Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Association

Four Mile Creek Ecosystem Gets Makeover

mdangel — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:27:18 +0000

By DAVE SKELLIEIt’s only eight miles long in a watershed that encompasses 11.93 square miles, yet its health is important for an entire ecosystem. Four Mile Creek, four miles east of the city of Erie, flows through the municipalities of Greene, Harborcreek and Lawrence Park townships and Wesleyville Borough. From its mouth about one-half mile north of Route 5 at Water Street, this stream runs through densely developed areas southward to 38th Street. From that point on, the Four Mile Creek watershed becomes much more rural in character.A study several years ago for Pennsylvania-Lake Erie Watershed Association (PLEWA) showed Four Mile Creek had the fourth-lowest water quality of 22 streams it monitors. This diagnosis prompted numerous projects to improve water quality and remove manmade impediments to water flow and fish passage.

PLEWA has other partners in the effort, including the Pennsylvania Sea Grant Program, which has taken a lead on several. Other partners include the Pennsylvania Coastal Zone Management program, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Wesleyville Conservation Club, Lawrence Park Township, Penn State-Behrend, and private property owners.

The stream improvement projects should increase the stream’s quality. Gannon University biologist Greg Andraso monitored the creek in the summer of 2007. His findings will allow researchers to determine the overall success of the projects.

Enhancements like these benefit everyone, including residents, tourists and fishing enthusiasts and, of course, such improvements increase the stream’s biodiversity. More importantly, this effort clearly illustrates that many people in the Erie area are willing to work together to improve our local quality of life by improving the quality of our water and our local environment.
Dam removals

To return Four Mile Creek to a morenatural flow and to improve the ability of fish to more easily migrate upstream, two dams were demolished in August.

The Station Road concrete dam protected an out-of-use sewer pipe that was replaced by a new connection to the city of Erie public sewer system. The other encased an old telephone cable on the Penn State-Behrend campus that had not been used since at least 1982. The Iroquois School District paid for the work to compensate for the environmental impact of building its new elementary school in Lawrence Park.

Soil erosion/sedimentationFunding awards to correct a stormwater quantity and quality problem at Penn State-Behrend were received from the Great Lakes Commission, the Erie County’s Environmental Initiative (PADEP Growing Greener) program, and Penn State University. Construction of stormwater facilities will use best management practices to eliminate sources of erosion and sedimentation by dissipating the water’s energy. Sediment, a major source of nonpoint pollution, washes from the campus and into the Trout Run tributary of Four Mile Creek, and then into Lake Erie. The outlets from three stormwater pipes have carved gullies, exposing tree roots and washing an estimated 78 tons of sediment per year downstream.While the erosion began about 20 years ago, the rate at one location has recently accelerated. Once the stormwater slows, the badly eroded slopes can be restored and stabilized with matting and by planting native species of vegetation on these slopes.

Construction is scheduled for mid-2008.

Fish ladder installation

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), Lawrence Park Township, and Pennsylvania Sea Grant have obtained funding for another Four Creek project from the state Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The funding will be used to design, buy and install fish ladders at the Lawrence Park Golf Club dam and at an up-stream waterfall on golf course property.

These ladders will enable steelhead and native species of fish to migrate upstream as far as Penn State-Behrend. A number of issues that will require the agreement of the Golf Club must be addressed to allow the project to proceed in 2008.

DAVE SKELLI E , a coastal land use and economic specialist for Pennsylvania Sea Grant, can be reached at 217-9014 or at dus18@psu.edu.

Check out these Web sites to learn more:

http://seagrant.psu.edu/

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/mpag1.htm

Do you know McDannell Run?

mdangel — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:26:42 +0000

McDannell Run is named for a family who had several farmsteads where this small stream crosses East Lake Road. Some histories of Erie County also refer to it as Three Mile Creek, its distance east of Perry Square. Its watershed lies between those of Cemetery Run (on the west) and Four Mile Creek (on the east). Its course is comprised of alternating urbanized and natural sections, though scouring from storm water runoff and various sources of pollution compromise water quality throughout. As development proceeds in its upper reaches, the stream is likely to be at even greater risk.

