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"Swatara" – an Indian word meaning "Where we feed on eels." The Swatara Creek is a tributary to the Susquehanna River, which connects at Middletown, PA. From there it stretches 71 miles in length over 570 square miles of south-central Pennsylvania, including portions of Schuylkill, Berks, Lebanon and Dauphin Counties and 46 municipalities. At its headwaters, the Swatara’s elevation is approximately 1,510 feet, then drops to 279 feet above sea level at the Susquehanna River. In order of drainage size, major tributaries are the Little Swatara (99.2 sq. mi.), Quittapahilla (77.3 sq. mi.), Lower Little Swatara (35.6 sq. mi.), Manada (32.2 sq. mi.), Beaver (27.2 sq. mi.), and Upper Little Swatara (24.3 sq. mi.) Creeks. Swatara Creek has served as a provider of food, water, transportation, energy, and recreation for generations of inhabitants. The surrounding watershed supplied farmland, limestone, iron, coal, timber, and a host of other raw materials that aided in the establishment and subsequent development of the region, and country. State Game Lands 80, 160, 211, 229 and Weiser State Forest surround the headwaters. There are two fossil beds in the watershed. The Union Canal, which was started in 1791, stretches 77 miles from Reading to Middletown linking the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays through the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers. The north portal was recently restored.
Click here to take the driving tour.
Through a Growing Greener Grant, Hedin Environmental and DEM Surveying and Consulting were hired to convert the GIS coverages developed by Mackin Engineering into web-based maps. This concept, called StreamLynx, allows web page users to have access to these maps. Unlike paper maps, the user can zoom and turn map layers on and off. In order to view the maps, a free viewing product must be downloaded. This only has to be done once and then your computer will be ready to use the StreamLynx maps. Click HERE to download the free product. (Click "Open" and follow instructions or click "Save". After the file is saved to your desktop, double click the file and follow the instructions.) Now that you've downloaded the software, do you want to know how it works? Click here for a short list of instructions. The number one instruction: ON MAPS, CLICK THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON FOR A LIST OF OPTIONS. Ready to view a map on-line? Select the map you would like to view from the list below. Please be patient--it may take SEVERAL MINUTES for the map to appear, depending upon the speed of your connection. Good things come to those who wait!
There is a lot going on in our watershed! For a comprehensive list of links organized by category, click here.
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