USC Stream Team Background

Upper Susquehanna Streams

Streams of the Southern Tier NY and Northern Tier PA, their condition and challenges, are a direct result of the unique interaction of geology, topography, climate and cultural impacts of the region.

A vast majority of the watershed area for most streams in this region consist of glaciated soils that include a restrictive fragipan that allows minimal infiltration of precipitation and maximum run off potential.  Steep topography promotes rapid runoff events.  Glacial till demonstrates minimal cohesion of stream bank soils and maximizes bedload.  Bedload features are fairly unique in their shape and size being flat and easily dislodged.  Winter snowpack and intense summer rain storms create multiple out-of-bank occurrences each year.  Woody debris from eroding banks, even in climax forests, create multiple debris jams during high water events that divert flow forces into fragile banks, often resulting in new channel formation.  This stream characteristic is one reason that sufficient buffers are needed to reduce deleterious effects on infrastructure and residences?

A history of clear cutting of forests at the turn of the century and the use of stream channels as “skid trail” for logs did much to destabilize geologic channel stabilization.  Infringement by roads, development, bridges, and crop fields by man have resulted in a culture of maintenance that has painted creeks as liabilities for landowners and municipalities.  Unregulated landuse and resultant watershed hydrology changes further aggravates channel instability.

A pending landscape challenge that may affect roads, stream and watershed hydrology is the potential for extensive development of the Marcellus Shale formation, which underlies the entire region.  The multiple interactions of the fragipan, pipeline ditches, water withdrawals, increased road traffic and drilling pad placements may have significant impacts on the stream corridors and their functions.

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