McDannell Run rises on the first ridge south of Lake Erie, at the southern boundary of the City of Erie. Its watershed drains much of Southeast Erie including residential neighborhoods near McClelland Avenue, the Erie Industrial Park, the former Kanty College property, and other extensive tracts of yet undeveloped land. North of East 38th Street the main branch of the creek is largely open, passing through wetlands and the future McClelland Park. Construction of the East Side Access Highway here may increase runoff or alter the drainage patterns in ways yet unknown. From East 26th to East 10th Streets, the course of McDannell Run was mostly tubed in the 1970s (although its footprints can be readily seen). Several branches drain the Buffalo Road area, from east of Downing Avenue into the Wesleyville Borough. Near the former Conrail tracks the creek is briefly visible in the “Franklin Flats” at the south end of Bernard Dombrowski viaduct and on the southwest corner of the General Electric property. It then enters the Erie Housing Authority?s Franklin Terrace Apartments complex in a tube paralleling Franklin Avenue before emerging at East 10th Street. From here McDannell Run flows free and in its original course, now partially landscaped, through the Terrace.

At East Lake Road, the creek originally meandered west along the highway right-of-way for several blocks before crossing at the low point (at Ricardo?s Restaurant, where another branch of the creek comes in from the south) and cutting an arc between Chautauqua and Eagle Point Boulevards. With construction of the interurban railroad and the East Lake Road boulevard in the early 20th Century its course was straightened. North of East 4th Street McDannell Run enters a remnant of the mixed wetland hardwood forest which once covered its entire route, though the area straddling the Lawrence Park Township ? City of Erie border is slated for condominium development. For now, a hiking trail used by generations of children from the Erie Lakeside neighborhood lines its course. Descending layers of shale in a series of gentle waterfalls and riffles, McDannell Run finally tumbles over a 15′ cascade and across a perennial beach to share its waters with Lake Erie.

HENRY RICHARD OBERMANNS

Glinodo Center Trail of Geology

mdangel — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:37:11 +0000

Site 1: Beachfront Access

At the beachfront access, numerous geological processes and features can be observed. On windy days, with large waves crashing on the shore and the bluffs, listen carefully and you will hear the grinding, chattering sound of rocks scraping against each other as the water moves across the beach. Note how rounded and broken the loose rocks higher on the banks are. On such days, the tremendous erosive power of the waves is quite obvious. On quieter days, note the rounded rock and try to picture in your mind the grinding power of the waves.

Observe the color and banded patterns in the rock exposed in the bluff and at the waterline. Notice the different patterns. From the water line up the bluff about four feet, the rock shows a distinct pattern of alternate black and light gray layers. Higher up, this pattern stops and the layers are thicker and of a more uniform rusty brown color. The lower striped layers are sometimes called zebra rock. They are formed from very fine sediments in areas either farther out from shore or restricted near-shore areas where heavier sediments cannot reach.

The dark layers contain more organic materials and indicate stagnant, oxygen-poor water. Evidence of these conditions is confirmed by the occurrence of pyrite crystals in these layers. The pyrite is difficult to find, and most people will not be able to find any, but it occurs as small blebs and concretions from 5 mm to 10 cm in size.

Look for pale, brassy, metallic blebs or crystals in the rock.

The upper layers of rock are composed of somewhat larger sediments, and thicker layers. This indicates that more sediments were coming in and periods of stagnation were not occuring. These layers also contain an unusual geologic formation of cone-in-cone concretions. These concretions occur in a layer at about eye level from the water line. Cone-in-cone concretions are not particularly common, but many can be found here in the North East shales. Commonly, they range in size from 25 to 75 cm across and 5-7 cm thick. Further south, in the Girard Shales, concretions 5 m across and 1/2 m thick can be found.
If weather and waves allow, proceed along the bluffs to the mouth of Seven Mile Creek. Cone-in-cone concretions and pyrite occur all along this stretch. If waves are high, use the alternate route marked on the map.

Site 2: Mouth of Seven Mile Creek

Depending on recent creek levels, gravel and sand bars are usually present at the mouth of the creek. These are deposited as the current strength dissipates in the lake and sediment drops out of the water. This is just one example of how sediments are transported and deposited. As you move upstream toward the bridge, keep watching for pyrite in the lower rocks at water level and cone-in-cone rocks higher up.

