Guest post: Why the Susquehanna River matters

When I go fishing in the Susquehanna River just across from my downtown Wilkes-Barre college campus, I can't help but notice large amounts of trash -- from bait containers to beer cans and even tires or computer chairs. I also notice the stormwater drains that run right into the Susquehanna River. These carry pollution and trash into the river which ultimately makes its way into the Chesapeake Bay, into which the Susquehanna flows. The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary, with some 17 million Americans living within its watershed. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has valued the Bay at over one trillion dollars when you add up fishing, tourism, property values, and shipping activities. Keeping the Susquehanna clean will not only help the river but the Chesapeake Bay itself and all those who live downstream.

Pollution affects the water quality which in turn affects the wildlife that makes its home in the Bay including blue crabs, oysters, menhaden, and rock bass. Urban development and storm water runoff in Wilkes-Barre and other communities along the water contribute to the Chesapeake Bay’s dead zones. The nutrient build-up caused by storm water and agricultural runoff creates algae blooms that consume oxygen and create dead zones when the algae decompose. In turn, over the years, the blue crab and oyster populations have also diminished.

Millions of dollars have been poured into multiple projects to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay and the tributaries that are located within its watershed. Some of these projects are funded through the Chesapeake Stewardship Fund, which has restored over 6,000 acres of wetlands and almost 1,500 miles of forest buffers in the Bay watershed. Plans like these are aimed at protecting the Bay, which is a large part of the economies of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Clean up of our environment is never too expensive. Citizens such as you and me are capable of walking down to a tributary like the Susquehanna and cleaning up a stretch of the river. It's not back-breaking work to walk a few feet and pick up some trash. You’re doing more damage to yourself by leaving the trash there and allowing it to pollute your water than you would if you took five minutes for a bit of clean up. Protecting our rivers and the Bay is the right thing to do -- and it makes good economic sense.

Christian Mazzocchi is a PennFuture intern and senior at King's College, Wilkes-Barre who will receive a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies with a double minor in geography and history in December. He enjoys fishing in the mighty Susquehanna in his spare time. As part of his major, he spent a week in 2013 in the Chesapeake Bay doing field work and learning about solutions to protect the Bay's ecosystem.

Good fishin' and a bad bill

Last weekend, I attended the Keystone Coldwater Conference in State College, Pa. It was hosted by the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited and sessions focused on building partnerships, current research, and best management practices to ensure coldwater ecosystems are protected now and for future generations.

Attendees were from conservation districts, state agencies, Trout Unlimited chapters, watershed associations, and universities. Regardless of where they were from, I would consider most of the attendees to be doggedly devoted anglers, passionate about trout and the waters that sustain them. One attendee told me that after he retired, he moved from Pittsburgh to the Allegheny National Forest so he could fish every day for the rest of his life. Now that's love and devotion!

Stories of secret trout streams and recollections of taking a youngster “out fishing” for the first time were plentiful.  However, the conversation would change once someone began to read some of the papers on my exhibitor table. I had information concerning HB 1576 -- the bill that, if passed, will politicize a scientific process and change how state threatened and endangered species are designated. It also limits the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s ability to designate a class A wild trout stream and, as a consequence, these streams, which represent the best of the best for trout habitat, are left unprotected. 

Needless to say, this crowd of diehard anglers thought the bill was a bad idea and I urged them to speak up and contact their representative or write a letter to the editor -- and I’d urge anyone reading this to do the same. Everyone needs stories to tell about treasured and secret streams and the “big one” that got away.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture, based in Harrisburg.