SUNBURY — Five years after an environmental group named the Susquehanna “America’s Most Endangered River” due to the excessive pollution it receives, a Valley organization learned it will have a permanent Shikellamy State Park home to monitor the health of the 444-mile-long waterway.

H.W. “Skip” Weider, of Winfield, is a founding member of the environmental watchdog and educational research group named the Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies.



Some improvements

He understands all too well how important it is to keep the Susquehanna River free of pollutants.

“It’s not that the Susquehanna is particularly dirty right now,” he said. “The water quality is certainly better than it used to be. But with environmental issues like abandoned mine drainage and nutrient runoff from farming impacting on the watershed, we felt that establishing a permanent monitoring station at the marina was important.”

It was for this reason that Gov. Ed Rendell released $4 million in funds over the past four years to help transform the vacant Shikellamy Marina building in the state park into a Susquehanna River Research Center.

Target date for the opening is late 2011.

“The hope is that the river will eventually serve as a primary economic engine and a focal point for recreation and regional tourism,” Weider said. “But the new center will also serve as a central focal point for research. One where educators and students from area colleges and high schools can watch over the river, to keep it pristine in its beauty and alive below the surface.”



Chesapeake Bay woes

The environmental group American Rivers, which identified the Susquehanna as being endangered, reported in 2005 that most of the pollution in the waterway is the result of excess animal manure from farming, agricultural runoff, urban and suburban stormwater runoff and raw or inadequately treated sewage.

The Susquehanna River in 2003 contributed 44 percent of the nitrogen, 21 percent of the phosphorus and 21 percent of the sediment flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. The Environmental Protection Agency said Pennsylvania may be subject to sanctions if it does not reduce its pollution in the watershed by this year.

The Susquehanna River Research Center is placed at the confluence of the two branches of the waterway. It’s also within a short distance of the academic institutions that are key members of the coalition: Lock Haven, Bucknell, Susquehanna and Bloomsburg universities; and Lycoming and King’s colleges. Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited is also a member.

“The new marina will be a fantastic opportunity for the six colleges in the group to have a long-term monitoring program in place at the new site,” said Mel Zimmerman, Lycoming College professor of biology and director of the Clean Water Institute. “My group will be monitoring water quality.”

Zimmerman agreed that the Susquehanna River Research Center will also benefit Valley high school and elementary school science teachers and students who want to do field trips and investigations.

“It was logical to use this facility at the state park,” Weider said. “The marina (building) had been empty for seven years and considered an eyesore in the area”

Since its dedication in 1972, the marina building has been many things, including a failed recreation facility and a failed restaurant, but that record of failure will change when this project is completed, Weider said.

Funding for the renovations could not have been accomplished without the help of state Reps. Merle Phillips, R-108 of RR2 Sunbury, and Russell Fairchild, R-85 of Lewisburg, Weider said.

“They, along with Rendell, recognized not only the importance of the river to the economy, but also the amazing research opportunities we had, using our local colleges as a resource,” Weider said. “They pushed for Rendell to release funds for the project, and eventually he did.

“We always intended for the marina building to include research and laboratory space for college educators and their students,” Weider said. “But we were space constrained, to some extent, by the building size itself. Now, with the $4 million in state funding, we can make renovations inside, but also add to the building for exhibition space, build an aquarium and have other things that could attract people to the facility.”



The work is beginning

Weider and his group are working closely on the marina project with officials at the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, who run Shikellamy State Park.

“At some point, we’ll rent the Research Center from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for a nominal fee, and then run the project,” Weider said. A Department of Conservation and Natural Resources regional office will have office space in the new building as well.

Gene Comoss, chief engineer for the state agency, said Thursday that “it’s pretty exciting to finally be moving ahead on this, although at this point we are in the early stages of design.”

The state agency has hired a consulting firm, Entech Engineering, of Reading, to work on the building design.

Everything changed with the most recent funding increase.

“We had to reassess everything,” said David Feicke, a principal partner with Entech. “Our original design and renderings were defined by a $2.5 million budget, Now we’re having to rethink the design at a $4 million level, which is a good thing.”

Feicke and Comoss are scheduled to meet with the Heartland group Friday in Lewisburg to discuss the revised plans.

n E-mail comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com.