Pa. Angler & Boater profiles waterway

Hard work and determination, and perhaps a little luck, put the spotlight on the Swatara Creek Water Trail in the latest issue of the Pennsylvania Angler & Boater magazine. For those who don’t know, the magazine is the “official” magazine of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission.

The article graces five pages of the magazine and offers detailed mapping and recreational opportunities as well as historical insight into our county and the surrounding counties.

The Swatara Creek Water Trail guide is a joint effort of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, the Swatara Creek Watershed Association, Canaan Valley Institute and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

The 60-mile long Swatara Water Trail starts at Route 645 below Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, flows through Lebanon County and ends at the Middletown boat launch, Dauphin County. The trail runs through three counties and 19 municipalities.

Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz serves as president of the Swatara Creek Watershed Association and has been involved in the association for 20 years. I asked her how much work time and money it takes to develop and run a watershed association.

“Developing a watershed association takes a small group of people with a common goal or concern,” she said. “For SCWA, it was Swatara State Park, which we want to see developed.”

Knowing that others want to start their own watershed association, I asked where does one begin? 

“Early on, I interviewed a lot of knowledgeable people like Frank Meiser, CEO of the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority, and Earl Leiby, president of the Lebanon Historical Society,” she recalled. “They have since passed on, but their willingness to share their knowledge lives on in the Swatara Water Trail.

“They also took me on field trips to see the areas that we discussed. I documented everything in pictures and kept the files. I also kept the maps that we marked with the Union Canal locks.

“Years later, I could pull this information together to help create the text for the Swatara Water Trail. Other people also provided valuable input — Joe Hovis at Fort Indiantown Gap, Denise Donmoyer with the Pine Grove Historical Society, and Francis Ditzler in Lickdale.”

Apparently the fire and desire was intensified as the fledging organization began to help reclaim and maintain Swatara Creek.

“We were outraged when Pine Grove Landfill wanted to locate at the headwaters after we worked so hard to clean up the water,” Litz said. “We probably spent 14 nights at the Pottsville courthouse into the wee hours of the morning to make sure that we were heard.”

However, it seems that the rough bumps in the road to success were met with resistance.

“After the hearings, we were sued for $10 million, but the Civil Liberties Union ended up defending us pro bono, and the judge ruled the action a slap suit, which was thrown out with a stern reprimand to Rimiro, who was violating our constitutional right of free speech to testify at a public hearing inviting public comment,” Litz said.

But rather than simply walk away or become frightened off by possible lawsuits, “doing what was right” outweighed any negatives that stood in the group’s path.

“I think the whole experience made us united, stronger and very focused,” Litz said. “We didn’t have a lot of money. We did make a commitment of time to do what we thought was right.”

Many organizations need more than memberships to accomplish the many great things the SWC has over the years. In the world of grant monies allotted to associations and organizations like SWC, the process can be painful and slow.

But Litz was more than willing to explain how it all comes together.

“The first grant is the hardest to obtain,” she admitted. “You have to find an organization that thinks you can not only carry out the proposal but keep records and file all of the appropriate forms.

“For SCWA, that was Canaan Valley Institute. They said that if we come to their training in Shephardstown, W.Va., at Senator Byrd’s Environmental Center, we would get $5,000 to put toward what we felt we needed — within reason, of course.

“As I recall, we asked for items like stationary, a digital camera, a computer and printer, and a GPS unit. When we received the grant, we thought it was Christmas. So, we got training on Geographic Information Systems, advice on leveraging grant dollars and networking, and the tangible items. The rest is history.

“We now have a track record of delivering on what we promise, and agencies both keep track of things like that and share information.”

Forming a watershed association is a lot of hard work, but Litz enthusiastically said, “Getting your first access sponsor is key. Convince them that they will receive good public relations for their cooperation, maybe even an economic benefit in the way of customers. Show them the law that relieves them of liability if they don’t charge anyone for access.

Offer to police the area for litter once a year. It may take some time, and perhaps several visits, but after your first success, when someone asks who else is allowing access to their property, you can point to that first local ‘waterway hero.’”

The benefits to the community are endless, but Litz tried to summarize some of the more tangible.

“(It helped to) identify public access points along the Swatara, appreciation of riparian buffers for shade and cooling the stream, understanding the need to protect floodplains, wetlands, the natural and cultural heritage of the area as well as biodiversity of wildlife,” she said. “Marking trail heads helps users to respect private property rights, too. People certainly have the ability to experience the waterway the way our forefathers probably did, an opportunity to exercise and enjoy the outdoors, an understanding of why we need to protect the Swatara Creek for drinking water to sustain our lives and our livelihood.”

How does someone and what does it require to become a member of the Association?

You can become an annual member for $20, a lifetime member for $200 or a gold sponsor for $500. Each level has a progressive incentive or set of gifts — an EELS book, an autographed EELS book and audio CD, or both the book and CD as well as a set of DVDs containing approximately 60 oral history interviews used to write the EELS book.

“If you have time, you can also help us with projects,” Litz added. “Dave McSurdy, Tom Embich and Art Schiavo have taken on roles as Water Trail guardians to keep map boxes filled along the Creek. Make checks payable to SCWA and mail to 2501 Cumberland St., Suite 4, Lebanon Pa. 17042.”

Find out more about the SWC by visiting their Web site at mbcomp.com/swatara.

Pick up a copy of the Pennsylvania Angler & Boater magazine at your favorite newsstand, and enjoy the September/October 2005 issue and read all about the Swatara Creek Water Trail. If you cannot locate the issue, contact the PFBC 705-7800.