Tuesday
Floating the Creek
Looking to organize a flotilla down the mighty Conodoguinet this summer. One of my neighbors identified a source for innertubes - last year Highlands Tire in Carlisle was selling them for $20 each, perfectly good innertubes for either floating or snow, and they'll last a heck of a lot longer than anything available through Toys-R-Us or elsewhere. Might be worth giving them a call. Link is: http://www.highlandstire.com/locations.htm
Thursday
Work around our homes to benefit the environment
By Letters to the Editor, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA
April 18, 2010, 1:49AM
For generations, the common wisdom was to slope yards and streets to move precipitation away from properties and into nearby streams as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, the salts, other de-icing chemicals, stuff we put on our lawns and miscellaneous street drippings and droppings also are flushed into these small water bodies that can poison aquatic life.
Recent memory includes the winter flood of 1996 when a torrent of ice coming down the Susquehanna River took out part of the Walnut Street Bridge. Hundreds of small tributaries draining water quickly from neighborhoods and farms throughout the Susquehanna basin contributed to a raging river whose damage is still visible today.
Altering the effects of large storm events or ice jams breaking loose might be beyond the control of us mere mortals. However, we can have a measurable impact on smaller, more regular flooding episodes. In the last few years, a new approach to rainwater and snowmelt has started to emerge --- slow down the runoff and hold on to precipitation as long as possible.
The Yellow Breeches, Conodoguinet, Paxton and Swatara creeks don't need to be muddy, roaring rages every time it rains. If each of us tried to imitate nature around our homes and worked to help neighbors and government properties to do the same, more fish would swim, more birds would sing and our watersheds would be much healthier.
PAUL ZEPH
President
Appalachian Audubon Society
April 18, 2010, 1:49AM
For generations, the common wisdom was to slope yards and streets to move precipitation away from properties and into nearby streams as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, the salts, other de-icing chemicals, stuff we put on our lawns and miscellaneous street drippings and droppings also are flushed into these small water bodies that can poison aquatic life.
Recent memory includes the winter flood of 1996 when a torrent of ice coming down the Susquehanna River took out part of the Walnut Street Bridge. Hundreds of small tributaries draining water quickly from neighborhoods and farms throughout the Susquehanna basin contributed to a raging river whose damage is still visible today.
Altering the effects of large storm events or ice jams breaking loose might be beyond the control of us mere mortals. However, we can have a measurable impact on smaller, more regular flooding episodes. In the last few years, a new approach to rainwater and snowmelt has started to emerge --- slow down the runoff and hold on to precipitation as long as possible.
The Yellow Breeches, Conodoguinet, Paxton and Swatara creeks don't need to be muddy, roaring rages every time it rains. If each of us tried to imitate nature around our homes and worked to help neighbors and government properties to do the same, more fish would swim, more birds would sing and our watersheds would be much healthier.
PAUL ZEPH
President
Appalachian Audubon Society
From PAanglers.com - The Conodoguinet
The Conodoguinet creek is a magnificent, and diverse fishery, which flows from it's origins in Horse Valley until it meets the Susquehanna river in West Fairview. Weaving a path through gorgeous countryside in Franklin and Cumberland counties, the Conodoguinet is a canoeist and kayakers paradise during spring and summer, as well as being one of the best smallmouth bass streams in the state. Spanning nearly 90 miles of the midstate, running through rural and suburban locations, this creek has something for everyone.
To read the complete comment, please click on the link that follows:
To read the complete comment, please click on the link that follows:
Pennsylvania DEP to Begin Black Fly Spray Program
HARRISBURG, Pa., April 15 –
More than 1,500 Miles of Waterways to be Monitored, Treated
HARRISBURG, Pa., April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent mild weather has prompted an early start to the Department of Environmental Protection's black fly spray program, an annual effort to limit the number of gnats that pose a nuisance during outdoor activities.
"It is an annual rite of spring in Pennsylvania," said DEP Secretary John Hanger. "The warm weather is an invitation for everyone to venture outdoors and enjoy our state's natural beauty. Unfortunately, the pesky black flies, also known as gnats, are starting to emerge, too. Because of the unseasonably warm temperatures we experienced in recent weeks, eggs have hatched and larvae are developing rapidly. This has prompted DEP to begin the spraying program a bit earlier than usual."
