Some of the EPCAMR Staff including Michael Hewitt, Bobby Hughes, Maria Gereda, and Morgan Romanowski travelled to Schuylkill County this morning to spend the day with our project partners to conduct a field investigation of future monitoring boreholes, shafts, and AMD discharges in the West Branch of the Schuylkill River. Alexa Smith (who is one of the Project Coordinators) and Wayne Lehman (who couldn’t be on the trip today) from the Schuylkill Conservation District hosted us for the day. The District was awarded funding for the project. PA DEP BAMR was along with us. Dan Koury and Jim Andrew’s from the Pottsville District Mining Office, Eric T Bella from Lehigh Engineering, Charles Cravotta from Cravotta Geochemical and Terry Ackman, were also along for the field investigation. The purpose of today’s investigation was to determination accessibility to each of the sites for future monitoring purposes to obtain flow, mine pool elevations, and chemistry data for the project. We were able to meet some private landowners and had very positive conversations with them about the project and future access for monitoring. We will be developing a comprehensive mine pool mapping effort for the Pine Knot, Reppelier, and Oak Hill AMD discharges that will be able to be used to determine if the Reppelier can be eliminated from flowing into Mill Creek and redirected back towards the Pine Knot and Oak Hill for future AMD Treatment once the barrier pillars, mine pool elevations, faults, anticlinal and synclinal structural geology features are fully evaluated and a long-term monitoring program is established. (fb)

Our Executive Director, Bobby Hughes made the long trip out Treasure Lake, Dubois, to western PA upon an invitation from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) as PA’s appointed member of the Stakeholders’ Advisory Committee (SAC) to provide valuable input and technical support to the Brook Trout Work Group giving his involvement in AMD watershed restoration and trout stream habitat assessment and improvement projects in PA. His longtime friend and colleague from the Clearfield County Conservation District, Kelly Williams, gave a great presentation on the recovery and return of Brook trout in the Deer Creek watershed following the construction of an AMD Treatment System. They had a lot to say about the importance of getting AMD to be included in the Chesapeake Bay Model and AMD Treatment Systems as Best Management Practices. Kelly and Bobby also had a chance to discuss the planning of a Fall AMD Tour in the Clearfield Creek watershed that they will be hosting for the larger Chesapeake Bay Commission. Release of the recent STAC Report (posted on an earlier post by EPCAMR) that showed empirical evidence and data that nitrogen and phosphorus were being removed when AMD is treated and the research and literature is well cited by a number of universities, the USGS, Stroud Water Research Center, and EPCAMR. The focus also was on building collaborations and bringing together additional stakeholders working on Brook Trout habitat improvement projects or restoration projects to increase occupancy, abundance, and resilience in watersheds within the Chesapeake Bay. Potter and Clearfield Counties were selected initially to help build a blueprint for other counties within the Bay. New outcomes for thr Bay’s Beyond 2025 Plan were discussed and public comment will surely be provided by many to make the outcomes realistic, quantifiable, and accountable, based on rhe changing environmental conditions and impacts to the land and water around the Bay watershed. (fb)