Site 3: Bridge

Under the bridge, observe the ramp-like surface of the rock and how the layers of rock are bent upward. This is one side of an anitcline, formed as rock was laterally compressed and folded. Proceed up this small ramp and look very closely at all the rock surfaces. While very few fossils occur in this section of the rock, two kinds of trace fossils, or tracks of small animals are abundant here. The smaller little lines were most likely formed by some kind of worm crawling in the mud as they strongely resemble the squiggly lines modern worms leave in mud.

The larger (wider) tracks were most likely made by some type of arthropod as it crawled around looking for a meal in the mud. Possible candidates for these tracks are trilobites, crabs or eurypterids. No body fossils have as yet been found to determine what exactly made these tracks.

Site 4: Anticline and Falls

As you approach the bend in the stream, look closely at the bank where site 4 is marked on the map. You will notice how the rock is bent. This is a cross section view of an anticline where both sides or limbs can be seen, and parts of the crest or middle have been eroded away.

anticline

Notice how the edge of the falls parallels the trace of the center of the anticline. Where the rock was broken, it provided a weak area in the rock. The moving water could more easily erode this rock and the rock downstream from the broken rock, creating this small waterfall.

Site 5: Cone-in-Cone Layer

At the layer forming the top of the waterfall, keep a very sharp eye out for exposed cone-in-cone concretions. You will now see the top side instead of the cross sections seen in the bluff along the lake. Look for round, slightly domed, circular objects with a surface marked by many small circles.

Cone

Please do not damage or disturb any of these exposed concretions. Help preserve them for the next person to see.
Proceed up the creek and round the bend to Site 6, keeping an eye out for the abundant trace fossils described at Site 3.

Site 6: Falls and Pool

Stretching across the creek at Site 6 is the crest of another anticline that actually may be a small fault. Look at the exposed west bank and the line of bent and broken rock can be seen. Note how the moving water has been able to more easily erode the broken rock through the stream-bed, creating a large pool. If not for this geologic structure, this set of falls and pool would not have formed here.

If you happen to be here when the steelhead trout and salmon are running, this pool may be full of very large fish, resting as they move up the stream.

Site 7: Diagonal Joint Structure

At this site, a waterfall and ledge cut diagonally across the stream. This is caused by a large set of cracks in the rock that can be seen at the base of the ledge. Cracks of this type are called joints and differ from faults in that no movement has occurred on either side of the joint. Just as with faults, joints create a weak place in hte rock where moving water can more easily pluck out rock from the stream bed.

Site 8:

This is another anticline exposed along the streambed.

Site 9: The Big Bend

If you look at how close the stream-cut wall is to the road, the potential for erosion to eventually undercut the road becomes obvious. During the stream’s flood stage, erosion along the bank can be severe. A particular geologic feature along the streambed will eventually solve this problem. The question is whether geologic time and human time will intersect soon enough. If you stand up on the bank along Kraus Trail, notice that the flow of water during regular stream level is along the inside of the bend. Normal flow patterns would put the flow on the outside of the bend.

Look closely at the inside of the bend where the water is flowing; a very small anticline can be seen. The water is flowing on the side of the fold that dips away from the bend. The rock has been slightly broken away, deepening the channel, keeping regular flow levels to the inside of the bend. If erosion continues to cut into the far side of the anticline, this new channel will enlarge and accommodate larger flows of water. Geologically, this could take several hundreds of years. Flood stage waters will still continue to erode the outside of the bend. The big question is if this shifting channel will cause enough change, in time to prevent further erosion to the bend that will threaten the road. Only time will tell.

Site 10: The Footbridge and Falls

If you started the trail at Site 1 and moved up to Site 10, the best scenery as saved for last. This waterfall and pool are the largest at Glinodo. The footbridge provides a convenient overlook to see this waterfall. Geologically, Site 10 is very similar to Site 6. However, the intensity of rock fracturing at the crest of the anticline is more severe, allowing more rock to be more easily eroded. It is possible that this is actually a fault. The low bank and overgrowth on the stream’s banks makes it difficult to tell if movement has actually occurred. The narrow band of disrupted rock and the intensity are very strong indicators that this is a fault.

