Into the Canyon - 1 - Friends of the Cheat

Into the Canyon

In this issueWatershed Tour .............................. 1Working Upstream .......................... 3Hmmm - Osprey! ............................. 4Cheatfest Report ............................. 5Mapping and Monitoring ...............6,7Farewell Danielle ............................7,8Walking Heather Run ....................8,10Tackling Invasives........................... 9Outdoor Classroom......................... 9Cheat Canyon Update..................... 10Membership, donations................... 11Rec Trail Grant .............................. 12

Cheat River Watershed Tour ReviewOn Saturday, August 19, the Buckwheat Express

ran a very different route through Northern PrestonCounty. Instead of the usual routes, the bus wascarrying people to learn about Acid Mine Drainage(AMD) in the lower Cheat River Watershed during atour hosted by Friends of the Cheat. Stops show-cased active and passive water treatment systemsat mine reclamation sites. The water treatment isnecessary due to impairment by (AMD). Not only arethe processes for treating the water different, so isthe management and funding for each project site.The purpose of the tour is to inform participantsabout what acid mine drainage is, how it is affectingthe streams of Preston County, and what can bedone with treatment to restore the streams.

Keith Pitzer, Executive Director for Friends of theCheat, guided the 3-hour tour for nearly 2 dozen areacitizens. His knowledge of these projects and pro-cesses was shared with the tour attendees. Thegoal is to bring life back to waters affected by AMD.

It took years to do the damage, however it will takeeven longer to reverse the harm done.

Participants on the Watershed Tour pose by the River ofPromise Interpretive Trail signs at the intersection ofWoolen Mill Road and Route 26, which explain theformation and treatment of acid mine drainage.

Newsletter of Friends of the Cheat Fall 2006

Into the Canyon - 2 - Friends of the Cheat

Into the CanyonPublished by:

Friends of the Cheat119 S.Price St., #206

Kingwood, WV 26537-1478phone: 304-329-3621

fax: 304-329-3622web: www.cheat.org

email: foc@cheat.org

Friends of the Cheat Board of DirectorsJim Snyder, Chair and Secretary, Charlie Walbridge, Vice-Chair, Dave Bassage,

Dave and Lena Cerbone, Dan Lenox, Tom Nutter, Ralph Teter, Troy Titchenell

Business Sponsors

Adventure’s Edge • Adventuresports Institute of Garrett College • Adventure Sports Center International • Alpine LakeProperties • Appalachian Wildwaters • Aquafix • Arkley Forestlands • Bishop House B&B • C.E.Bolyard and Son • Tom BrownConstruction • Cellular One • Cheat Canyon Campground •Cheat River Outfitters • Cool Runnings • Doppio Coffee • East/

West Printing • Fawley Music • Firefly Grill • Filtersource • Fluid Kayaks • Grateful Heads Helmets • iPlayOutside.com • LaurelHighlands River Tours • Liquid Logic, LLC • Longhollow Pens • Mario’s Fishbowl • WKMM • Monroe’s Deli • MorgantownEnergy Associates • Mountain Streams and Trails • Mountain Surf • Preston Distributors • Possum Point Productions •

Precision Rafting • PS Composites • Pyranha • Rapidstyle • Ribboard, Inc. • Riversport School of Paddling • Rocky MountainKayak • Sony • Sushi-fo-Yushi • Teter’s Campground • Video Veritas • Gail Anderson Vincent • Wavesport • We’re Nuts • West

Virginia Brewing Company • WFSP • Whitewater Warehouse • Wilderness Voyageurs

Major Donors with thanks to all of our members

Steve Barnett • Dave Bassage • Rence & Barbara Callahan • Paul & Betty Connelly • Michael Cox • David Cushing • CarlaFerris • Joe Greiner • Carlton Gutschick • Mary Lynn Harden • John Harvey • Lillian Kotchek • Blakely Lacroix • Dan and JanetLenox • Jon Maiman • Harry Marinakis • Tom McCloud • Joann McGrew • Constance Miller • Eloise Milne • Arch Moore • Anne

and Wayne Nelson • Larry Pethick • Keith and Joan Pitzer • Randy Robinson • Peter F. Smith • Jan Steckel • • KeithStrausbaugh • Ann and Cecil Tickamyer • Robert Uram • Fred Wright • Jeff Wright

