First, I want to introduce SOLS’ new Operations Director, Guy Alsentzer. He’s going to take over some of the organizational work and some of the interaction with you, our Stewards, something that I know I don’t keep up as much as I should. Guy also happens to be an environmental attorney. You’ll hear from him soon.

I’d also like to introduce Metta Barbour, who will be helping us coordinate this year’s Codorus clean up and fundraising drive for SOLS. This is the 10th anniversary of the big 10-day cleanup we had on the Codorus in York, PA, in 2002. Over 300 volunteers pulled 1200 tires and 8 40-yard dumpsters full of debris out of the Codorus. Ten years later we have Bald Eagles and Mink in downtown York!!! This was the beginning of my work to improve and preserve our waterways, and this year I know we are going to do even more. I am now the Clean Up coordinator with the Watershed Alliance of York, so if you need some help, and a little funding for cleanups, shoot me an email (funding available for York and western Lancaster Counties.)

Conowingo Dam, and the dangerous amount of sediment and pollutants trapped behind it, is still one of our top priorities. We were hoping to get the first year’s studies being done by Exelon for the FERC re-licensing last Friday, but FERC gave them a one-month extension. Studies are now expected out on February 22. Another set of studies, specific to the sediment problem, are being led by the Army Corps of Engineers, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, and Maryland Dept. of Environment. The study plans should be out soon. We’ll keep you posted. Feel free to email any ideas for beneficial reuse of the sediment. Remember it does contain pollutants like PCB’s and pesticides, so we can’t just dredge it and put it back on farms. We need reuses, preferably, which require the material to be heated to temperatures over 1000 degrees, to break down the PCB’s and pesticides.

Many of you have probably heard about the Farm Bureau suing to block the Chesapeake TMDL and WIP cleanup plan. This lobbying group has no understanding of what it means to live in community, where everyone’s actions affect everyone else. We can’t restore the Susquehanna and Chesapeake without changes in how we all live our lives. This means we, as individuals, reducing or eliminating fertilizers on our lawns, and trying to keep stormwater on our properties; wastewater plants upgrading to treat the pollution that we all make every day; industries changing their practices to reduce pollution, including nitrogen and phosphorus; and, of course, agriculture, the biggest source of pollution to the Susquehanna and the Chesapeake, using only the fertilizers they need and not using their fields for manure waste disposal, not farming to the edge of streams, leaving buffers to absorb excess fertilizer and pesticides, stopping the use of excess antibiotics that compromise human health, and not letting the Farm Bureau LIE to Congress and the public about efforts to improve our communities for EVERYONE. Please check out this video that 60 MINUTES did on the Farm Bureau. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4iiV8e0Y6A] It’s shocking to learn what they are really about: big ag business, factory farming, using polluted sludge on farm fields, and taking from those of us that have the least. They have tried to block the existence of the EPA, the minimum wage, voting rights for minorities. While they are doing this, we continue to see the decline of the family farm! It’s time to hold them accountable! If you want to save family farms, find one, buy your food from them, and pay them more than they ask. You’ll still be getting better food for your money, and you’ll be creating community, the only thing that is going to get us beyond “personal rights” to pollute our common resources. This is going to be more and more important as our population continues to grow, in the Susquehanna Watershed, the Chesapeake Watershed, and across the global community.

OK, rant over. We’re working on a lot of other things, including a nasty landfill up above Sunbury. And yes, now that they are bringing Marcellus Shale frack water down into the lower Susquehanna to be “treated”, we’ve been dragged into that one, too (Guy’s going to be on top of this one).

We have a benefit concert by HEXBELT at the John Wright Restaurant in Wrightsville on Saturday, February 5th, from 10pm to 2am. It's five bucks, and kinda late, but the venue is a beautiful glass room looking out onto the Susquehanna. It will be a great time and you can dance and meet other Stewards while knowing you are improving the Susquehanna.

We tried to get out everyone’s receipts for membership so you can deduct your contribution from your taxes. If you haven’t gotten yours, please email us.

Finally, we always need your help to keep this work going. We don’t take money from the government, as many people think. Without you, SOLS does not exist. To me, there is nothing more American than this, I don’t care what your political affiliation may be. The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment continues to be an amazing supporter of our work! They will DOUBLE MATCH every dollar you give. A $50 family membership means $150 will be contributed to continue this important work. Your contributions, and the fact that we are in our sixth year, prove that you agree that this is some of the most important work we can be doing for our families and all future generations. You can contribute on line through Paypal, or print out a membership form at http://www.lowersusquehannariverkeeper.org/donate.html.

We look forward to partnering with you for a very productive year for SOLS, the Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER®, and, most importantly, our waterways and communities.

From the Mighty Susquehanna, Michael R Helfrich
Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER®

1. The group that met voted to recommend these three broad study topics for further focus:

• Evaluate basin-wide (Susquehanna) sediment transport (SIAM model) and management from all sediment sources including: land, channel, and legacy sediments.
• Evaluate costs, benefits, and feasibility of many alternatives, plus environmental impacts (innovative reuse, dredging, watershed options, sand bypassing, resource recovery).
• Study impact of storm events and the effect on grain size, and timing and magnitude of scour events and impacts.

