Section 1:
Proposed American Heritage River Area
The area seeking designation as an American Heritage River is the corridor that lies along the Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed, a designation made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey, comprises nearly 1,800 square miles of land and almost 1,600 miles of perennial rivers and streams. Lackawanna and Luzerne counties constitute the core of the watershed, which includes portions of several other counties and many municipalities. The corridor begins along the Lackawanna at Thompson, proceeds to the confluence of the Lackawanna with the Susquehanna at Pittston, and follows the Susquehanna through the Wyoming Valley to Sunbury. The watershed includes the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, plus adjoining mountainous areas that provide headwaters for the numerous streams that flow to the Susquehanna. Its major urban centers are Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Other population centers within the watershed include Bloomsburg, Carbondale, Dickson City, Dunmore, Hazleton, Kingston, Nanticoke, and Pittston. In 1990, approximately 640,000 people lived in the region, making it Pennsylvania’s third largest metropolitan area.
The dominant features of the region’s geology were created 345 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period. At that time, a shallow sea covered the watershed and deposited fine-grained sediments that produced the sandstone and shale characteristic of the watershed today. Prehistoric swamps also covered the area for great stretches of time. The trees occupying those swamps fossilized and formed immense deposits of anthracite coal. Then, 250 million years ago, the collision of continents created mountains taller than the Himalayas. Rain and glaciers eroded those peaks over time. After the last glacier’s retreat 15,000 years ago, an oak, chestnut, pine, and hemlock forest vegetated the area.
Thanks to its topographic relief, the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed became known for its scenic splendor. In 1804, a poetic writer described the Wyoming Valley as "an island of beauty in a sea of billowy mountains." Like other portions of the Appalachian Mountain Section of the Valley and Ridge Province, the watershed’s topography is characterized by flat-topped mountains and steep-sided stream valleys. The Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys are surrounded by verdant hills that rise to elevations that exceed fifteen hundred feet above the valley floors. The corridor ranges in elevation from 450 feet above sea level at Sunbury to approximately 2,225 feet above sea level at the summit of the region’s highest peak, Bald Mountain.
Native Americans first inhabited the watershed and greatly contributed to the region’s culture and character. Among their legacies are the many place names in use today, such as Shickshinny, Nescopeck, Mocanaqua, and Wyoming. They also include the names of the waterways themselves. In the language of the Lenni Lenape, Susquehanna means broad, shallow river, and Lackawanna means forks or union of waters.
Changes in the region’s economy were historically tied to patterns of immigration and population growth. Native Americans, primarily the Delaware (Lenni Lenape) and the Shawnee, lived in the region under the eyes of their conquerors from the North—the Iroquois, also known as the Six Nations of the Mohawk, Oneida, Tuscarora, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga. Other tribes, such as the Lackawanna, Mohicans, and Nanticokes, also lived in the area. Each of these groups enjoyed the abundant fish and game found in the region. Many of them also cultivated corn and squash along the rivers’ shores.
The first Europeans appeared in the 18th Century traveling up the Susquehanna from the Chesapeake. They established diplomatic relations with the Six Nations and began a lively commercial exchange. Traders supplied the Native Americans with rum, sugar, clothing, ammunition, and toys in return for fur. Fashion centers in Paris and London clamored for beaver pelts, thus creating the watershed’s first international commodity. Additionally, the American colonists harvested shad from the Susquehanna and it became the primary source of protein in their diets.
The discovery of anthracite coal—sometimes referred to as "black gold"—in the region in the 1790s set the stage for an economic revolution. Facilitated by the development of new technologies for burning anthracite and for transporting it in bulk, deep coal mining quickly became the region’s dominant industry. First by river, next by canal in 1831, and finally by railroad in 1851, the Lackawanna and Upper Susquehanna basin produced and shipped millions of tons of coal annually to the nation’s homes and factories. The rise of the anthracite coal industry had a dramatic effect on population growth within the watershed. Between 1790 and 1800, the population of Luzerne County grew by more than 260 percent. New immigrants included the Welsh, Scotch-Irish, Germans, and the Irish.
In the 19th Century the region experienced tremendous industrial growth and a population explosion. Wilkes-Barre (founded in 1808) and Scranton (established in 1840) emerged as commercial centers. To man the mines, coal breakers, factories and rail yards, immigrants came in large numbers from Poland, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Russia, and the Slavic countries, and by 1900 more than two-thirds of the residents were foreign-born. During this time, the region produced enough anthracite to fuel the emergence of the U.S. as an industrial leader. The emergence of a thriving steel industry complemented the growth of the coal enterprise. Textile manufacturing also developed, drawing women and young girls to work in the factories and shops.
Employment conditions were harsh during those times, and many historians have defined the workplace practices as exploitative. Coal companies kept workers and their families in economic slavery. As a result, the population developed a negative self-image coupled with a distrust toward those in power. These attitudes permeated the region for generations. The manipulative workplace policies also produced a seminal moment in the American labor movement. In September 1897, 400 miners began a peaceful demonstration designed to call for better wages and working conditions. A short time later, a posse of armed citizens led by the local sheriff attacked the miners in a blood bath that left at least 19 men dead and countless others injured. The Lattimer Mine Massacre and the subsequent trial brought national attention to workers’ rights and strengthened the United Mine Workers of America as the voice for anthracite miners.
Population growth continued into the early part of the 20th Century, but then subsided. By 1930, there were signs of economic decline. Sales of anthracite dropped as other fossil fuels, such as oil, bituminous coal, and natural gas garnered greater market shares. Faced with intense competition, the anthracite collieries gradually shut down. The region’s steel and textile mills soon suffered similar fates. As a result of the decline of its major industries, between 1930 and 1970 Lackawanna and Luzerne counties lost nearly 30 percent of their total population.
Mining has had a profound effect on today’s landscape. It created huge strip-mined craters, black mountains of waste, and creeks choked with black silt and deposits of yellow-orange iron oxides. In 1959, a mine collapsed under the Susquehanna. The Knox Mine Disaster killed 12 miners and resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs as an entire network of underground mines flooded. It took more than 30 railroad cars and 400 mine cars to close the hole in the river’s floor and stanch the flow of water. More importantly it marked the end of deep coal mining in Luzerne County and the beginning of an uncontrolled flow of acid mine drainage (AMD) into the river.