Hanger said spraying will begin on Friday, April 16. This year, 46 rivers and streams spanning more than 1,500 miles in 32 counties will be monitored and treated as needed.
To read the complete story, please click on the link below to take you to the source document:
More than 1,500 Miles of Waterways to be Monitored, Treated
HARRISBURG, Pa., April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent mild weather has prompted an early start to the Department of Environmental Protection's black fly spray program, an annual effort to limit the number of gnats that pose a nuisance during outdoor activities.
"It is an annual rite of spring in Pennsylvania," said DEP Secretary John Hanger. "The warm weather is an invitation for everyone to venture outdoors and enjoy our state's natural beauty. Unfortunately, the pesky black flies, also known as gnats, are starting to emerge, too. Because of the unseasonably warm temperatures we experienced in recent weeks, eggs have hatched and larvae are developing rapidly. This has prompted DEP to begin the spraying program a bit earlier than usual."
Hanger said spraying will begin on Friday, April 16. This year, 46 rivers and streams spanning more than 1,500 miles in 32 counties will be monitored and treated as needed.
To read the complete story, please click on the link below to take you to the source document:
Friday
Creek Cleanup May 15
On, Saturday, May 15th, from 8:45 until noonish, the Conodoguinet Creek Watershed Association and the Mechanicsburg Area Environmental Club will be hosting their first creek cleanup of 2010.
Please mark your calendar. We need all of the help that we can get. Consider inviting your friends.
We will start off in 2010 by cleaning the section of the Conodoguinet Creek between a log cabin 100 yards downstream from the Rich Valley Golf/ I81Bridge. We will exit on Beechcliff Drive.
Before 8:45, we will park our vehicles and assemble by the Willow Mill Park pavilion. Vans will then transport all volunteers to the “entry point”. Upon completion, the vans will drive us back to our vehicles in Willow Mill Park.
Directions to the Willow Mill Park Pavilion: Take Route 114 north from the Carlisle Pike. After the first traffic light, get in the left lane. At the 2nd traffic light turn left onto Willow Mill Park Road. Proceed to the stop sign at the old mill. Keep right. After passing the mill, stay to your right. Enter the park. Continue staying to the right.
If the pavilion is rented that day, we will ask you to park beyond the pavilion in the grass.
Consider wearing sturdy creek shoes, sun block, a hat with a visor, and appropriate gloves. The objects in the water and the creek's shale bed can be dangerously sharp.
Please ask others to help out! This is a very worthwhile/satisfying way to spend your best Saturday morning, ever.
See you on May 15th in the creek.
Paul Garrett, creek cleanup leader; (h) 737-2554, (c) 514-3546, e-mail paulgarrett40@comcast.net.
P.S. Reminder that Paul Garrett will be out of town for the June cleanup. Someone else can head it up or we skip to July. Please keep me in the loop, as you make that decision.
Please mark your calendar. We need all of the help that we can get. Consider inviting your friends.
We will start off in 2010 by cleaning the section of the Conodoguinet Creek between a log cabin 100 yards downstream from the Rich Valley Golf/ I81Bridge. We will exit on Beechcliff Drive.
Before 8:45, we will park our vehicles and assemble by the Willow Mill Park pavilion. Vans will then transport all volunteers to the “entry point”. Upon completion, the vans will drive us back to our vehicles in Willow Mill Park.
Directions to the Willow Mill Park Pavilion: Take Route 114 north from the Carlisle Pike. After the first traffic light, get in the left lane. At the 2nd traffic light turn left onto Willow Mill Park Road. Proceed to the stop sign at the old mill. Keep right. After passing the mill, stay to your right. Enter the park. Continue staying to the right.
If the pavilion is rented that day, we will ask you to park beyond the pavilion in the grass.
Consider wearing sturdy creek shoes, sun block, a hat with a visor, and appropriate gloves. The objects in the water and the creek's shale bed can be dangerously sharp.
Please ask others to help out! This is a very worthwhile/satisfying way to spend your best Saturday morning, ever.
See you on May 15th in the creek.
Paul Garrett, creek cleanup leader; (h) 737-2554, (c) 514-3546, e-mail paulgarrett40@comcast.net.
P.S. Reminder that Paul Garrett will be out of town for the June cleanup. Someone else can head it up or we skip to July. Please keep me in the loop, as you make that decision.
Wednesday
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