2. Questions (needs) put forth by Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper

• Economic analysis of losses to the Chesapeake Bay and communities upon a repeat of the Tropical Storm Agnes scouring of Conowingo Dam.
• Cost of 100% applications of Best Management Practices to reduce contribution of sediment and nutrient loads from the Susquehanna watershed.
• How much sediment needs to be removed to reduce catastrophic pulse damage, and to increase trapping capacity at Conowingo Dam?
• Expert review of SRBC Pub 239, sediment characteristic and toxicity review.
• Will upriver BMPs meet our needs? (Part of answer is that it will take 50 years after 100% BMP implementation to stop input.)

• Tell him that we need a mandatory buffers program, not a voluntary one.
• Remind him how important buffers are for reducing water pollution and flooding.
• Tell him that DEP's plan to eliminate its review of stormwater plans is a bad idea that will cause more pollution and flooding and degrade our streams.

As usual, so much going on, so little time to write about it. This update includes a fun fundraising opportunity in York County, PA; upcoming cleanups; an update on smallmouth die-offs and intersex in the Susquehanna; and Holtwood back on track for upgrades and Conowingo and Muddy Run re-licensing pre-applications released.

So for those of you who may venture into one of the following bars and restaurants in York, or would like to make an effort to stop by in the next week, we ask you to participate in the York Most Valuable Bartender Contest to benefit SOLS. A friend at the Lafayette Club set this up. Basically, go into any of the following establishments in the next week and tell them you want to vote for York's Most Valuable Bartender. Each dollar is a vote, and that money comes to SOLS to cover non-project expenses, such as office rent and salary for all the administration we have to do to stay a non-profit. Here are the participating locations: Cobblestones, Waterway, First Capital, Embers, Barracuda's, Wiener World, the Left Bank, Harp & Fiddle, the White Rose, Eagle's Nest, Al Dente, Victor's, Club XS, Yorktowne, West York Inn, the Road House, Conewago Inn, and Cheers. Just pop in and tell the bartender you want to vote for them as York's Most Valuable Bartender. Thanks.

We have two cleanups scheduled right now. Please send info if you are organizing any others. The first is this weekend at Gut Rd, just west of Brunner Island and south of York Haven in York County. We will meet at the south end of Gut Rd, and the cleanup will go from 8 to 4. Where long pants and boots, we'll supply the rest.

The second cleanup is our spring Codorus Creek Cleanup on April 17th and 18th from 9 to 5 pm. We will meet in the City of York, where S Penn St hits the Codorus Creek. There is a park there called Martin Luther King Park. We will be cleaning from Richland Ave to College Ave. See www.codoruscreek.com for more details.

Regarding the Smallmouth and other fish die-offs and diseases, we really need to take pictures of EVERYTHING we are finding, particularly adult fish with lesions or dead adults. PA Fish and Boat seemed to be relatively unaware of the problems we are having with adults. Recent USGS research found that just like the Potomac, Shenandoah, James, and Cowpasture Rivers further south, the Susquehanna now has intersex smallmouth (male fish with eggs growing in their testes) throughout its length, with a much higher percentage in the lower reaches. This is not normal and is not happening in the Delaware or Allegheny Rivers. We need to document our finds and see if they can teach us why certain rivers are having this problem and others are not.

For those that are interested, in light of the stimulus money, PPL has changed their mind and appears to be going forward with the upgrades at Holtwood Hydro Dam.

Finally, I was working until 4 am last night, reviewing the pre-applications for Conowingo Dam and Muddy Run Reservoir FERC re-licensing. I already found some convenient omissions. We have a couple months to coordinate what studies we believe should be undertaken by Exelon or government agencies regarding the impacts of these hydro operations to the Susquehanna and Chesapeake Bay. Please email me if you are interested.

Also remember to renew your membership. Even in these hard times, the Keith Campbell Foundation has agreed to match every dollar that is donated. And I guarantee that money donated to SOLS will help stimulate local economies. We make every effort to buy what we need from local businesses. By the way, speaking of stimulus, the $125 million dollar cooling equipment project at Brunner Island should be under way. Isn't it funny how protecting the environment is supposed to be bad for business? We managed to put hundreds of blue-collar builders and electricians to work by getting PPL to do the right thing for our river! Hmmm!

Thanks again for all of your support and keep in touch.

From the Mighty Susquehanna, Michael R Helfrich
Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER®

• Susquehanna Symposium, this Friday and Saturday at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. This year's topic is Agriculture and the Susquehanna. Should be exciting! See www.bucknell.edu/x44833.xml for more info. Cost is $10.
• Chesapeake Sediment Information Exchange, Linthicum, MD, Sept 16 & 17. See archive.chesapeakebay.net/ for more info. Pre-registration required, $60.
• Environmental Futures for the Susquehanna River and Valley: Three Personal Assessments. Come hear myself, Gene Wingert, and Cindy Dunn speak on our visions of what must be done over the next 10 years to repair our waterways and environment. This will be held Sept 18th at the Christ Presbyterian Church, in the Allendale development, Lower Allen Township. Meeting begins at 7 pm with the program beginning at 7:30 pm. For more information, click here.
• Finally, the grand finale of the coming month, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's Chesapeake Forum at Shepherdstown, WV. This is a great event of education and bonding. This will be held October 2-5. There is a fee, depending on how many days you attend, but scholarships are available. For more info check out www.acb-online.org/chesforum08.cfm