Floods in 1936, 1972, and 1996 dealt the region additional blows. In 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes left $3.9 billion in present dollars damages as it ruined more than 25,000 homes, damaged nearly 3,000 businesses, and destroyed 5 major bridges. Then-President Richard Nixon called the event the "greatest natural disaster in U.S. history." While many residents decided to rebuild their lives in the valleys, thousands fled to higher ground or left. Those who remained continued to fear the rivers’ destructive capacities, and failed to recognize their resource potential. After many years of planning by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its local sponsor, construction began this year on a $150 million levee-raising project to protect the Wyoming Valley from future flooding.
While there has been some economic good news in the 1990s, the key to future prosperity and to a reversal of the trends of the past 60 years lies in establishing sustainable development practices for the stewardship and development of the natural and cultural resources which are abundant in the region. It also lies in bringing together the watershed’s individual communities to recognize their interdependence and collective strength as an economic and environmental region. An American Heritage River designation could play an important role in encouraging the communities’ treatment of the waterways as assets, and not as polluted and flood-prone liabilities. Through local cooperation and new, innovative public-private partnerships, the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed will revive itself and fulfill the vision of its earliest settlers who called it "one of the richest and most beautiful landscapes upon which the eye of man ever rested."
Section 2:
Notable Resource Qualities in the Area
Natural Resources
The primary natural resources in the region are the Lackawanna and Susquehanna rivers. Originating near the New York State border, the Lackawanna flows between mostly undeveloped hillsides before joining the Susquehanna. The upper portion of the Lackawanna is relatively clean, but AMD greatly pollutes its lower segment. Such pollution occurs when either surface runoff or underground water come into contact with minerals in the miles of abandoned coal tunnels, acres of strip-mined land, and piles of coal residual. In some places along the Lackawanna system, severe AMD flows unabated and it significantly impairs fish and plant life. The Lackawanna is a major tributary of the Susquehanna and, as a result, a major source of its pollution.
The Susquehanna is the nation’s 16th largest river, providing more than half of the freshwater flow into the Chesapeake. The Susquehanna is also a river of contrasts. Its relatively pristine northern area features a unique biodiversity, and the southern region during the last several decades has been the target of intensive efforts to improve water quality and compatible land use. But, as the waterway moves through its middle course—the Wyoming Valley—it suffers from a number of the worst environmental indignities ever inflicted collectively upon any of America’s rivers. As detailed in a study by Wilkes University, a local college, the Upper Susquehanna ails from more than 100 years of physical watershed disturbance, sedimentation, acid mine drainage, and untreated urban sewage in stormwater overflows.
As its strong mining tradition would indicate, the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed is rich with mineral resources. Anthracite coal remains buried deep within the Earth, and shale and sandstone deposits are abundant. Testing indicates AMD flows in the watershed contain a substantial amount of recoverable minerals with the most promising being aluminum, chromium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, manganese, tin, and gold.
Approximately 25 abandoned mines are located along the rivers and within the nominated area. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey indicate that collectively these sites daily contribute in the range of 740 tons of sulfate and 51 tons of iron for a total of 333 cubic feet per second of "industrial strength" iron-contaminated acidic waste water directly into the Susquehanna. This flow constitutes the single largest source of industrial pollution into the Chesapeake, the nation’s largest estuary. While most federal and private efforts, including those of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, have focused on the lower Susquehanna, there is strong evidence that efforts to remediate AMD and stormwater-triggered sewage overflows in the watershed are two of the most significant steps that the region could take to improve water quality in the lower river and bay ecosystems. Present efforts to address river pollution problems in the watershed are piecemeal and underfunded at all levels of government.
Despite the AMD and water-related degradation that has occurred from past extractive land use practices, the region does have other significant natural resources. Its green hillsides and underdeveloped back country feature state game lands—35,194 acres in Luzerne County and more than 12,000 acres in Lackawanna County—and 7,735 acres of state forests. Numerous lakes dot the landscape. One picturesque site located on the periphery of the watershed is First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s long-time family cabin on Lake Ariel. Together, these lakes, state parks, and remote private lands provide homes for a variety of waterfowl, nesting birds, birds of prey, deer, bears, and small mammals.
The rivers support a high level of biodiversity. Trout, for example, flourish in the upper reaches of streams and other fish species live in the unpolluted stretches of many tributaries. Efforts to encourage the reintroduction of the native American Shad depend on future river conditions. By restoring water quality along an 18-mile stretch within the nominated area, the shad will again swim freely from the bay to upstate New York hatcheries.
Economic Resources
The watershed has burgeoning leadership in all areas of community life: local government, business and industry, education, science, and volunteer organizations that are forming collaboratives to rebuild the region in the post-anthracite era. Although the economic decline began decades ago, in many ways the region is just now responding. Despite a network of highways that supports economic opportunities and links the region to the Eastern Seaboard—more than 20 million people live less than 4 hours away by car—the watershed still lacks the single most important resource for its future economic development: clean water. If it were not for the decades of environmental contamination, clean water would be an abundant, renewable resource that would help spur a resurgence in economic prosperity. The restoration of water as an economic resource for industry, recreation, and drinking is an extremely high priority for all economic development agencies in the region.
With a seven-county territory encompassing much of the watershed, the Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania has played an important role in promoting regional efforts such as the Tobyhanna Army Depot Blue Ribbon Task Force and the Northeast Pennsylvania Economic Summit. The organization is one of seven sub-state regional agencies that help to coordinate economic development activities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry has spearheaded projects such as a soon-to-be-completed convention center, a business development center, and several industrial parks. The Chamber has also provided leadership in downtown renewal through the restoration of a historic department store for its offices, and through the facilitation of public-private partnerships investing in urban renewal, environmental tourism, and historic preservation. Luzerne County houses many other economic development agencies and chambers of commerce. All of these organizations work closely with state and county governments to promote economic expansion.
Created in 1986 and officially opened in 1995, Steamtown in Scranton has become the nation’s premier railroad museum following a $66 million investment by the National Park Service. Local businesses led by the Scranton Chamber of Commerce built a shopping complex adjacent to Steamtown, which has led to substantial additional private investment in the downtown district. Lackawanna County has also developed an AAA minor league baseball park, the Montage ski area, and an underground coal mine tour.
The strong educational institutions in the region are also important economic resources: They train the workforce of the future. More than a dozen institutions of higher learning offer training in business, health, law, education, environmental science, engineering, biology, arts and the humanities in addition to a wide variety of other disciplines. Furthermore, the environmental knowledge of college and university science teams, especially those at the Wilkes University School of Science and Engineering, is critical to the solution of environmental problems impeding future economic growth in the watershed.
