The Spring Creek Watershed Plan:
Our challenges and a direction for the future
Download the Spring Creek Watershed Plan (pdf)
In 1996, the International Countryside Stewardship Exchange program selected the Spring Creek Watershed as one of its two projects for the year. That effort was a collaborative project that addressed land conservation, community development and other related issues by pairing experienced professionals from all over the world with leaders of the local community, in this case, the Spring Creek Watershed. The Countryside Exchange program is still working hard to promote these ideals and help communities discover the next steps they need to take to conserve their natural resources effectively.
One of the outcomes of the Exchange experience in the Spring Creek Watershed was the creation of the Spring Creek Watershed Commission -- a group of elected and appointed officials from each of the 14 municipalities of the watershed. The group meets monthly to share issues of watershed-wide concern. When the Watershed Commission was created, one of its three goals was to create a watershed management plan for the Spring Creek Watershed. On their behalf, ClearWater Conservancy applied for a PA Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener grant to develop a watershed plan for the Spring Creek Watershed. The grant was funded in October of 2001 and was completed in June 2004.
Major Stakeholders
Project Management Team
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PA Department of Environmental Protection
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United States Geological Survey
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Centre County Planning Office
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Spring Creek Watershed Association
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Spring Creek Watershed Commission
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University Area Joint Authority
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ClearWater Conservancy
Technical Steering Committee
This larger group was made up of technical specialists in a variety of watershed resource protection- and management-related fields.
The Six Challenges for the Spring Creek Watershed
Identifying and Protecting Critical Natural Resource Areas
Managing Stormwater Runoff
Addressing Stream Impairments
Enhancing and Protecting Riparian Buffers
Continuing to Educate People to be Good Stewards of the Watershed
Creating an Entity to Oversee and Manage the Implementation of the Watershed Plan
Spring Creek Basin Conceptual
Hydrologic Model
Download the
Spring Creek
Basin Hydrologic Model
(pdf)
ClearWater Conservancy is pleased to share the following report with our more
technically-oriented members and friends. For the past few years, ClearWater
has been a local partner with the USGS on the development of a computer
model that will link surface and ground water with land use in the karst Spring
Creek Watershed. This report is the culmination of the first phase of that
project: the conceptual model. Phases II and III are the development of the computer
model, which has continued to progress with the input of local technical experts
over the past year. This project is anticipated for completion in September
2010.