OrganizationsAmerican Canoe Association • American Whitewater • Blue Ridge Voyageurs • Canoe Cruisers Association •Cheat Lake Environmental and Recreation Association • Coopers Rock Foundation • Downstream Alliance •

Friends of Deckers Creek • Friends of Laurel Mountain • Greater Baltimore Canoe Club • Harper’s Ferry Outdoor Festival •Keel Haulers Canoe Club • Kingwood Junior Women’s Club • Monocacy Canoe Club • Philadelphia Canoe Club • Preston CountyCommissioners • Project Wet • Richmond Whitewater Club • River Network • Shavers Fork Coalition • Three Rivers Paddling Club •

Trout Unlimited • Upper Monongahela River Association • US Army Corps of Engineers •• WV Raptor Rehabilitation Center • WV Rivers Coalition • WV Save Our Streams • WV Trophy Hunters Association •

WV Watershed Network • Zoar Valley Paddling Club

Friends of the Cheat StaffKeith Pitzer - executive director, Sally Wilts - office assistant, Jessica Zamias - OSM VISTA, Doug Ferris - OSM VISTA

,

Major Funding Supporters Bikes Belong • Canaan Valley Institute • ESRI Conservation Program • Oakland Foundation •

Nisource Environmental Challenge Fund • Norcross Wildlife Foundation • US Environmental Protection Agency • US Office of Surface Mining • WV Department of Environmental Protection • WV Stream Partners Program

Into the Canyon - 3 - Friends of the Cheat

Working Upstream By Keith Pitzer, Executive Director, Friends of the Cheat

October colors, and the chill in the air remindme that another year is winding down. Lookingback over the past months, I see 2006 as a timeof catching up with resources, monitoring andplanning for FOC. We started the year with hopesof constructing at least two passive treatmentprojects, in addition to launching the ambitiousEPA Targeted Watershed Initiative work that willinvest over a million dollars in the Muddy Creekdrainage in three years.

But contact with the U.S.Army Corps of Engi-neers (USACE) last year led to the issue of ob-taining permits for construction. This has been along process that has effectively held up progressfor months. While this has frustrated us this sea-son, it also led to meeting with USACE personnelto develop a statewide permitting process forAMD reclamation projects. This would presum-ably streamline the permit application process,saving all involved precious time and money. Thisprocess has been led and facilitated by OSM andWVDEP personnel and we applaud their efforts.

With the EPA award pending, we embarkedon thorough monitoring in the work area, mappingand sampling many sites that had no previousdata. Time drew on through summer, lab fees andother related expenses were paid. This became areal strain on the FOC budget. At long last, wehave a signed agreement and our first financialdraw from EPA for this program. We are neververy far from cash flow slowing to a trickle, but thissummer was very dry!

Moving ahead with things already committedand funded, we hosted our second successfulAMD treatment tour in August. We tried a news-paper insert for the local area in lieu of a summernewsletter edition. Mary Kay Schreiner did agreat job with design and layout, even coming upwith an alternate meaning for FOC- focus on com-munity. This was a means to introduce ourselvesto more folks living in the watershed that are notfully aware of the extent of AMD problems andpossible solutions. All FOC members received a

copy of this in the mail as well. We’d love to hearwhat you think of the piece.

Support continues to come in for our outdoorclassroom concept on the festival site. This willconsist of an as-yet-undefined pavilion from whichto meet and lead groups in a variety of educa-tional activities in and around the site. We are inthe process of gathering ideas from varioussources for a nature learning trail along the riverand wetland at one end of the property. One initialidea recommended by WV ConservationAgency’s Brad Durst was to control invasiveplants on the site. FOC staff Sally Wilts is re-searching the topic and developing a control pro-gram. Read more in her article on page 9.