Non-Profit Resources
Within the last decade, the residents of the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed have established a number of non-profit organizations whose varied missions all focus on improving Northeastern Pennsylvania’s future. Chief among them are the Earth Conservancy, the National Institute for Environmental Renewal, the Regional Equipment Center, and the Marketing and Planning Center. Each of these organizations will likely play important roles in the development and implementation of projects under the American Heritage Rivers Initiative.
In 1992, Congressman Paul Kanjorski worked to establish Earth Conservancy in order to acquire more than 16,000 acres in the heart of the Wyoming Valley from the holdings of the Blue Coal Corporation. With the help of $20 million in federal funding, Earth Conservancy purchased the land that the courts had held in bankruptcy for more than 16 years. The undeveloped land had ranged in quality from pristine to severely mine scarred, and the potential for significant environmental liability discouraged private investors from purchasing it. After extensive community input and public meetings, Earth Conservancy developed a comprehensive land use plan for this acreage. This plan has provided a blueprint for the land’s restoration, preservation, and development. Some of the property is committed to business parks and residential developments, but much of it, after reclamation, will remain in a natural state. Money from land sold helps create a revolving fund to support future cleanup efforts. Through the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, Earth Conservancy will work to identify new projects for environmental reclamation and share its expertise with other organizations in the watershed.
Created in 1993 by the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority and Congressman Joseph McDade, the National Institute for Environmental Renewal (NIER) works to address national environmental issues, using Northeastern Pennsylvania as a laboratory. NIER focuses its work in five critical areas: brownfields, transportation, water quality, regional data services, and education and training. Within these parameters, NIER has worked to advance cutting-edge technologies for solutions to environmental problems. Presently, Lackawanna County is working closely with NIER on Watershed 2000, a $30 million federally-funded project aimed at addressing the acid mine drainage and sewage overflow problems of the Lackawanna.
The Regional Equipment Center (REC), established in 1989 with the assistance of Congressman Kanjorski, provides municipalities and other non-profit agencies with access to equipment that enables them to undertake otherwise financially-prohibitive projects. After acquiring and refurbishing surplus federal property, REC lends it to eligible entities at a cost of about 50 percent below market rates. With its inventory of more than $10 million in surplus equipment ranging from street sweepers to bulldozers, REC continues to be an important catalyst in helping Northeastern Pennsylvania to clean up its environment. REC has already reclaimed more than 100 acres of severely mine-scarred land owned by Earth Conservancy, as well as hundreds of acres of other mine-scarred land. These projects replaced coal-waste banks with natural vegetation and lessened AMD flows into the Susquehanna. REC has also participated in soil conservation and river cleanup efforts.
Finally, the Marketing and Planning (MAP) Center at King’s College works to improve economic and environmental planning in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Working under a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the MAP Center uses geographic information systems technology to create multi-layered geographic and demographic maps of a nine-county region encompassing most of the watershed. These maps help in economic development marketing and land use planning, and the public can access them through the Internet. The MAP Center is currently working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop an innovative flood plain management and flood warning system.
Agricultural Resources
Forests and crop land represent more than half of the land in the watershed. Truck farms, dairy farms, and tree farms are the primary agricultural industries. In recent decades, unregulated urban and suburban expansion has consumed prime agriculture land on the valley floor and pushed out farming activity to less productive areas. The result is decreased crop yield and increased erosion and sedimentation with adverse effects on water quality and supply. The region, therefore, has a need for strong local zoning and other farmland preservation programs to maintain agricultural resources and other greenspace within the watershed.
Scenic Resources
The Lackawanna and Susquehanna rivers form two of the most beautiful and scenic valleys in America. The dominating scenic characteristics are the high, green ridges that frame the settled and developed areas on the broad plain below. Panoramic views of the rivers and valleys are available from several outlooks, such as Campbell’s Ledge, Wilkes-Barre Mountain, and the escarpment near Council Cup. Trails, some dating to Native American times, lace the region and provide scenic walks along rivers and streams, through mountain passes, and over the mountain summits. In settled areas, scenic drives along the Susquehanna and Lackawanna encourage the enjoyment of picturesque views of shimmering water and quaint towns.
Historic Resources
The watershed features a number of nationally-significant historic resources. There is a diverse inventory of historic buildings, as well as a network of historical agencies and museums. In the Lackawanna Valley, in addition to Steamtown, Scranton’s National Register Commercial District includes dozens of Victorian buildings built during the prosperous coal and railroad years. Another National Historic Landmark is the Masonic Temple. There are other neighborhoods in Scranton and nearby communities that have substantial historic value such as Hyde Park and Lincoln Heights in Scranton, and portions of Carbondale, Mayfield, Moosic, Olyphant, and Pittston. Many of these sites are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Wyoming Valley also has impressive historic resources. Wilkes-Barre’s River Street Historic District is a National Register District along the Susquehanna. Wilkes-Barre also features numerous buildings and sites listed individually on the National Register, including Catlin Hall at Wilkes University, Central Railroad of New Jersey Station, the Luzerne County Courthouse, Market Street Bridge, and the Stegmaier Brewery. The U.S. Postal Service recently restored the Stegmaier Brewery for adaptive reuse by federal agencies. Before this renovation, the building had deteriorated for more than 20 years and become an eyesore at the gateway of downtown Wilkes-Barre. As in Lackawanna County, there remain a number of eligible properties identified but not yet nominated for inclusion in the National Register.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission operates several sites within the watershed, including the Anthracite Heritage Museum, the Scranton Iron Furnaces, Eckley Miners Village, and Dennison House. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission also works to interpret the colonial and industrial history of the region.
Finally, in recognition of the significant heritage resources in the region, the U.S. Congress established the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Corridor) in 1988. Although Congress included the Wyoming Valley in the designation because of its historical link to the Lehigh and Delaware Canals as a major transportation route for shipping anthracite, the majority of resources have since gone to other areas in the corridor. Now working to rectify this oversight, the D&L Corridor has identified in its proposed 10-year management action plan, presently awaiting congressional approval, several projects in the valley that it hopes to undertake.
Affiliated with the National Park Service, the D&L Corridor has completed inventories of heritage resources and created a partnership plan for protecting and interpreting them. Within the watershed, Pennsylvania designated the D&L Corridor and the Lackawanna Heritage Valley as State Heritage Parks in 1992 and 1991, respectively. The state and national programs parallel one another. Both designations required grassroots planning, cooperation between government agencies and community organizations, and a comprehensive management action plan addressing environment, heritage, economic development, and conservation issues.
