Canoe Trips and Sojourn

Safety Stay Out Stay Alive - Don't swim or dive in abandoned quarries. (DEP Public Service Announcement)

Projects

Alcoa Signing Project Bordner Cabin Conservation Kits Envisioning an Environmental Legacy--Oral History Project Handwerk Project Little Swatara Farms/ Wenger Feeds Little Swatara Watershed Mills & Bank Barns

Quittapahilla Projects Rivers Conservation Plan StreamLynx Website Project Stream Signage  Swatara Water Trail Map -- 2003-04 Extension Swatara Watershed Virtual Driving Tour Water Quality Monitoring Water Works Canoe Launch

16th Annual Sojourn, May 1-2, 2004 Photos  Information and Registration

15th Annual Sojourn, May 3 - 4, 2003  Photos

14th Annual Sojourn, May 4 - 5, 2002 Information

13th Annual Sojourn, May 5 - 6, 2001 Information or Photos

12th Annual Sojourn Photos

11th Annual Sojourn Photos

10th Annual Sojourn Information and Photo Gallery

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Projects/Cruise to the Swatara.pdf 

Alcoa Signing Project - Prior to the State's signage program, Alcoa provided a $1,000 grant, which allowed SCWA to place signs on many stream crossings in the watershed.  Assisted by the boy scouts, 47 signs were placed on bridges.  Click here to learn more about the project.

Bordner Cabin

Conservation Kits - In 2002, DEP funded a Growing Greener grant that allowed SCWA to purchase 800 water conservation kits that included a toilet tank fill cycle diverter, patented motion flow showerhead, leak detection tablets, faucet aerator for the kitchen, and faucet aerator for the bathroom.  Retail value of each kit was $16.  Using a water conservation equation, a contest was run where everybody won a kit.  Once all 800 kits were installed, the kits saved 8,760,000 gallons of water annually over the life of the host fixture.  Contests were taken to schools, civic organizations, the SRBC, girl and boy scouts....  Some kits were retained for educational purposes.

 

EELS Book signing

 

Date:  Sunday, December 5, 2004, 2-5PM, Twin Grove Park.  PICTURES:  Lebanon Daily News articles

 

The Swatara Creek Watershed Association held a book signing for the authors and interviewees of this oral history project.  One collectible book autographed by many of the interviewees and authors plus a CD set was presented to each person in the book.  CDs include the book in a pdf file and an audio disc that can be played in your car.  

As an incentive for an annual membership, all new $20 SCWA members will be entitled to an EELS book (without autographs).  Please send your check made payable to SCWA to 2501 Cumberland St., Suite 4, Lebanon PA  17042.  For mailing, add $4 shipping and handling for a total of $24.  By purchasing an SCWA membership for your friends, this Christmas you can give the gift of water in the form of the EELS book.

The remainder of the collectible autographed EELS books, accompanied by a CD set, will be offered as incentives to recruit $200 lifetime memberships.  Existing $100 member subscribers will be entitled to a book without autographs, or given the opportunity to upgrade to a $200 lifetime membership (by payment of the $100 difference) and receive an autographed copy and CD set.  Once again, please send your check made payable to SCWA to 2501 Cumberland St., Suite 4, Lebanon PA  17042.  For mailing, add $4 shipping and handling for a total of $204.  By purchasing an SCWA membership for your friends, this Christmas you can give the gift of water in the form of the EELS book.  Books will be mailed the second week in December. “EELS:  In Their Own Words”, a set of seven DVDs was placed in the Lebanon, Derry, and Pine Grove Historical Societies.  You may have read the EELS book or listened to the eloquent narration of the book by Gordon Weiss, but $500 Gold Sponsors of the Swatara Creek Watershed Association will receive a special incentive--"EELS, In Their Own Words"--a DVD collection of over 40 hours of living history (interviews conducted to create the EELS book) on the Swatara Watershed.  It may be a cherished and valuable asset to your library or a way to teach your children about their heritage.  Make your check payable to SCWA, and mail to 2501 Cumberland St., Suite 4, Lebanon PA  17042.

Resource request approved by Canaan Valley Institute for personnel and equipment—audio recorders, microphones, and audiotapes for the session. Tom Inskeep, a videographer working with CVI will conduct the training on the video equipment.

Handwerk Project - Completed by SCWA.  Click here to learn more about the project.  Plantings were placed along the Swatara Creek to aid in stream bank stabilization.

Little Swatara Farms/ Wenger Feeds - Growing Greener funds were secured to reduce non-point source pollution from agricultural activities on three farms in Berks and Lebanon Counties.  More specifically, storm water runoff management and treatment facilities were designed and constructed.

Little Swatara Watershed - A $3875 Growing Greener Grant helped SCWA to establish a watershed subcommittee and purchase equipment for the watershed organization to head projects in the 99.2 square mile sub-watershed, which is the largest sub-watershed in the Swatara watershed.

Mills & Bank Barns - book created with a grant from the Ressler Mill Foundation.  Available free with a SCWA membership.  Add $3 shipping and handling.

Quittapahilla Projects -Restoration and Management Plan; Hammer Creek; Little Swatara Creek.

Rivers Conservation Plan - Funded by Canaan Valley Institute, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the William Penn Foundation, the RCP was completed by contractor Mackin Engineering in September 2000, the plan provides comprehensive information about the watershed.  The RCP is considered a living document.    Click here to learn more about the plan.  A separate grant allowed SCWA to purchase vector contours to add a GIS layer that can aid planners.  Copies of GIS CD's are available to any municipality in the Watershed that provides SCWA with a resolution supporting the RCP.

StreamLynx Website Project - Using the GIS mapping provided with the Rivers Conservation Plan, Hedin Environmental constructed user-friendly maps for this website.  Funding for this project was provided by PA DEP's Growing Greener Program (Round 2).  To learn more about the mapping, click here.

Stream Signage - The Susquehanna River Basin Commission provided signs for streams crossing State routes.  SCWA coordinated coverage for the Swatara Watershed.

Swatara Water Trail Map - A map that contains historical, geological and recreational areas of interest to canoeists and visitors to the area.  This project was completed in conjunction with DCNR and the PA Fish & Boat Commission.  A second printing of the maps and additional signs were partially funded by Canaan Valley Institute.  Click here for a list of interesting points on the water trail.  Hard copies of maps are available.  Send your written request and a stamped, self-addressed, legal sized envelope to SWA, 2302 Guilford St., Lebanon PA  17046.

Swatara Watershed Virtual Driving Tour - Come along with us as we take a virtual tour of the Watershed.  The description of the driving tour includes photos.

Water Quality Monitoring - SCWA volunteers take monthly measurements at WQN211, a monitoring point near the mouth of Swatara Creek in Middletown.  To learn more and see the sampling results, click here.

Water Works Canoe Launch - A partnership between Carmeuse who  donated the limestone and hauling, the PA Fish & Boat Commission who owns the property, and Swatara Creek Watershed Association who coordinated the project to improve the Water Works access took place on Wednesday, June 27, 2001.  Local contractor Warren Kessler donated a backhoe to help place large pieces of dolomite on the eroding bank.  SCWA adopted the launch, and yearly litter clean-ups(2003) (2004)are done.  More @ June 27, 2001 Minutes

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