Allegheny River Nominated for PA River of the Year

 

The Allegheny River has been selected as one of four finalist waterways in Pennsylvania to be voted on by the public in the annual PA River of the Year Contest.

Co-sponsored by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and the PA organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), online voting officially began on Monday, November 14th and continues through 5PM on December 19.

The organization who nominated the winning entry in the contest receives a $10,000 DCNR grant to help celebrate the River of the Year designation with a series of public educational and recreational events.

The Allegheny River is more than 315 miles long and with a watershed area of 11,580 square miles, contributes 60 percent of the Ohio River waterflow in Pittsburgh.

Cumulatively, 2,810 volunteers have pulled nearly 88,499 pounds of metal, 1,334 tires, and 386 cubic yards of trash from the Allegheny River since 2009. In addition, many of the same partners have also been organizing a successful cleanup on the Allegheny Reservoir since 2005. Cumulatively, 822 volunteers have donated 6,576 hours to collect 795 tires and 236 cubic yards of trash from the Allegheny Reservoir. The reservoir is another popular tourist attraction for boaters, fishermen, hikers, and campers.

The Allegheny River was nominated for the River of the Year contest by Penn Soil Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council - a non-profit charitable organization headquartered in Warren (Warren County), but serves the residents of eight northwestern PA counties.

Our primary area of interest is in improving quality of life in four areas: Water Management, Agricultural Land Management, Forest Land Management, and Community Development. Penn Soil RC&D has taken a very active role in working with community groups on facilitating community improvement projects associated with the Allegheny River over the last 15 years including engineering design and construction of many public facilities such as the Big Bend Bird Viewing Platform at Kinzua Dam, the Riverside Watchable Wildlife Interpretive Trail, upgrading the boat launch areas on the Allegheny River at Big Bend Recreation Area in Warren County and at Tionesta.

If selected as the 2017 “River of the Year,” Penn Soil RC&D Executive Director Wes Ramsey said the non-profit will develop and coordinate a plan to promote watershed awareness and promote the value of clean water in the community.

“ “A minimum of five major events will be held within the upper and middle Allegheny River Watershed to bring focus to the value of good water quality and the resources and opportunities that the River provides to our region and communities further downstream. Activities will include volunteer stream and lake cleanup efforts within the watershed, powered by volunteers; an educational sojourn that tells the story of the river from a historical perspective, the biological, the economic, the conservation, and the recreational perspectives; family friendly events such as canoe and kayak family float trips and clinics that bring entire families out to experience the river and learn about using the river safely so that they become more connected to understanding water quality and protecting the River in their everyday life,” Ramsey said.

“We encourage all those who are a fan of the Allegheny River for its beauty, its recreational value for those who enjoy paddling, hunting, fishing, trapping, boating, swimming, and for its importance to the citizens of western PA as a source of water for household and business use- to take a moment and vote for the Allegheny River.”

There are no age restrictions or residency requirements to participate and anyone with a valid email address can vote at the website www.pariveroftheyear.org for the Allegheny River or one of the other three finalists which are Brandywine Creek and Perkiomen Creek in southeastern PA and Loyalhanna Creek - a tributary of the Kiskiminetas River.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.