Cultural Resources
The watershed’s cultural resources reflect a strong interaction between religious freedom, immigration, ethnic heritage, occupation, and education. Consequently, the region is replete with heritage organizations related to church and/or ethnicity. These organizations preserve the ethnic traditions that have contributed to Northeastern Pennsylvania’s cultural diversity. The watershed’s educational institutions, some located along the rivers’ shores in historic mansions built by coal barons, are important cultural resources, too. They collectively offer a diverse schedule of drama, art, music, and dance. The Kirby Center on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre hosts hundreds of events annually, including those of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Recreational Resources
The return of clean water to the Lackawanna and Upper Susquehanna basin is the key to unlocking the full potential of the region’s recreational resources. Within limits, the waterways already support canoeing, boating, and fishing. There is, however, room for tremendous growth in water-related entertainment. Both the Lackawanna and Susquehanna are broad, winding rivers capable of becoming recreational resources for residents and tourists. A developing network of new trails and rail-to-trail projects is also becoming an important recreational resource for hikers, snowmobilers, mountain bikers, and cross-country skiers.
The numerous federal, state, county, and local parks and gamelands already situated within the watershed support skiing, hunting, and fishing. Parks along the rivers’ shores could foster the development of a water recreation industry. In addition to those already mentioned, state parks of note include Archbald Pothole, Nescopeck, Francis Slocum, and Rickett’s Glen. The latter facility offers 22 waterfalls and scenic beauty to campers and hikers. Like Archbald Pothole State Park, Luzerne County’s Seven Tubs Area contains unique glacial features. Other important county parks include McDade County Park, Crystal Lake County Park, and Moon Lake. Wilkes-Barre’s Kirby Park is the most significant example of Frederick Law Olmstead’s work in Pennsylvania.
Section 3:
Community’s Plan of Action
Community Vision
The Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed has unusual potential for environmental restoration and development efforts. For example, because economic development has not yet encroached on the rivers’ shores in most places, sites remain available to create wetlands that will abate AMD and improve water quality both naturally and cheaply. Additionally, non-profit regional organizations like Earth Conservancy, NIER, and REC are now in place to work with federal, state, and local authorities to address problems efficiently. Since the early 1980s, citizens and organizations in the watershed have also initiated and completed several projects to restore their rivers and environment, to protect important natural and historic resources, and to foster economic revitalization.
These small, individual, and piecemeal successes have given the community a knowledge base and the confidence needed to accomplish more. Perhaps most importantly, they have also produced the recognition that the citizens of the watershed need to develop a common, comprehensive, and coordinated plan for their future. A prioritized plan of action would allow the communities to undertake environmental, economic, and cultural projects using the most effective and cost-efficient methods possible. From this watershed planning process, the community may discover that instead of conducting many little projects separately, it can undertake a few bigger projects to achieve the same, if not better, results. The American Heritage Rivers Initiative, consequently, promises an opportunity to implement a regional strategy for reclaiming the two rivers and their tributary streams as the watershed’s most outstanding natural resources. In return, it provides federal government agencies with opportunities to learn about grassroots development, nascent community planning, and the broad-scale streamlining needed to coordinate the delivery of the varied services that Northeastern Pennsylvania’s communities will request.
A community vision developed and endorsed by the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed as part of the American Heritage River application process consists of several parts. First, the community wants to complete a holistic and comprehensive study of the watershed’s ecosystem. This information will help to prioritize water quality improvement projects that will sensibly abate acid mine drainage, decrease sewage and stormwater overflows, and clean up hazardous waste sites along the rivers. Concurrent to the efforts to improve water quality, the residents of the watershed want to expand flood protection employing, where practical, innovative and non-structural solutions. The three final components of the community vision are the restoration of mine-scarred land, the promotion of economic growth, and the creation of community recreational and educational resources.
The paragraphs that follow detail the projects presently identified by the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed community that are needed to achieve its goals of environmental restoration and natural resource protection, economic revitalization, and cultural and historic preservation. Completed, planned, or in progress, the projects represent an initial plan of action that the community will refine, amend, prioritize, and implement in cooperation with one another, the Commonwealth, the federal government, and especially the River Navigator. When implemented, this restoration vision for Northeastern Pennsylvania will touch every individual, business, community organization, and political subdivision within the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed.
Undertake Integrated Study
Every aspect of a river’s character, including flow rates and pollution loads, depends entirely on the nature of the watershed it drains. Any attempts to fix the individual problems associated with a river, including periodic flooding, acid mine drainage, and sewer overflows, without first addressing the watershed as a whole are almost certainly doomed. Numerous local, state, and federal agencies have jurisdiction within the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna watershed, and their environmental conservation and cleanup efforts have often been disjointed and unconnected. Therefore, what is needed is a plan to address in a systematic way the rivers’ complex environmental problems. The first step in this effort would be to conduct a comprehensive study of the watershed’s ecosystem. Such a study would, for the first time, cut across all political boundaries in the watershed. Such information would not only accelerate cost-effective environmental restoration and natural resource protection projects, but also facilitate political integration and cooperation across all levels of government.
At this time, several efforts to conduct integrated studies of the watershed’s ecosystem have been planned or are underway. In response to the President’s announcement of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, experts at the Wilkes University’s School of Science and Engineering developed a proposal for investigating and solving the unique and complex environmental restoration problems of the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed. Significantly, the first phase of the River Continuum Project consists of a two-year comprehensive environmental assessment using a number of technologies, such as global positioning systems, satellite remote sensing, and digital orthophotogrammetry. These technologies are especially well suited for examining the issues of a watershed environment, mine-scarred land, flood management, wetlands protection, and human health risk assessment. In addition to the River Continuum Project, Lackawanna County’s Watershed 2000 (see below) is working to complete a comprehensive study to facilitate the cleanup of the Lackawanna. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fiscal Year 1998 appropriations also include $400,000 to start a similar study of the Susquehanna and its tributaries.