At the end of August we said goodbye toDanielle Adams, who served two very successfulyears as an OSM/VISTA with FOC and is nowpursuing graduate study. At the same time, wewelcomed Jessica Zamias as our next OSM/VISTA, having just completed an OSM summerinternship with us. You can read about many ofthese people, outings and projects in this newslet-ter. I hope you agree we have been busy this sea-son. We are confident the winter will find us out inthe elements, adding to the database of waterquality for future AMD projects.

Toward that end we will be working upstream.

FOC office staff in August, before Danielle’sdeparture. Keith Pitzer is on top step, Sally Wilts, DougFerris and Danielle Adams on second step and JessicaZamias in front.

Into the Canyon - 4 - Friends of the Cheat

hmmmm..... Osprey!by Jim Snyder, Chair of FOC Board of Directors

Well- he did it again. The osprey who passesthrough here every fall spent a couple days in myneighborhood before passing on. Osprey are sobig and beautiful- and they eat fish you know! It’slike the world is their delicatessen and this onestopped in our shop. He saw the Cheat River asworthy of his attention. He moved on- maybe he’sone of the few that live in the upstream reaches ofthe valley. But he left this little mustard seed offaith.

It’s like he was a jeweler looking at our crys-talline waters and saying, “Hmmm...interesting..not bad...” The Cheat looked yummyto him! This is part of our dream. Fishing birds inthe Canyon. And it’s our toughest challenge. Butjust believing the goal is attainable charts ourcourse. Of course we will end up with fishing birdsin the Canyon. We just keep putting out one oldfire after another and there will be a cumulativeeffect. There’s something wild and splendid aboutseeing an osprey snag a fish and fly off with him. He holds it longwise in his talons to lessen thewind resistance and the fish wiggles his last withwater shattering off his body into the bright sun. The fish is having this one final surreal experiencewhere he flies! ... and then dies. You get the im-pression it’s been going on for eons- it’s prime-val. Yeah- we want that back in the Canyon. It’slike a stamp of approval from Mother Nature andFather Time.

Let’s see while I’m wishing... I’d like bear andbig cats safe in the valley too. They were there notso long ago. I hope they are holding up alright tothe new territorial pressures that will inherently de-velop from Allegheny’s timbering. AlleghenyWood Products definitely has an obtrusive foot-print in the Canyon- but they don’t totally crush the

aesthetics of a river trip. The key issue is ~wherewill the Canyon be in a decade? A Japaneseknotweed nursery? Things will have changedpermanently for sure. The forest never growsback the way it was. The essential thing is thatthe wildlife still has the opportunity to thrive. Mybrother buys veneer logs in an area that has hadperpetual logging for more than 200 years andthey still have the best cherry- in the world. It’s athriving forest. A wilderness?- no- but thriving. So- the end game with Allegheny might end up aslivable~ just different from the 90 year old decidu-ous forest that I grew up with. Still I feel it wouldbe better if left untouched- left as a resource to beenjoyed by whitewater enthusiasts and fishermen,and hikers, and campers. A wilderness isa haven for the diverse wildlife which we see re-treating from urban sprawl these days- humans,otters, owls and such.... even osprey. Creaturesof distinction and taste. The Canyon is a treasure-as is.

When you run the Canyon the water is still abit tinged and you can taste the acid a little bit inthe first few miles. And occasionally you’ll see aclearing from where they turn the logging trucksaround up on the hill. From an airplane I’m sureyou’d see a lot of that. But from the river~ not somuch. But the overpowering sense of what youexperience in the Canyon is the same as it everwas... magical and powerful- urgent,vital...primeval. There’s a value to be found infloating through a wilderness. It’s hard to capturein words- but it is certainly tangible, inherent,and intrinsic. This magic gets into you and a wispof it stays with you. It’s an ethereal thread thatbinds so much into place. It connects friends andadventures and values and time. We’re all onsame page in the Canyon- some primeval page. It’s really a privilege to experience. If you haven’trun the Canyon- or hiked it~ by all means do (ohyeah.. I forgot... hiking the Canyon would be illegalnow). It’s really a source of inspiration- worthy ofour attentions in spite of its flaws. It’s not perfect

~ but I think the Canyon’s gonna be alright. It’sgot Friends and that’s going to make a differencein the long haul.

