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USACE Allegheny riverbed study

Photo submitted to Times Observer WPC running sonar on the Allegheny River. Pictured left to right are: Jeff Hawk, Army Corps of Engineers; Eil Long, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy; Tara Moberg, The Nature Conservancy; Eric Chapman, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

The Allegheny River is really special.

Anyone who lives in Warren County recognizes that to be true, but Rosemary Reilly, biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and her colleagues recognize it as well. That’s why they were in West Hickory on Tuesday to study the topography of the riverbed.

The study, which will be continued through Nov. 1 in Tidioute, seeks to gain a better understanding of what the riverbed in the two areas of the river — totalling around eight miles in all — looks like as the scientists work to create accurate models with which to test combinations of circumstances in an effort to strike the best balance between the environment and the required operations of the Kinzua Dam.

The dam released water to facilitate the study, which involved members of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) running sonar in a grid pattern over the sections of the river to be studied. The sonar images of the riverbed will allow scientists to better understand and evaluate conditions for fish and mussels.

“We wanted to get very detailed information for those eight miles, which are very high quality habitat for mussels,” explained Brad Maurer, Restoration Engineer for The Nature Conservancy out of Harrisburg. While the study is not one that’s looking specifically at the numbers or health of aquatic creatures like mussels in the river, Maurer said, “we will have very good information so that we can take our model and, under different flow conditions, we can say we know mussels like” this or that condition.

Photo submitted to Times Observer Left to right: Tara Moberg, Rosemary Reilly, and Eric Chapman.

The study is a part of the greater national Sustainable Rivers Program, which seeks to marry the efforts of both water managers — the Corps of Engineers workers who release water from the dam based on the needs and changing conditions of the watershed – and scientists working to optimize dam and reservoir operations for ecosystem health.

“We hope at some point to do followup studies that will give us more detailed information about where the aquatic animals really are,” said Reilly. “Then we can marry that with the work we’re doing here this week.”

“This is a unique opportunity to better gain an understanding of the habitat of one of the most densely populated reaches for freshwater mussels in the Allegheny River,” said Eric Chapman, Director of Aquatic Science at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

They said the goal is to strike the best possible balance between the health of the river’s aquatic ecosystems — including not just river fauna like mussels but riparian areas, microhabitats, sedimentary elements, and more — and the functionality of the Kinzua Dam.

This week’s mapping of the riverbed provides the scientists with accurate models of known desirable habitats in the river that they can then use as microcosms in which to test things like outflow, velocity, depth, and other variables for their effects on river ecosystems.

And why should a national project care so much about the Allegheny River in West Hickory and Tidioute?

Tara Moberg, Senior Freshwater Conservation Advisor with The Nature Conservancy said, “because of its beautiful scenery, wildlife, and recreation value, this stretch of the Allegheny is designated as a national Wild and Scenic River. Only one percent of rivers in the country carry this unique designation.

The Corps, The Nature Conservancy, and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy are working to answer the question, ‘are we doing the best we can to manage this river so all of these values are protected for the next generation?'”

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