Watershed Conservation Plan - Destination Erie

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND USER GUIDE FOR THE
PENNSYLVANIA LAKE ERIE WATERSHED RIVERS CONSERVATION PLAN
The Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Conservation Plan was made possible with major funding
support from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and
Conservation. The mission of the bureau is to lead the establishment of community conservation partnerships
that promote the greening of the Commonwealth, protect its natural and heritage resources, and provide
recreational opportunities for its people and visitors. The purpose of the bureau's Pennsylvania Rivers
Conservation Program is to conserve and enhance river resources via the development and implementation
of locally initiated plans. The watershed conservation plan for the Pennsylvania Lake Erie watershed is
hereby presented to its community of stakeholders for their consideration and implementation.
The Lake Erie Region Conservancy (LERC) worked five years to develop this document, which
represents the effort of numerous authors and supporting contributions of dozens of other individuals and
organizations from throughout the Erie region and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The primary focus of
the planning process has been the protection of water resources vital to the economic future of
Pennsylvania—resources that are also vitally important to our neighboring states and Canada. The plan
document itself is comprehensive in scope and based upon review of hundreds of scientific reports, historical
records, and other relevant studies. Most of the dozens of map illustrations within the plan were generated
using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, using the most up-to-date environmental data
available. In addition to charting a course for future efforts to protect the aquatic resources of our watershed
in chapter 10, the document provides benchmarks for future conservation-related research in the Pennsylvania
Lake Erie watershed as well as recommendations for sustainable land use planning (chapter 8) and the
management of water, natural, and recreational resources (chapter 9). Many of these recommendations may
be addressed by plan users independent of the advancement of action steps outlined in the plan's final chapter.
The priority actions defined by the action plan are listed in three different categories (i.e., outreach,
restoration, and protection) at the end of this summary. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of the
rationale behind the proposed conservation actions will find that information in chapter 10 (Priorities and
Strategies for Action) of the plan. Those who wish to explore deeply the current status of knowledge
regarding particular topics will want to read all or part of the chapters or sections addressing those subjects,
after consulting the plan's table of contents. The purpose of this summary document is to review key points
of each chapter of the plan, while highlighting unique or important features of the watershed.
The next section of this summary identifies what the plan's authors (see Acknowledgments and Plan
Authorship) consider the watershed's most distinctive aquatic, natural and cultural features, including some
important resources that may be underappreciated by the general public. The third section describes the major
threats to our watershed's resources, focusing on streams. The final section of the summary identifies key
steps for plan implementation that will hopefully achieve protection and conservation of the watershed's
aquatic and natural resources.
Distinctive Features of the Watershed
The first notable characteristic of the Pennsylvania Lake Erie watershed is the concerns of its people,
expressed in a pair of citizen surveys conducted in 2002 and 2003, at the beginning of the planning process
(chapter 1). The majority of survey respondents considered protecting water resources equally or more
important than needs to improve schools, health care, or public safety. People indicated that water protection
was more important than housing developments or shopping and entertainment opportunities. Environmental
problems given the most ratings as "severe" were the loss of forest lands and the conversion of agricultural
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