Into the Canyon - 5 - Friends of the Cheat

Cheatfest 2006 Reportby Sally Wilts We had a very successful festival this year withour exceptional volunteer force pulling together tocreate a day full of fine experiences for everyone.Our effort at a live auction was hampered by poorcommunication with the auctioneer and we will likelygo back to a silent auction of small donated itemsnext year. There is not room to thank all of our volun-teers, but I’ll list some of the sponsors.SponsorsCheatfest 5KCellular One was the major sponsor of theCheatfest 5K and this allowed $1000 to be added tothe Preston Rail-Trail fund. Bolyard & Son Con-struction and T.B. Construction, both of Kingwood,also sponsored the 5K race.Cheat Downriver RaceRocky Mountain Kayak is the major sponsor of thisrace. Mountain Streams and Trails, Laurel High-lands River Tours, Whitewater Adventurers,Cheat River Outfitters and Glenn Miller all contrib-ute to the shuttle and running of the race.FestivalAdventure Sports Center International providedgeneral support for the festival. Fawley Music spon-sored our stage performances. The climbing wall isowned by Cheat River Outfitters and they broughtit at no charge to us and donated some of the pro-ceeds from the wall to us. Adventure’s Edgebrought experienced staff to guide climbers on thewall and also made a donation to us.Preston Dis-tributors donate beer for our downriver race.Kingwood radio stations WKMM and WFSP donateradio announcements for us each year. The City ofKingwood helped with their boom truck to place ourbanner over Rt. 26 and lent us the use of a dumpster.S&K Sanitation donated their usual fee for the useof the recycling bin and their expense in hauling it toMorgantown. EastWest Printing donated the cre-ative design of the Tshirt graphics and discounted thescreenprinting charges. Chick-Fil-A donated foodcoupons for door prizes. Hospitality Tent donationsApplebees, Black Bear Burritos, Bob Evans, BostonBeanery, Chic-N-Bones, D.P. Dough, GlasshouseGrill, Golden Corral, Maxwell’s, Mountain People’sCo-op, Papa John’s Pizza, Pita Pit, Pizza Hut(Suncrest), Prime Thyme, Puglioni’s, Shoney’s,Texas Roadhouse, Albright Kwik Stop, Foodland

(Kingwood), Pizza Hut (Kingwood), Sandy’s Restau-rant, Subway (Kingwood), Cheat River Outfitters,Mountain Streams and Trails, Wilderness VoyageursVendorsAdventure’s Edge 304-296-9007www.adventuresedge.orgAdventuresports Instituteof Garrett College 301-387-3333www.adventuresportsi.orgAdventure SportsCenter International 301-387-3250www.adventuresportscenter.comAppalachian Essentials 304-864-6564Bishop House B&B 304-329-6500Clay Art by Gail 304-329-0017www.clayartbygail.comCool Runnings 304-296-8469D. John Marie 304-265-5178Doppio Coffee 304-685-3034 www.doppiocoffee.comEddie Spaghetti Art 814-322-6463 www.pbase.com/eddiespagehettiartFirefly Grill 724-875-4528 www.thefireflygril.comFluid Kayaks 443-722-4953 www.justfluid.comGrateful Heads Helmets 301-689-0915www.gratefulheads.comJake’s Kettle Corn 304-257-6825Liquid Logic, LLC 828-698-5778www.liquidlogickayaks.comLong Hollow Pens 304-895-3903www.longhollowpens.comMario’s Fishbowl 304-292-2511www.mariosfishbowl.netMonroe’s Deli 304-329-3354Mountain Surf, Inc. 301-746-5389www.mountainsurf.comPossum Point Productions 703-221-1792PS Composites 724-329-4413www.customkayak.comPyranha 828-254-1101 www.pyranha.comRapidstyle 301-564-0459 www.rapidstyle.comRipboard 866-311-2627 www.ripboard.comRiver SportSchool of Paddling 814-395-5744www.riversportonline.comRocky Mountain Kayak 800-383-0909www.rockymountainkayak.comSummer Kitchen Pottery 304-449-1337Sushi-fo-Yushi 412-260-6067 www.sushifoyushi.comWave Sport 801-201-0928 www.wavesport.comWe’re Nuts of WV LLC 304-291-0432Whitewater Warehouse 937-222-7020

