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F. X. Browne, Inc.
Lake and Watershed News
May 2007
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Come,
let us go, while we are in our prime;
And take the harmless folly of the time.
We shall grow old apace, and die
Before we know our liberty.
Our life is short, and our days run
As fast away as does the sun;
And as a vapour, or a drop of rain,
Once lost, can ne'er be found again,
So when or you or I are made
A fable, song, or fleeting shade,
All love, all liking, all delight
Lies drown'd with us in endless night.
Then while time serves, and we are but decaying,
Come, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying.
Robert
Herrick (1591-1674)
Corinna's Going a-Maying
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Editor's
Notes:
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Happy Birthday, Rachel Carson (born May 27, 1907).
to find out about activities being planned to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of her birth, click
here and here.
May is American Wetlands Month.
EPA
encourages interested groups to plan activities and events that will
help raise awareness of the critical role wetlands and other aquatic
resources play in our environment and build support for the protection
and restoration of these valuable ecosystems.
A guide to wetland festivals published by the Association of State Wetland
Managers can be found here.
Izaak Walton League information on invasive species and planning
wetlands month activities can be found here.
May is also Watershed Awareness Month in
Pennsylvania. This year’s special theme is "Reclaiming Abandoned
Mines to Reclaim Pennsylvania’s Waterways."
The Pennsylvania Organization for
Watersheds & Rivers (POWR) is seeking a full-time Executive
Director.
American Rivers invites participants to National
River Cleanup Week
(June 2-10), in which
volunteers across the country in remove trash from their local rivers
and streams.
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Topic
of the Month:
New
Sewage Facilities Planning Strategies Proposed for NJ and PA
In order to ensure adequate wastewater planning for potential
residential, commercial, and industrial development as well as water quality
protection, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey are proposing new
implementation strategies and regulations for their Sewage
Facilities and Wastewater Management Plan requirements. More...
News Clips:
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REAP Could Benefit Farmers, Waterways
The bipartisan Resource Enhancement and Protection Act of
Pennsylvania (REAP) is a legislative proposal that would support
essential pollution reduction projects on Pennsylvania farms. More...
Delaware River Citizens Concerned About
Flooding
The Delaware River Basin Commission’s
proposed Flexible Flow Management Plan (FFMP), a long awaited measure
that local
folks hope will protect them from future floods, is stirring up
controversy. More...
NJ DEP Announces New Water Quality Initiatives,
Releases Updated Land Use Data
NJ DEP announced two new water-quality initiatives
to mark the 37th anniversary of Earth Day, as well as releasing new
information showing land use changes and development trends throughout
New Jersey. More...
Poetic Justice for One Illegal Dumper
One illegal trash dumper in Westmoreland
County, PA, found themselves in a veritable quagmire recently. More...
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Policy
Update:
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The PA Fish and Boat Commission is launching a large-scale
angler survey effort that will explore fishing use and anglers’
experiences on 130 miles of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers. |
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The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) recently issued the 2007 Annual Water Resources
Program, cataloging SRBC's 12
identified water resource needs for the Susquehanna basin as well as the
many federal, state and regional programs and projects intended to
address those needs. |
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The PA DCNR recently named the Lehigh River
as the Commonwealth's
River of the Year for 2007. |
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The PA Fish and Boat Commission is asking
Lehigh River anglers for their input on a draft
fisheries management plan, with a special emphasis on the portion of
the river from F.E. Walter Reservoir to the mouth.
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Pennsylvania
Governor Rendell, Virginia Governor Kaine, West Virginia Governor
Manchin, and Maryland Governor O’Malley have signed
the Highlands Action Program charter, a regional partnership that
seeks to preserve the ecological and cultural resources of the
Mid-Atlantic Appalachian Highlands. |
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NJ recently
celebrated
the 20th anniversary of the landmark law that made New Jersey the
first state to make recycling mandatory. |
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The
PA DEP released two
new documents supporting efforts to implement Pennsylvania’s
Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy that deal with NPDES permitting and
sewage facility planning. |
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The
PA Board of Game Commissioners gave final approval to hunting
and trapping regulations for 2007-08, keeping in place the
Commission’s three-prong approach to deer management – healthy
forests, healthy deer herds, and reducing deer-human conflicts. |
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The
Chesapeake Bay Program released its Chesapeake
Bay 2006 Health and Restoration Assessment reports saying
significant advances were made in restoration efforts through
newly-focused programs, legislation and/or funding, but year-to-year
results were mixed and the overall health of the Bay remains degraded. |
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Pennsylvania's
Dirt and
Gravel Road Program is
celebrating their 10-year anniversary this month. Congratulations! |
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What's a Mom Worth?
