Howdy River Folks,

We’ve got some good updates this month, but first I want to alert you to tonight’s Membership Meeting.  This is POSTPONED due to icy roads and the emergency oral surgery I had to have that has set me back on preparations.   Unless you checked our new website, you may not have heard about it.  That’s one of the preparations that got missed during my Vicoden-hazed recovery.  I apologize for any inconvenience.  I will be at the office tonight working on some projects, in case you want to come by, but PLEASE watch the ice, we had some nasty accidents this morning.

The good news is that the MEMBERSHIP MEETING is rescheduled for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 at 7 PM at the SOLS office, 324 W Market St in York.  We will be sharing conversation, refreshments, music, and a Power Point reviewing our work of the past year and looking into the next few years for issues that are arising.  Hope to see you there!

Also, receipts from 2006 donations and memberships are on their way, so please contact us if you don’t get your receipt for your taxes.

On to the current issues, we have sent Notices to five factory farms in Lancaster County, PA that have refused to get the proper permits to have that many animals.  One of these farms was advised in 1999 of the need for a permit, and another in 2002, and all were also advised again by DEP 2 months ago.  We believe they had plenty of reasonable notice before we prodded them along.  You know we are trying to help farmers by pushing for more funding to help with the costs of ecological improvements, but at the same time, they need to be following the law.  We may be working on your county soon, so let us know if we should be looking at a particular facility you are concerned with.

Good news on Conowingo Sediment issues.  We’ve now put together a team to work on project costs and funding required to study our ideas about sediment removal and sediment transport around Conowingo Dam.  If the studies prove that heavier sediments are absent and needed by the Bay, we may have a solution for the unhealthy silt and clay muck that suffocates much of the Upper Chesapeake. (see our website under Current Issues for more info)

Friday, I drove to Tioga County to visit USGS’ scientist Bill Lellis at the Northern Appalachian Laboratories.  Bill’s research led to the connection between the American Eel, the Elliptio Mussel, and nutrient transport out of the Chesapeake Watershed.  I got five hours of instruction, learning the lifecycles of both species, the amazing ability of mussels to lure in a particular fish so they can deposit their young into the fish that then sustain the babies’ 3-week parasitic stage, and the value of migratory fish to transport nutrients out of the Chesapeake Watershed into the Atlantic.  I will be writing this up to add to our website soon.  But, the main thing we can do over the cold months involves research into historic mussel populations in the Susquehanna.  Because there was little commercial value to Susquehanna mussels, there is almost no info on their populations and distributions.  To find this info we are looking into documented excavations of historic trash pits, and in old notes from local studies by universities.  Please contact us if you would like to do some research on this, or with any info you may already have.  Thanks.  (see our website under Research for more info)

Finally, remember we are in a “Match-Grant” period for fundraising right now.  Every membership and donation will be matched by the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.  That means every dollar donated becomes TWO dollars, every hundred becomes TWO HUNDRED!  Please share our info with friends that may be interested, and let them know that this is something you support.  It takes all of us working together to improve and preserve the Susquehanna.

Oh yeah, keep checking our new website for updates, www.LowerSusquehannaRiverkeeper.org .

From the Mighty Susquehanna,

Michael R. Helfrich
Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER®

 

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