After its designation as an American Heritage River, the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed would turn to its River Navigator both to apply best practices and standards and to help coordinate these three separate, yet similar projects. Their integration would help ensure that a single comprehensive study is completed efficiently. To complete the integrated analysis, the watershed community will need the support and cooperation of several federal agencies, including the Corps, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Abate Acid Mine Drainage
The integrated study will identify a variety of types of projects that the people of the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed will need to complete in order to improve the water quality of their rivers, including those projects aimed at abating the problems of acid mine drainage. These efforts can build on several projects already completed or started. For example, working with a team of Wilkes’ researchers under a $1 million grant from the EPA, Earth Conservancy has embarked on a series of projects aimed at reducing AMD flows through the creation of passive wetland ecosystems. The first wetland complex, constructed in 1996, consists of 0.3 acres and treats a flow emanating from a seep in northwestern Hanover Township. Earth Conservancy has designed a second wetland complex of 2.2 acres for an area alongside the Dundee Outfall in Hanover Township. That wetland will use a novel aeration device called a Maxistripper, which can serve as a prototype for future AMD treatment wetlands.
Beyond these two projects, Earth Conservancy and Wilkes are seeking to divert the surface water flow in upstream parts of the watershed to prevent clean rainwater from reaching acid mine pools in the first place. Thus, this project will reduce the volume of mine water needing treatment. Another project under consideration is the rehabilitation of the old Newport dump, an old 20-acre stripping pit filled with greenish-orange AMD that flows into Newport Creek only three miles before its confluence with the Susquehanna. Additionally, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has plans to pipe orange-colored, sulfuric-smelling acid mine discharge from the borehole at Solomon’s Creek one-half of a mile for treatment at the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority.
Yet another partnership working to address AMD problems in the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed includes the Friends of the Nescopeck, Wildlands Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, the EPA, and Wilkes University. These groups have worked for several years to restore the Little Nescopeck Creek, whose waters feed into the Susquehanna. This project focuses on developing and employing new methods to remediate acid mine discharge from the Jeddo Mine Tunnel in Luzerne County. Created to drain water from deep coal mines, the tunnel draws from nearly 20,000 acres of mine-scarred land and discharges approximately 50,000 gallons of highly-contaminated water per minute. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the EPA, and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative have provided most of the funding to date.
Like the Nescopeck, the Catawissa Creek also flows into the Susquehanna. As with many local creeks, AMD has contaminated the waterway. In this case, rather than iron, the pollutant is suspended aluminum. The Catawissa Creek Restoration Association, organized in early 1997, already has more than 100 members who have raised funds to undertake a $20,000 limestone sand-dosing for the creek. When dumped into water, limestone sand raises the water’s alkalinity, causing the pollutant to solidify and deposit onto the stream bed. While only a short-term fix to the problem, this process has restored more than 26 miles of the creek to a point that its waters again support aquatic life. Through the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, the community hopes to obtain access to agency experts who can identify and implement long-term solutions to the problem.
Although minerals such as iron and aluminum pollute the watershed’s streams, they may also be valuable resources. As the people of the watershed work to improve their water quality, one subset of AMD abatement projects that deserves careful consideration are those seeking to recover minerals as part of this process. A study sponsored by the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy discussed the recovery of minerals as a method of cleaning AMD in anthracite and bituminous regions. This investigation involved major discharges in the region near Pittsburgh with flows that ranged from 500 to 5,000 gallons per minute. From these flows the researchers recovered a substantial amount of minerals with the most promising being aluminum, chromium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, manganese, tin, and gold. With further development, this technology could convert some of the worst cases of water pollution into economic assets.
The federal government’s role in AMD abatement projects along the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed will be to provide technical advice, administrative assistance, and financial support. Three sources of such resources are the EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Office of Surface Mining’s Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative.
Decrease Sewer Overflows
In addition to AMD abatement, the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed needs to further decrease sewage and stormwater overflows. Using an integrated approach, such projects could simultaneously address AMD and sewer overflow problems. Watershed 2000, for example, is designed to address AMD and sewer overflows along the Lackawanna. Developed from the Lackawanna River Greenway study completed in 1993 and funded by a $30 million federal grant from the EPA, Watershed 2000 seeks to develop effective methods for abating and eliminating AMD by reducing surface water flow into mine tunnels, creating wetlands to mitigate acidity, and exploring the commercial feasibility of recovering valuable minerals in acid mine water.
In Luzerne County, the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority (WVSA) endeavors to provide quality wastewater treatment. In an effort to substantially improve the quality of the water it discharges into the Susquehanna, the WVSA started in 1988 to upgrade its treatment facilities from primary to secondary processing. In the past decade, through the federal construction grants program, the WVSA has completed 26 projects totaling more than $50 million. While secondary treatment only requires the removal of 75 percent of pollutants, the secondary system designed and operated by the WVSA consistently removes greater than 97 percent of such materials.
The WVSA is now working to determine the environmental effect of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Susquehanna. CSOs result when wet weather events overload the wastewater collection and transmission systems. In older collection systems, the runoff from rain, melting snow, and thawing ice enter the same pipe as wastewater. The result is an untreated discharge of diluted wastewater directly into the Susquehanna. The WVSA currently monitors the date, time, duration, and location of all CSOs through a computerized telemetry system. In the future, the WVSA plans to sample, characterize, and quantify them. In an effort to reduce the amount of discharges from CSOs, the WVSA also converted old primary settling tanks to a CSO treatment facility, where floatable and settleable materials are removed and the water is screened and disinfected before its release.
To undertake future projects aimed at ebbing and eliminating sewage, stormwater, and combined sewer overflows, the watershed will need additional federal assistance. To complete Watershed 2000, for example, Lackawanna County will need the continued coordinated services and financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the EPA, and various agencies in the U.S. Department of the Interior. It seems likely that results from the integrated water-quality study will also identify other sewer treatment projects needing completion to improve water quality. Thus, the watershed will request additional federal assistance to support these efforts.
Clean Up Hazardous Waste Sites
Northeastern Pennsylvania also has a real need to clean up its hazardous waste sites, especially those with pollutants that leak into the watershed and contaminate the water. No fewer than seven Superfund sites lie within the watershed. One of the most serious of these sites is the Butler Mine Tunnel in Pittston. In 1985, the EPA averred that it had completed cleanup work on the Butler Mine Tunnel. But then, in the aftermath of Hurricane Gloria, the borehole spewed thousands of gallons of toxins, including cancer-causing chemicals, into the Susquehanna. Today, the EPA no longer states that it has finished the Butler Mine Tunnel cleanup. Instead, it merely monitors the situation and takes steps to minimize and contain releases when they occur. The Northeastern Pennsylvania community finds these actions inadequate. Through the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, the EPA could work to identify long-term solutions to this problem, such as the construction of a pipeline that would carry the deleterious material from the Superfund site to the WVSA for treatment.