Salary.com offers a website
where mothers can calculate what they could be paid for their
"mom" work, based on how many
children they have, where they live and other factors. The site will
produce a printable document that looks like a paycheck. On average, a
mother of two who works outside the house would earn $88,876 for her mom
duties and a stay-at-home
mother of two would earn $134,121. A similar site is also available
for dads
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This Spring, Help Catalogue Your Wetlands!
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There are two new ways to help scientists
catalogue and characterize wetlands near your home. First, wetland ecologist Ralph Tiner (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) is
compiling observations on start and finish of the “growing season”
from across the country. Tiner is asking for descriptions of visible
signs of the beginning and the end of the growing season for both upland
and wetland plants. To participate please send your observations to: Ralph_Tiner@fws.gov
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Second, if you live in Pennsylvania, you can
help build the PA Seasonal pools registry. The Registry is a
citizen-based program to document locations of seasonal pools (aka,
vernal pools, ephemeral wetlands). The Registry relies on volunteer
participants to submit information about where seasonal pools are
located and what animals are using the pools. The registry information
will be available to researchers who study seasonal pools in PA, and to
landowners and agencies who manage these often-overlooked ephemeral
wetlands. http://paconserve.org/rc/sp/
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Link of the Month:
New and Improved BASINS 4.0
The U.S. EPA has released a new version of “Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources”
(BASINS), its acclaimed
watershed management program, making it easier to use and more readily
available. Unlike earlier releases, BASINS 4.0 runs on non-proprietary, open source,
free geographic information system software, making the tool universally
available to anyone interested in the system. Once installed on a personal computer, BASINS 4.0 gives users access to
large amounts of point and nonpoint source data, which they can use to
assess or predict flow and water quality for selected streams or entire
watersheds, including developing total maximum daily
load (TMDL) allocations. http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/basins/
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Historic Voyage to Measure Chesapeake Bay's Water
Quality The 400th anniversary of Jamestown's founding as the first permanent
English settlement in America is being commemorated on the weekend of
May 11-13. A replica of Captain John Smith's shallop will sail starting
May 12 for 121 days from Historic Jamestown, VA, along the headwaters
of almost every tributary of the Chesapeake Bay to retrace the historic
voyage, and carry an automatic water-quality measuring instrument. The
public will be able to follow the voyage online at http://www.johnsmith400.org/
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Photo: Captain
John Smith 400 Project
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New Tools and
Publications:
Watershed Outreach Training Module Posted
EPA's Watershed Academy recently posted a free, updated online training module
on "Getting In Step: A Guide to Conducting Watershed Outreach
Campaigns." This module offers a tested step-by-step system to help local
governments, watershed organizations and others maximize the effectiveness of
public outreach campaigns to help solve nonpoint source pollution problems and
protect local waterways. http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/gettinginstep/
Approximately 50 other free online Watershed Academy training modules are
available at: http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/
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PA Stream Classification Publication
Available
What do Exceptional Value and High Quality
stream classifications mean? A new
publication by the Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water outlines how the High
Quality and Exceptional Value stream designations affect things like land
development, sewage infrastructure, stormwater management, logging, agriculture,
mining, and several other land-use impacts. “Effects of Special Protection
Designation” is available on the Coldwater Heritage website. http://www.coldwaterheritage.org/resources.htm
PA Water Resources Report
Released
Pennsylvania Governor Rendell released a report detailing the positive
effect Pennsylvania’s innovative $1.4 billion investment in drinking water and
wastewater infrastructure is having on the state’s economy, the health of its
citizens, and the protection of its environment. The report, “Making
Pennsylvania’s Water Resources Safer,” reviews the issues facing Pennsylvania’s municipal
water systems and provides details of the more than 500 drinking water and
wastewater projects that have been funded since 2003. http://www.ahs.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=4479
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Newsletter
Editor/ Design and Layout:
Rebecca
Buerkett |
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F. X.
Browne, Inc. – Environmental Consulting
Engineers – Planners – Scientists
29 Years of Excellence & Innovation
Corporate
Office: Lansdale, PA
Pocono Office:
Marshalls Creek, PA
New York Office:
Saranac Lake, NY
For more information, call us at (215) 362-3878 or visit:
http://www.fxbrowne.com.
For a printer
friendly version of the newsletter, click here.
Unless otherwise cited, all photos
in this newsletter © Rebecca Buerkett. Photos may not be used or reproduced without
permission.
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