The folded rock just below the falls is bent in the correct pattern for a normal fault. However, the water and streambed rubble hide the other side, making it difficult to tell what has happened. In spite of this, it is clear that a geologic structure has caused the formation of this scenic spot.

If you have the inclination, see if you can find any more geologic features on upstream to Route 5. There are also several small features down-stream that are not described in the trail guide. It’s your turn to see what you can find!

2007 Baker Creek Watershed Association Annual Report

mdangel — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:07:36 +0000

Since organizing in 1999, the Baker Creek Watershed has endeavored to promote good management practices along the waterway that bisects North East Borough. In addition to educational materials, the group has sponsored an annual Clean-Up with the cooperation of the Borough officials and local sponsors, including the Community Nurses, Bob Martin at State Farm Insurance, the Boston Bean Café, Boy Scout Troop #57, and PennDOT.

Baker Creek is represented on Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Association (PLEWA), and participates in the September International Coastal Cleanup. Educational materials were provided to Earth Force and the North East Middle School’s Hooked on Fishing group.

Locally, the storm drains in the Borough will again be stenciled to indicate “Do not dump; drains to Lake Erie” with the assistance of the North East High School Ecology Club.

The first annual Baker Creek Beautification Award was presented to the O’Leary Dental Group for the restoration construction on the riparian area to the rear of their office.
Baker Creek Watershed Association meets quarterly, unless additional meetings are needed. All meetings are open to the public. If anyone wishes to be added to the mailing list, contact Diana Hatfield at the above address and phone.

Treasurer’s Report:

Transaction	Amount	Balance
Opening Balance, 5/16/2006		$72.35
Donation from Boston Bean Café	$90.00	$162.35
Postage Stamps	$39.00	$123.35
Beautification Plaque	$50.00	$73.35
Cleanup Donation from Borough	$50.00	$123.35
Refreshments for Cleanup	$58.73	$64.62

Asbury Woods Nature Center is Going Green

mreed — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:09:19 +0000

Asbury Woods Nature Center (AWNC)has turned green! Not only green in color, but also in building techniques. During our recent expansion project, a green, vegetative roof was installed. AWNC and Millcreek Township School District were awarded an Energy Harvest grant from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to add this green technique to the expansion project. The designers, Roofscapes Inc. of Philadelphia, designed the roof to not only look pretty, but also for functionality. A green roof is ideal in situations where a building is being built (or renovated in Asbury’s case) and a bigger footprint is made, causing a stormwater retention basin to be needed.

Advantages

Green roofs absorb about 75% of rainwater runoff that would have ended up running off into retention basin
Smaller retention basins can be used.
Green roofs moderate daily fluctuations in a building’s temperature - acting as a cooling agent during the summer months (a typical asphalt roof can reach 120° versus the vegetative roof
reaching only about 80°) - helping to insulate a building during the winter months.

The roof and plants were installed by Lichtenfels Nursery of Johnstown, PA. Special drainage mats were laid as the base to the roof holding 4”of special mineral/soil mix that the plant are planted in. The plants are mainly alpine plants able to adapt to the harsh temperature extremes seen on roofs (from wet rain and snow to dry scorching sun). The majority are sedum, talinum, and allium.

The annual maintenance of the green roof is very simple. No mowing or watering is needed once the plants are established. All that is needed is to pull weeds or any tree seedlings that have taken up root on the roof about twice a year.

Now that the snow has fallen, not much can be seen up on the rooftop. Once the snow has melted, and the sun is shining again, come on out to Asbury Woods Nature Center and take a peek at the green roof.

Written by Julie Blackman, Watershed Educator, AWNC

P.S. Behrend Erosion Control Project

mreed — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:03:56 +0000

On May 27, 2005, Penn State University was awarded a Soil Erosion and Sediment Control grant from the Great Lakes Commission’s Great Lakes Basin Program totaling $43,350 to address stormwater management infrastructure failures at three locations on the Penn State Behrend campus. PA Sea Grant prepared and submitted this grant application and Urban Engineers Erie, Inc. was hired and has finalized the design for best management practices (BMPs) to substantially reduce erosion and to control the introduction of sediments into Trout Run, a tributary of Fourmile Creek which runs through campus. Also completed is the identification of additional green infrastructure improvements that may be implemented on campus in the future.