Expand Flood Protection
The Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed experiences frequent, but localized flooding. In some years, such flooding has proven especially devastating. As detailed above, Tropical Storm Agnes caused considerable damage, and it took the community more than a decade to recoup and rebuild. Since 1972, the region has experienced additional flooding—the most serious of which occurred in January 1996.
Given Northeastern Pennsylvania’s past experiences with flooding, its residents naturally have a strong desire to pursue flood control projects, such as the construction of structural levees as well as the implementation of inventive, non-structural mitigation plans. When effectively planned and executed, such projects can, in some instances, promote economic development, achieve environmental protection and restoration goals, and preserve cultural resources. The American Heritage Rivers Initiative offers Northeastern Pennsylvania a chance to consider pragmatically projects needed to complement systems already in place or in progress.
After years of study and planning, in 1997 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in conjunction with Luzerne County started the construction of a $150 million levee-raising project. The project encompasses an area on both sides of the Susquehanna from the Borough of Forty Fort south through Wilkes-Barre to Hanover Township. Planners have set aside $37 million to address the adverse effects of the construction through an innovative mitigation plan. A panel of representatives from counties within the watershed will use this money for the acquisition of flood prone properties, flood proofing, flood warning, flood insurance, public education, and such amenities as trails, paths, and a proposed marina. This board is one of the first truly cross-county cooperative efforts in the watershed and could provide a base for future collaboration between multiple jurisdictions. Proceeding on schedule, the Corps expects to complete the project in 2002.
Elsewhere in the watershed, several other flood control projects are underway or planned. A $12 million levee-raising project in Olyphant has started, and a $20 million one in Scranton has begun as well. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has provided support for both efforts. Another levee system to provide additional protection to certain Scranton neighborhoods is in the planning stages and estimated to cost $45 million. Finally, both the Corps and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have begun studies to design a levee to protect an area in Bloomsburg. Located in the southern section of the watershed at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Fishing Creek, the unprotected area has suffered considerable flood damage from both the river and creek. It contains more than 150 homes and 4 industries employing more than 1,200 employees.
The federal government brings considerable resources to flood control efforts. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performs most of this work, and Northeastern Pennsylvania’s communities have worked closely with the agency in the past. The results of the integrated water-quality study may well identify the need for new flood control efforts. If so, the American Heritage Rivers Initiative could help to demonstrate new methods for streamlining federal technical assistance, planning, and funding. This reengineering would help improve public satisfaction with government. Moreover, the initiative provides an ideal vehicle for changing the public’s perception of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna. Treating the waterways as assets instead of liabilities is critical to the future of the region.
Restore Mine-Scarred Land
Past mining has left Northeastern Pennsylvania with mountains of culm banks. They are huge piles of refuse coal and slate which at the time of mining were considered to have no value. These mountains have become a part of the landscape and remain a source of AMD. Their removal, therefore, is an important part of the community’s vision. Such efforts not only make sense from the standpoint of environmental restoration, but they can produce economic benefits as well.
In the last twenty years, some entrepreneurs have used culm banks as a fuel for generating electricity. Private companies, such as U.S. Generating, remove the bulk of the coal waste and help to restore the natural landscape at no cost to taxpayers. Under the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, the EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology should encourage the use of culm as a fuel source and could create a pilot incentive program in conjunction with cogeneration companies. Such government-sponsored incentives would encourage more effective and complete land reclamation, thus ensuring the total removal of culm banks.
Finally, Earth Conservancy plans to continue its land restoration efforts using the cost-effective REC. The role of the federal government in the process of land reclamation will be to provide technical advice and assistance, and financial leverage where possible.
Foster Economic Development
This application has already detailed several projects that will foster economic growth in the watershed, including the exploration of the feasibility of removing minerals during AMD treatments and the transformation of culm banks into electricity. The comprehensive cleanup of the watershed will provide the clean water that most manufacturers need, thus increasing the region’s ability to compete for new jobs. Efforts to clean up mine-scarred land will also make room for business development. Furthering the creation of sustainable economic development in high technology industries is a goal for a watershed still recovering from the loss of its major industries.
For this application, the region identified several proposed transportation projects with economic development potential. In Wilkes-Barre, officials are working to develop an intermodal transportation center located just blocks from the Susquehanna. A $3 million federal appropriation for Fiscal Year 1998 will help make this center a reality. This transit hub will facilitate car, bus, and taxi traffic, decrease emissions, ensure efficient mass transportation, and promote shopping near the river front. Another transportation project with potential is the extension of Route 29. This project, estimated to cost $70 million over 5 years, will open up approximately 5,000 acres of Earth Conservancy land adjacent to the Luzerne County Community College for a mixed-use high technology industrial and residential park. The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) has pledged to support Earth Conservancy’s efforts by undertaking a feasibility and marketing study. The U.S. Department of Transportation will play a critical role in both projects, as will its Pennsylvania counterpart and local governmental entities.
In addition to the reclamation of mine-scarred land within the watershed, Northeastern Pennsylvania has a real need to aggressively reclaim industrial land that now sits abandoned. These sites pose potential hazards for industrial and residential neighbors. NIER has worked for several years to identify and renew such brownfields. In Carbondale, NIER worked last year to restore a tract that may ultimately house more than 500 jobs. This site, the home of the former Carbondale Rail Yards, had become contaminated during its time as a rail center. Because of uncertainties regarding the nature and extent of the contamination, the land remained undeveloped for close to 50 years. Now, the site contributes to the local economy.
Through the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, Northeastern Pennsylvania hopes to capitalize on a number of federal resources. First, it hopes to offer its many brownfields as virtual laboratories for redevelopment. The federal government could, for example, develop a pilot project aimed at expanding the brownfields initiative to include blackfields, i.e., land scarred by past mining practices. Additionally, the people and economic development agencies of the watershed hope to leverage the resources of the federal government to create good jobs with good pay. Economic development demonstration programs using tax credits or revolving funds are other ideas that merit exploration. Federal agencies with the capacity to facilitate such development include the EPA, Fannie Mae, the Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business Cooperative Service, and the U.S. Department of Energy, among others.
Create Community Recreational and Educational Resources
The Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed strongly wants to improve its recreational amenities. Organizations within the community are also working to preserve historic buildings and places. At least $5 million in community park projects to advance environmental protection and historical preservation goals are underway, and a number more are planned.
