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Who We Are Our Goals Mission and History What We've Done Membership Contact Us PCWEA PO Box 61674 Harrisburg, PA 17106       Last update June, 2006	Paxton Creek Rivers Conservation Plan Final Version June, 2006 The complete watershed plan is provided at the section links below. Click on each section title to view it in .pdf format. Use the Back button to return to this list. (Warning: If you have a dial-up Internet connection, these files may take a long time to download.) Outside Cover* and Inside Cover Table of Contents Letter to the Reader Executive Summary 1. Paxton Creek-Watershed of Promise 2. Making the RCP for Paxton Creek 3. Watershed Basics 101 4. The Baseline: Portraits of the Watershed     Table 4 5. Goals, Objectives and Strategies 6. Projects to Fix, Enhance, and Protect     Table 6 7. RCP Schedule and Costs 8. Implementation and Management     Table 8 9. References* Glossary of Terms, Abbreviations and Acronyms* Memorandum of Understanding and Lists of Figures, Tables, Attachments, Appendix Acknowledgements *Available by email request . Draft Leading to the Final Plan The Paxton Creek's Rivers Conservation Plan was released in June, 2006. Materials for the draft version were reviewed for months prior to its release. It incorporated suggestions from focus groups and vested interests on stormwater management, education, and recreation/trails prior to the plan's release. This procedure allowed meaningful input into the planning process, rather than limited responses to formal comments at the end. The draft plan was relatively short, only around 75 pages for communication effectiveness. A huge self-standing appendix contains the detailed narrative, tables, charts, maps, and data forms for watershed characteristics and resources,  project conceptual designs, plan management, and other items. For integration purposes the draft was sent to watershed municipalities. Dauphin County,  agency partners, and others for review and comment. Complete planning information was also available at area libraries, and the PCWEA web site prior to the plan's release. Public Visioning Meetings Starting in January, 2001, four public visioning meetings were conducted by the PCWEA throughout the watershed. All watershed stake holders were invited to the first meeting, held at Olewine Nature Center, on January 23. Subsequently, there were meetings in the City of Harrisburg, Lower Paxton Township, and Susquehanna Township. In announcing the meetings, news releases were filed, personal letters were sent to municipal officials, and presentations were made to the officials at meetings at each municipality. Approximately 140 individuals attended.  At these meetings stake holders were asked to state their concerns about watershed concerns, problems, attributes, and hopes for the future. Through the visioning meetings, four main sets of environmental issues were found to dominate stake holders' concerns. These, and their aggregate percentages, include the following: flooding and stormwater runoff (23.9%); sprawl, loss of open space/open space preservation, loss of habitat/wildlife, and farmland preservation (23.0%); water quality improvement, protection of drinking water, and groundwater concerns (16.9%); erosion, sedimentation of Wildwood Lake, and loss of vegetative buffers along Paxton Creek (13.2%). These issues account for 77% of those concerns expressed at the visioning meetings by stake holders. The concerns identified during the visioning meetings will contribute a stream enhancement and protection plan, which will require a year or longer. The PCWEA is not waiting to initiate improvement activities, however. Its Rangers are collecting data on water quality suspended solids, stream levels and erosion patterns, which eventually should contribute to the management of Paxton Creek in altering storm water runoff, creek flows, and  flooding. The PCWEA soon will use remote sensing (i.e., Landsat) images of impervious surfaces, so as to advise municipal officials on land use and development. Experts on biotic abundance and diversity will be invited to assess the woodland fringe surrounding Paxton Creek for wild flora and fauna. Protection of lands alongside Paxton Creek headwaters, and at other places, will be established through conservation easements, and other instruments of protection.  The tentative agenda for these initial easements calls for their completion and celebration in the Thanksgiving-Christmas, 2002 season as gifts to the watershed community. Education and community involvement continue to be a strong goal of the PCWEA.  In addition to the specific projects and programs for watershed enhancement and protection, the PCWEA with partners sponsored a benthic critters creek safari, a wetlands festival, and a mentoring and monitoring jamboree. Various student projects of the Environmental Programs at Harrisburg Area Community College will also pertain to Paxton Creek. Other projects will follow the watershed assessment, and completion of  conservation plan for Paxton Creek.
Back to Top	Paxton Creek Watershed and Education Association was formed under a PA Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener Grant. It continues in partnership with the Canaan Valley Institute and other organizations.