With design completed, PA Sea Grant has authored two more applications which, if funded, will be used to construct these BMPs to implement the design recommendations. An application was submitted to the Pennsylvania DEP for Growing Greener funds totaling $150,900 on March 3, 2006. A matching application requesting $75,000 in Great Lakes Commission GLB Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control funds was submitted on March 14, 2006. PA Sea Grant has obtained a notice of award from the Great Lakes Commission. If the Growing Greener application is funded, construction is expected to occur during the Summer of 2007.

Focus on Fourmile Creek

mreed — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:44:01 +0000

Fourmile Creek is a stream on the east side of the Erie urban area flowing through the municipalities of Greene, Harborcreek, Wesleyville and Lawrence Park (see map). From its headwaters to the mouth, this stream reaches approximately 8 miles in length. Its watershed encompasses 11.93 square miles, including densely developed areas from Route 5 southward to 38th St, then on southward becoming much more rural in character.

PLEWA completed a Strategic Action Plan for PA’s Lake Erie drainage basin ranking water quality in 22 streams flowing into Lake Erie.
Fourmile Creek is ranked as having the 4th lowest quality of these streams.
Lower reaches of Fourmile Creek have slightly degraded or poor conditions.
Benthic macroinvertebrate communities in its upper reaches are in good condition - Due largely to the fact that there are little or no non-point source pollution problems there.
PLEWA subcommittee for Fourmile Creek has beenworking to make improvements.
Partners include: PA Sea Grant, PA Coastal Zone Management program, the Wesleyville Conservation Club, and Penn State Behrend.

Stream Impediments

One of Fourmile’s most distinctive characteristics is that it includes numerous impediments in the stream.

2 Dams - one located near the mouth at the Lawrence Park Golf Course - one located immediately south of Station Road (see photos).
1 Waterfall approx. 5 ft tall - located about midpoint between Cooper Rd and I-90
Concrete slab 1’ thick x 3’ wide along the entire breadth of the waterfall creating a 3rd dam-like structure.
1 Locomotive Ballast (large chunks of concrete partially encased in metal) at various locations in the lower reaches of the stream.
This ballast may have originally been placed in the stream in an attempt to stabilize bank erosion or possibly to eliminate swimming holes to keep people out of the stream.

Efforts are now being discussed to remove or alter these impediments to return the stream to a more natural flow and to improve the ability of fish to swim from the mouth up to the upper reaches of the stream. Funds are being provided by the Iroquois School District (ISD), which is in the process of constructing a new school necessitating the realignment and piping of a small tributary to Fourmile Creek.

First Waterfall

ISD has been asked by the PA Department of Environmental Protection to pay $20,000 to mitigate the encapsulation of this waterway and half of that fee must be directly applied to improvements within Fourmile Creek.

Improvements

Remove the dam at the Nacopoulos property near Station Road.
Remove the cap on the concrete-covered waterfall located on the Penn State Behrend campus.
Modify the golf course dam to allow fish passage.

Concrete Covered Waterfall

The PA Fish and Boat Commission (PA FBC) is working with ISD in obtaining the permits necessary for removal of these impediments and developing the design drawings necessary to bid this project to a local contractor. These two impediments removal projects are expected take place during summer of 2007. The PA FBC and the Lawrence Park Golf Club are working on proposed Fish ladders be installed at this dam and at the waterfall located between the dam and Route 5. PA Sea Grant is working with them to prepare grant applications for the purchase and installation costs. If funded, fish ladders would be installed in 2008.

With these improvements, the stream may return to a condition that will enable fish migration, benefitting the local tourism industry. But more importantly, these changes will clearly demonstrate that the Erie area cares about improving its quality of life by improving the quality of its environment.

