2018 ANNUAL REPORT

CHARTIERS CREEK WATERSHED ASSOCIATION (ChCWA)

ChCWA is an all-volunteer organization, which was formally organized in 1999 as an association representing the upper Chartiers Creek Watershed in Washington County, Pennsylvania. ChCWA is a member of the Washington County

Watershed Alliance (WCWA), a nonprofit, umbrella organization designed to coordinate and enhance the efforts of individual watershed associations. Our mission is to enhance, protect, and develop the ecosystem of the watershed by undertaking activities to:

1. Study the natural resources of the watershed; 2. Develop a program to improve and maintain the water resources of the watershed; 3. Promote local interest in natural resource conservation; 4. Involve local support to correct conditions that cause problems for the watershed; and 5. Identify federal, state, and local programs (financial, technical, and scientific) that would benefit

the watershed. Studying Natural Resources: ChCWA citizen scientists continued to monitor the water quality of our streams. Spring and fall chemical testing and macro-invertebrate studies were conducted at four sites except fall monitoring could not be done at Chartiers Run due to rainy conditions:

• Chartiers Creek in North Franklin Township along Rt. 18 at Scotty’s • Chartiers Run in Houston Borough at the VFW • Chartiers Creek in Houston Borough at the Houston Ballfield • Little Chartiers Creek in North Strabane Township at the bridge on Linden Road at Linden Creek Road

ChCWA chemical data will soon be available for viewing on the 3RQ website www.3riversquest.org. In addition, with the assistance of a grant through the Washington County Community Foundation, chemical samples from the four sites were collected by volunteers headed up by Jean Bear and sent to Pace Labs for testing. The results at one site when compared with ChCWA test results for the same site showed that some of our aging testing equipment and/or reagents are not working properly and need to be replaced. Another important finding was that aluminum, iron and manganese are present in higher amounts than we found previously. This suggests that we should resume testing for these parameters. It is probable that the heavy rains washed the metals out of the mines. While chemical monitoring provides a snapshot of water quality at a particular time, the diversity and types of macro invertebrates found in the streams are a very good indicator of water quality over a period of time.

2018 Water Quality Ratings Based on Macro-invertebrate Monitoring

Monitoring Sites Chartiers Run at American Legion

Houston Ballfield Little Chartiers at Linden Rd/Linden Creek Rd

Chartiers Creek at Scotty’s

Spring 2018 Fair Fair Good Fair Fall 2018 Not sampled Good Very Good Good

Promoting Interest in Natural Resource Conservation:

• ChCWA volunteers appeared with an educational display and handouts at Ag Days and the Washington County Fair.

Natalie Ushner-Arroyo & Nina Zoldak collect macroinvertebrates with a Surber sampler

Jean coaches Julius on how to draw a sample for chemical testing

Dana Dudra, Julius, Ken Hanawalt and Jean Bear sort and identify macros

Macros being sorted and identified

• ChCWA reached out to the public through its Facebook page and website. Thank you to the following volunteers:

Website editor: Joan Gunther Website maintenance: Richard Dupree, Dupree Solutions Email communications: Virginia McAnulty Facebook administrators: Carrilee L Hemington and Virginia McAnulty

• Annual Wetlands Walk: Dr. Jason Kilgore of W&J College led the Annual Wetlands Walk at the

North Franklin Wetlands for Cub Scouts of pack 1017 and their families. About 20 people attended and learned about the three types of wetlands, hydric soils, and wetland plants and trees. It was a beautiful day, and the pictures, courtesy of Josh Dunkle who arranged for the program, speak for themselves.

• In 2018, “WATER…Can science save it?” was the theme of the second environmental art contest organized by ChCWA in cooperation with Canon McMillan High School. The contest challenged students to explore our local water resources and express what they learned in a creative way. Many

Dr. Jason Kilgore explains about wetlands

Dr. Kilgore shows hydric soils

Beautiful day for a walk

Mushrooms!

Sensitive Fern, a wetland plant

D-shaped hole shows

evidence of emerald ash borer.

All about cattails

thanks to Virginia McAnulty for conducting the contest and to donors of the prizes: AquaLife Foundation, Budd Baer Auto, Schlumberger and JoAnn Fabrics.

• Canoe/Kayak Access Feasibility Study

ChCWA and Allegheny Land Trust continued a joint feasibility study of developing canoe/kayak access points to Chartiers Creek between Central Avenue in Canonsburg and Chartiers Park in Bridgeville. The study was expanded upstream from the confluence with Little Chartiers Creek. For the second year in a row, bacterial studies were conducted in cooperation with DEP to determine if all of the stream segments meet standards for Recreational Use. Participating in the sampling were Lorraine Kofalt, ALT John Hamm intern; Nicholas “Nickle” Glover, WCCD watershed intern; Bob Smith; Paul Everett and Greg Boughner, Jr., both of Range Resources; Carrilee Hemington and Jennifer Dann, WCCD Watershed Specialist. The conclusion of the study was that canoe/kayak access can be planned only for the segment of Chartiers Creek below Canonsburg Dam because the upstream segments do not meet recreational standards. DEP monitors surface waters for Recreational Use during base flow conditions within the bathing season from May 1 until September 30. Stormwater flows should not be sampled for recreational use assessments and are usually removed from the data set during analysis for assessment. Unfortunately, with the record-breaking rainy weather, there were insufficient data to make an assessment. DEP noted that currently, the section of Chartiers Creek that was sampled in 2017 is assessed for recreational use using the data collected by ChCWA volunteers. See the integrated report viewer for the up to date assessments based on this monitoring work: http://www.depgis.state.pa.us/integratedreport/index.html. The next step is to organize a task force of volunteers to evaluate launch sites, seek funding for design and construction and meet with landowners.

2017 Bacterial sampling points and current Integrated Report assessments of Chartiers Creek watershed. (Source: PA DEP) Green – in attainment for Recreational Use Red – not in attainment for Recreational Use Blue – not assessed

2018 Officers and Board Members Josh Dunkle, President Susan Morgan, Vice President Virginia McAnulty, Treasurer Carrilee L. Hemington, Secretary Joan Guenther Christine Soltis vacant position Accomplishments:

• January and February - Held Art Contest on the theme “Water… Can Science Save It?” for Canon MacMillan High School Students

• April 20-21 – Participated in Ag Days • May 12 - Held Annual Wetlands Walk at North Franklin Wetlands led by Dr. Jason Kilgore of W&J

College • April and May – Completed macroinvertebrate monitoring at 4 sites

• July - September – In a joint project with Allegheny Land Trust, completed two rounds of bacterial monitoring at 8 sites as continuation of the feasibility study of a possible canoe/kayak access project on Little Chartiers Creek and Chartiers Creek from South Central Avenue in Canonsburg to Chartiers Park in Bridgeville.

• August – Collected water samples at four sites that were tested by PaceLabs. Funded by a grant through the Washington County Community Foundation.

• August 11-18 – Participated in Washington County Agricultural Fair • October – Completed macroinvertebrate monitoring at 3 sites. The fourth site could not be

completed because of elevated streamflow. • December 12 – Annual meeting and potluck dinner held at WCCD office