC
not only received help in planting the wetland at Goff
Station, but they were able to give two of those individuals
a start at a new future - by giving them a job. Aquascape,
the organization completing the actual construction of
the remediation site, was so impressed by the work being
done by these young adults, that they have hired them
to continue working with AMD remediations and wetland
development projects.
n
sitting down to write about SRWC and SRI I felt overwhelmed.
Not because I didn't know what to say, but because there's
just SO MUCH to say about this group of individuals that
I didn't know where to start! I feel like in this writing
I've still only touched the surface of the amazing work
being done by these inspirational watershed groups. So,
be sure to check out their websites, get on their newsletter
mailing list, read about Margaret Dunn, Director of SRI
in this month's "Watershed Hero" spotlight,
and if at all possible get out to the Slippery Rock Watershed
to see their projects first hand. You'll be glad you made
the trip!
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Related Links:
Slippery
Rock Watershed
Get all the details on the Slippery Rock Watershed - their
history, projects, newsletters and so much more!
Stream
Restoration Incorporated
Get facts on abandoned mine drainage, technical grants,
AMD projects and partnerships and even peruse their AMD
database and glossary.
Bureau
of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
(PA DEP) has two offices dedicated to the reclamation
of AMD. Check out this site to learn more about their
programs. |
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