Written by Dave Skellie, PA Sea Grant

Millcreek Mall Attacks Litter Problem

mreed — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:33:05 +0000

The overwhelming impact on the Walnut Creek watershed by the users of the Millcreek Mall came to the forefront of local environmental issues in August, 2001 with the discovery of a huge amount of deposited litter and trash on the banks of Walnut Creek north of the J.C. Penney store at the Mall.

Litter is often blown into Walnut Creek, which borders the Millcreek Mall on the north, and then is carried downstream into Lake Erie. Meetings with the Mall management brought about a cleanup and temporary snow fencing to catch the litter before blowing into the creek. Because it became apparent that more permanent environmental measures were needed, the S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie appealed directly to the Cafaro Corporation, the Millcreek Mall’s parent company, in a March 13, 2005 letter. As a result, a significant response from the Cafaro Corporation followed. Plastic construction fencing was erected and regular cleanups were begun and continue today.

There are still other concerns regarding litter that enters Walnut Creek at other ocations upstream fom the Mall. It is our hope that other land owners will be as cooperative and responsible as the Cafaro Corporation.

Jerry Skrypzak,
S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie

City of Erie Applies for McClelland Park Master Site Planning Grant

mreed — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:25:48 +0000

For years, City officials have struggled with what to do with McClelland Park located on the City of Erie’s upper east side. Perhaps steps have finally been taken to determine its fate. The City has submitted a $25,000.00 grant proposal in partnership with the Friends of McClelland Park, Mercyhurst College, St. Luke’s School and the Lake Erie Region onservancy to develop a Master Site Plan for the
Park.

The plan will look at ways to add improvements to the park, while providing protection for the large tract of remaining green space otherwise known as our urban forest.

The park also remains part of an ongoing study to develop an east side greenway plan that includes areas along the new Eastside Access Highway, the mouth and other areas within the McDannel Run watershed, and even area as far south as the county-owned Sixmile Creek Park.

McDannel Run is tubed and flows underground just north of East 33rd Street, re emerging south of East 32nd Street and flowing through McClelland Park. It briefly disappears underground again before reaching sunlight on the GE property. It then curves west, crosses Franklin Avenue and flows through the John Horan Garden Apartments complex. It ducks beneath East Sixth Street and then continues to run free to the lake.

Parks and protected open-spaces are vital to our quality of life, provide recreational opportunities, and increase educational opportunities for our local community. All of the partners are very excited about this upcoming project.

Written by Sarah Galloway, City of Erie

Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie International Costal Cleanup Day

mreed — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:13:42 +0000

PLEWA was one of many returning partners thatparticipated in the third annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC)! The most recent ICC was held on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005. Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie ICC takes place along the Lake Erie Shoreline and tributaries leading into Lake Erie. This “Watershed Cleanup” is an excellent way to meet others in the great outdoors, while making a difference for our local watersheds.

Cleaning up is only part of the event. A large part involves education, as well. Data cards are used by volunteers to identify the types, amounts and locations of trash that are being picked up. The data cards are then compiled to determine the numbers of specific waste types that are collected, to identify problem areas that need to be addressed, and to help create longlasting solutions to reduce the litter and debris. The educational benefits of ICC are staggering, as students, educators, and the public are given a first-hand opportunity to participate in the cleanup, to initiate solutions to control litter, and to encourage recycling.

International Coastal Cleanup…

Began in Texas in 1986.
Now over 120 countries and most coastal states of the United States participate.
Is a one-day effort to remove trash and debris from shorelines and stream banks.
Takes dedicated volunteers, committed to a cleaner and healthier environment.
Over 1,050 volunteers participated in ICC 2003 and 2004
Over 44,400 pounds of trash and debris were removed
Over 50 miles of streams and Lake Erie shoreline were cleaned.
Was so successful, it was awarded with two honors
- A Western Pennsylvania Environmental Award, as a finalist
- Erie County Citation for Community Leadership
Succeeds because of the many dedicated volunteers who give of their time to pick up trash discarded by others and to take time to documentthat for educational purposes.

Because volunteers are essential, YOU are invited to participate in ICC ‘06. Student participation is also strongly encouraged. If you can give three hours of your time, and would like to spend it outside, near your favorite stream or beach, please contact Donald J.Benczkowski of the PA Department of Environmental
Protection, at 814-217-9634.