Into the Canyon - 6 - Friends of the Cheat

Some things start out simple enough -some-one in attendance at a River of Promise meetingonce suggested a map showing AMD treatmentprojects and sites needing treatment. For thepast three years most issues of Into the Canyon,all River of Promise meetings and several pre-sentations at trainings and conferences have con-tained information about our ongoing efforts tomonitor water quality in streams, find AMDsources and map these locations using GIS tech-nology. The purpose of this work is to have thetool for reliable assessment of significant AMDsources and a means to prioritize and plan futurereclamation work.

The effort to accomplish this has been anythingbut simple. There have been hundreds of hours inthe field by FOC staff, volunteers and assistingWVDEP personnel. There have been 748samples taken to date representing over 50 milesof streams within the lower Cheat watershed.. Adatabase that holds and manages the data fromthese samples has been developed and is func-tioning well. Hours and hours of staff time haveentered data into the database. Two editions ofGIS software have been acquired and installed onFOC computers. FOC staff have trained to useGIS applications.

Along the way, several sources of expertiseand resources have been tapped. In the earliestgeneration of GIS mapping, CVI’s Ryan Gaujotwas instrumental in getting the WVDEP AML layerconverted to GIS. (it was not in that softwarethen). Next, Ben Mack worked months as anOSM/VISTA and then months as a paid FOC staffworking on the Muddy Creek, Greens Run andPringle Run maps. Camp Dawson’s Natural Re-sources Management staff Jeff Simcoe gave gen-erously of his time and expertise in helping Benwith area maps. When Ben left FOC for graduateschool the end of 2005 we had received word ofthe Targeted Watershed Initiative award fromEPA. This enabled FOC to commit to a second

Jessica records the results while Doug tests the pH ofthe water at Lick Run, a bright orange stream and one ofthe bigger contibutors of acid to the Cheat River.

OSM/VISTA position and Doug Ferris came onboard in February of this year. WVDEP’s JoeZambelli assisted Danielle Adams with some GISmapping processes and additional mapping pro-ceeded. Doug Ferris developed a unified no-menclature for identifying the sample points.

Soon after, we were contacted by WVDEP’sstream assessment people about sharing dataand work during their upcoming round of assess-ment within the WVDEP Watershed Frameworkcycle. This put us in touch with James Summers,who shared with Doug the database system heuses. This information streamlined sorting dataand let us combine all data into one manageablesource. Early this summer, we were contacted byDr. Joe Donovan, geology professor at WVU. He

Monitoring, Mapping, and moreMonitoringby Keith Pitzer and Doug Ferris

Into the Canyon - 7 - Friends of the Cheat

is working on a Freeport coal mine pool researchproject and also was interested in sharing dataand field work. Much of his research to this pointhad been in reviewing digitized mine maps. Heshowed us how referring to the mine maps couldbe a tremendous help in seeing likely dischargesof AMD. The maps also show the significant badactors from the minor players when it comes toloading our streams with metals and low pH wa-ter. He and his staff have quickly given Doug andDanielle Adams greater proficiency using GISand provided FOC with additional layers of infor-mation.

In summary, this has been a long string of con-tacts, steps in learning curves and levels of pro-ductivity. When water quality data is taken over alarge area such as the lower Cheat Watershed,the first thing learned is how little we knew beforewe started. With only an intuitive direction guidingreclamation choices, the earlier reclamation workof the River of Promise task force was not able toconsider information such as size and extent ofconnecting mine pools. Likewise, staff at Na-tional Mine Land Reclamation Center sampled asource and a downstream segment of the receiv-ing stream in developing conceptual design of anindividual project. None of the partners involvedhad previously had the resources of time, person-nel and related disciplines to assess the sourcesof impairment for whole drainage areas, muchless plan remediation efforts for the same.