Rail-to-trail projects, largely funded with federal assistance, are increasingly popular within the watershed. When properly constructed, such pathways improve water quality and encourage biodiversity by cleaning up land and creating greenspace. With appropriate planning, they also educate and encourage cultural preservation. The Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority presently has $2.4 million in federal funds to complete a trail from Scranton to Uniondale. Susquehanna River Watch, a citizens’ group, plans a trail along the Susquehanna that will link the trails of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys. That group already has a planning grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. These projects may require additional federal funding and assistance from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Transportation, among others.
Recently, several communities within the watershed have developed plans to rehabilitate or develop riverside parks. Wilkes-Barre’s Riverfront Parks Committee, for example, raised $125,000 to complete a restoration plan for the Kirby and Nesbitt parks. Kirby Park, dedicated in 1924, is the largest and most complete park in Pennsylvania designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Nesbitt Park suffers from neglect and lack of infrastructure. The City of Pittston has proposed a $3 million waterfront development project adjacent to its business district. The plan envisions a pedestrian walkway, public boat launch, marina, boat house, fishing pier, and meeting area all fully accessible by the disabled. The Commonwealth recently awarded the city a $400,000 grant for construction of the walkway and launch. Luzerne County, Pittston, and local businesses have committed additional funds. Kingston, across the Susquehanna from Wilkes-Barre, also envisions a river park.
Northeastern Pennsylvania has a long history, and the community hopes to capitalize on the American Heritage Rivers Initiative to preserve its cultural resources. In the recent past, the community has lost some of these assets. A parking lot, for example, replaced Judge Fell’s House, where anthracite was first burned in an open grate, launching the coal-driven industrial revolution. The watershed needs to preserve its remaining historical places. Additionally, several Native American groups supporting this application—like the Onondaga—hope to protect their sacred grounds. Federal agencies that could assist in these preservation projects, as well as with the creation of a revolving loan program to fund such efforts, include the National Park Service, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Finally, a number of projects in the watershed aimed at conservation efforts are also in progress. One of these is Earth Conservancy’s greenways plan, which will be completed in 1998 at a cost of $150,000. Earth Conservancy has designated approximately 10,000 of its 16,000 acres for open space and recreation. This study will develop a plan for that land by further defining its use from conservation to active or passive recreation. The Back Mountain Regional Land Trust, Wildlands Conservancy, Nature Conservancy, and Lackawanna Valley Conservancy are presently developing additional land trust projects thus insuring wildlife habitat and open space.
Citizen Involvement and Public Education
As discussed below, the process for preparing this American Heritage River application has included input from more than 100 individuals, groups, and organizations after numerous public meetings. The process for developing this application has been and will continue to remain open for public participation and input. In the consideration of future environmental restoration, economic development, and cultural preservation projects envisioned by the community as part of this application, the leaders in the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed pledge to facilitate continued and diverse citizen involvement designed to share information, identify common goals, and set strategies to achieve those goals. This involvement will, where practical, include community forums, public comment periods, and, potentially, interactive World Wide Web-based discussions to review potential projects. The application’s sponsors also pledge to support public education not only in the process for planning and developing the projects, but also in the creation of informational material about those completed. Brochures about projects of historical, cultural, or environmental significance seem particularly appropriate. Finally, the Northeastern Pennsylvania community hopes to work with its River Navigator to create and distribute an annual American Heritage River community report card designed to educate the public about projects completed and the cooperation needed to achieve their common vision for the region.
Logistical Support
To date, the effort to develop this application and community action plan for the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed has been largely grassroots and informal. Now that the community has developed a plan for its future, it will work to create a more formal organization to implement that plan. This organization will provide the community with stewardship, ensure cooperation, and permit information sharing. It will also work with the River Navigator to establish a timeline for completing American Heritage River projects. In working to unlock Northeastern Pennsylvania’s cultural, environmental, and economic potential, the new organization will also complement the programs of established organizations and government agencies. The River Navigator will certainly play a fundamental role in guiding and offering advice about this organization’s development, thus providing a unique opportunity for the federal government to learn more about the early stages of community organizing.
One idea receiving close scrutiny is the establishment of The Upper Susquehanna River Restoration and Conservation Foundation. This non-profit organization would consist of a Board of Directors comprised by the primary sponsors of this application, a Science Advisory Panel with members from local universities, and an assembly of representatives from all affected communities. The foundation would provide overall coordination of the watershed’s projects recognizing the need for intergovernmental cooperation and participation within the varied municipalities, authorities, and environmental groups.
Whatever organization is formed to implement its vision, the community pledges that it will comply with the President Clinton’s Executive Order on the American Heritage Rivers Initiative. It will, therefore, act with due regard for the protection of private property rights. It will also comply with existing local, state, and federal laws. Finally, it will follow the "good neighbor" policy in planning and making decisions that affect environmental and natural resource protection, sustainable economic development, and historic and cultural preservation.
Challenges to Community Action
The Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed is a mosaic of numerous cities, boroughs and townships, many counties, and several municipal authorities. These entities each have their own mission, their own jurisdiction, and their own sources of capital. In the past, political boundaries, parochialism, and partisanship have impeded regional cooperation in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Now, partially as a result of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative and partially as a result of changing public attitudes, these communities recognize that in order to achieve success in the long run they must now coordinate their efforts under one vision. The overwhelming support received for this application from government units within the jurisdiction (see below) is indicative of the fact that these communities now recognize their interdependence and the need to cooperate. Although some state officials may have publicly questioned the framework for implementing the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, all remain receptive to the goals of improving environmental protection, supporting economic development, and ensuring cultural preservation.
As the community moves forward, the area’s current zoning practices will almost certainly receive scrutiny. At present, they are often disjointed and uncoordinated. A company hoping to construct a new plant must sometimes go to one jurisdiction for a building permit, another for a sewage permit, and yet another for a tax assessment. Such a scheme has in the past either hampered development or led to haphazard growth. There is a need, therefore, to reengineer. This initiative presents an ideal opportunity to explore feasible alternatives. Moreover, such streamlining closely parallels Governor Thomas Ridge’s recent proposal to increase regional cooperation in Pennsylvania (see below).
Measures of Performance
As part of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, the citizens of Northeastern Pennsylvania are committed to identifying and achieving measurable goals. They will work with the River Navigator to identify them. Some obvious goals deserve discussion here. For example, within 5 years, the community hopes to remove environmental obstacles so that the American Shad can again swim freely from the Chesapeake into upstate New York. During this same time frame, the watershed also hopes to restore at least 20,000 acres of mine-scarred land and create and preserve 1,000 additional acres of wetlands. The community further wants to decrease pollution contributed by the watershed into the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem so that 90 percent of the water is free of particulate matter within 10 years. At that time, the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed would propose to expand its designation to include immediately adjacent watersheds and to achieve the goal of having water that is 95 percent pure within an additional 5 years. Additional measurable goals to consider relate to miles of trails built, acres of expanded greenspace, the number of created jobs, and the preservation of historic sites.
Section 4:
Illustrate Who Supports the Nomination
The communities in two adjacent and interdependent river valleys and adjacent jurisdictions have come together to complete this nomination. Cooperation of this type is unprecedented in an area that has been more traditionally experienced jurisdictional differences among its many political units. Now, inspired by the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, these communities have cast aside their differences and recognized the importance of teamwork. In sum, this application is supported by federal elected leaders, the Commonwealth, local government officials, business executives, educational institutions, economic development associations, environmental organizations, and Native American tribes, among others.
Work on the application for the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed to become an American Heritage River began just days after President Clinton announced the initiative. On February 8, Congressman Kanjorski met with the Luzerne County Greenway and Open Space Commission to discuss the future of the Susquehanna. The Commission—a federation of community organizations working to improve parks, increase recreational opportunities, and expand greenspace—quickly ascertained the initiative’s potential. At that meeting, individuals pledged their support for the selection of the watershed and promised their assistance.
During the next several months, the citizens of Northeastern Pennsylvania undertook several steps in their effort to nominate the watershed. First, in April several residents participated in the American Heritage River stakeholder meeting in Philadelphia which the EPA and the U.S. Department of the Interior organized. These individuals included representatives from the Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania, NIER, and Congressman Kanjorski’s office. In May through September, Congressman Kanjorski met with approximately 40 community leaders to discuss the proposal and develop ideas for the application. Professors from Wilkes University worked with their students during this time frame as well to develop a comprehensive plan for the watershed, monitor water quality, and complete small-scale cleanup projects. In August, Congressman Kanjorski worked with constituent groups to submit comments responding to the Federal Register notice on the American Heritage Rivers Initiative. Other organizations supporting this application that also submitted comments include the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Susquehanna River Watch.
As a result of these discussions and public requests for more information, the community formed a working group. State, county, and local elected officials as well as representatives from public, private, and non-profit economic, cultural, and environmental groups were invited specifically, and interested members of the public were notified through the local media. Those invited included a number of individuals who had publicly questioned the need for the American Heritage Rivers Initiative. This group first met on October 1, and more than 50 people attended. At the close of the meeting, participants agreed to draft two-page summaries containing their views of what the application should address. The working group received 25 such summaries. Two weeks later, the community held a second meeting. Karen Hobbs, the team leader of the American Heritage River’s Working Group, attended that event and answered many questions. Again, more than 50 people participated, and many others who could not attend received follow-up briefings from attendees. After her presentation, the community working group created two subcommittees: one to draft the application and one to solicit community support.
The group that drafted the application included individuals with diverse interests. For example, environmental and sportsmen’s groups were represented by Earth Conservancy, Friends of the Nescopeck, and the local chapter of the Federation of Sportsmen. Economic development groups participating included the Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce. A representative from Wilkes University provided the perspective of academic institutions, and the D&L Corridor representative provided extensive advice and assistance on the cultural and environmental portions of the application. The Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority also lent its technical expertise, and Congressman Kanjorski’s office participated heavily in this effort. In order to write the application, the subcommittee met on several occasions to review and revise drafts. In between these meetings, its members made numerous phone calls to community leaders to ensure that the final application reflected their views and goals.
Throughout the process, the media has played a significant role in educating the public about the American Heritage Rivers Initiative and the community’s application. The editorial boards of the three largest newspapers in the watershed—the Citizens’ Voice, the Scranton Times, and the Times Leader—have all endorsed the community effort to become an American Heritage River. Reporters at these papers and others have also written dozens of stories. In addition, Northeastern Pennsylvania’s radio and television stations broadcast countless reports. In sum, these stories have raised public awareness and built community support.
To solicit and obtain community backing for the application of the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed, the endorsement subcommittee sent out hundreds of information packages. The response to this mailing and follow-up phone calls was overwhelming. As of December 9, the community working group had received more than 100 letters supporting the application of the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed. These letters came from a variety of officials, individuals, and organizations. The tabs behind this application include these endorsements and are broken down into several logical groupings.
Congressman Paul Kanjorski, a Democrat, and Senator Arlen Specter and Congressman Joseph McDade, both Republicans, are three of the elected federal officials who endorse the application. Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Ridge through John Oliver, his Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, sent a strong letter on behalf of the application. Further, the Ridge administration has worked diligently to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake, and the Governor has recently called for the need to increase regional cooperation among the many and disparate communities in Pennsylvania. This application represents an opportunity for such regional cooperation. Many elected state officials have also endorsed the nomination. Some of them include Senators Edward Helfrick, Robert Mellow, and James Rhodes, and Representatives Robert Belfanti, Kevin Blaum, Todd Eachus, and Thomas Tigue.
The response from the local community was equally impressive. These endorsements came from county commissioners, city leaders, township heads, and borough officials. Not only did the Luzerne County Commissioners unanimously support the application, but they also passed a resolution to establish American Heritage Rivers day. Many other local jurisdictions followed suit. When combined, these resolutions and letters of support come from state and local elected officials who represent more than 90 percent of the watershed’s population.
Beyond elected officials, endorsement letters came from many other sources. They include environmental groups and institutions of higher learning. Other supporters include planning commissions, businesses, and almost every key economic development council in the region. Cultural and historic institutions, as well as Native Americans, have expressed support for the application. Several concerned citizens submitted letters, too.
Finally, support for the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed’s application was not limited to individuals and groups in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Organizations like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have also endorsed the nomination. Further, political officials such as New York State Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffman have pledged their support and partnership. These endorsements from outside of the watershed come as a result of the recognition of the environmental interdependence between the Upper Susquehanna-Lackawanna Watershed and other watersheds. Some back the goal of restoring shad migration through the Wyoming Valley and back to their historical breeding grounds in New York State, while others support efforts that will improve the water quality of the Chesapeake.
This document is a copy of the original which was produced by the office of Congressman Paul Kanjorski in Washington, D.C.