The combined resources of a much improveddata management system, greatly enlarged GIScapacity, and additional expertise from Dr.Donovan and company, FOC is well equipped toprovide the field data needed to guide design inthe Muddy Creek drainage as we work into theTargeted Watershed Initiative funds. This will en-compass the streams of Fickey Run, Glade Runand Martin Creek. In addition, the Pringle, Lickand Heather drainages have an extensive minemap history that bears study as we consider treat-ment options on these streams.

This project has continued to grow beyond ouroriginal concept and this has taken time. But theresult of that time spent has brought additionalpartners and expertise together to contribute to a

more complete picture of water quality in the wa-tershed.

The work accomplished over the last quarter inmapping AMD sources in the Martin Creek water-shed has identified 37 new sources and FOCstaff met with Joe Zambelli from the WVDEP inthe field on Glade Run on October 20th to deter-mine which of these new sources are AbandonedMine Lands and which may be associated withBond Forfeitures.

Farewell Danielle, WelcomeJessica as OSM VISTAby Sally Wilts

In 2001 a unique initiative began through apartnership between the Office of Surface Mining(OSM) and Americorps/VISTA to provide ruralcoal communities with the assistance they need tomake their watersheds cleaner, healthier andsafer places to live and work. The AppalachianCoal Country Watershed Team is now working ineight states.

Keith Pitzer has been the supervisor for sixFOC VISTA workers and the increased capacityof our organization due to these outstanding indi-viduals can not be overstated. OSM also sponsorsa summer intern program which has provided uswith much needed help.

Jessica Zamias joined us in May as our sum-mer OSM Intern. Originally from Johnstown, PA,Jess graduated from WVU in May with a

Jessica Zamias doing field work for stream monitoringthis summer.

continued on page 8

Into the Canyon - 8 - Friends of the Cheat

bachelor’s degree in environmental protection. During her 12 week internship she was able

to work with our OSM VISTAs Doug Ferris andDanielle Adams to learn about our mapping andmonitoring project and to participate in educa-tional outreach to Girl Scouts and the PrestonCounty 4-H camp. As the end of Danielle’s termapproached in August, we were delighted thatJess was willing to spend a year with us as theOSM VISTA to finish out the third year of the OSMVISTA project that Danielle had worked on.

Danielle has returned to Massachusetts toattend graduate school in the Environmental Sci-ence and Policy program at Clark University. Sheis exceptionally energetic, self-disciplined andfocused and was able to accomplish a great dealduring her two years with us. She conceived ofand organized the Cheatfest 5K road race in 2005and 2006 to bring attention and money to thePreston Rail-trail Committee. Fortunately, she wasable to recruit a volunteer to lead the effort to orga-nize the race for 2007.

She was able to bring order and resourcesto our educational outreach efforts and this will fa-cilitate teaching in the years to come. Already pro-ficient in stream monitoring before she arrived,she was enthusiastic about spending time in thefield. As our water quality monitoring data accumu-lated, she worked with Doug to create a more us-able database, while concurrently she was learn-ing to use the updated GIS software that she ob-tained for us.

She worked hard on many grant applicationsand was successful in several, bringing neededdollars for rail-trail development, environmentaleducation, outdoor classroom construction andGIS mapping. She has been the primary contribu-tor to our website and was an excellent editor forall of our written materials. We know that she willbe successful in her future endeavors and wish herthe best.

Farewell Danielle, WelcomeJessica as OSM VISTA

continued from page 7

Walking Heather Run (7-31-06)By Keith Pitzer

Having shared resources with Dr. JoeDonovan and staff at WVU this summer, we foundourselves walking some streams in search ofAMD sources. The timeliness of this was for aFreeport mine pool research project Dr. Donovanis working on. The data and source points will beneeded as reclamation progresses throughoutthe watershed.

So on the last day of July, WVU student MaxFishel, FOC OSM intern Jessica Zamias, andFOC director Keith Pitzer walked the upper reachof Heather Run. We entered the Heather Rundrainage at the site of a Borgman Coal bond for-feiture site, now treated by WVDEP. The sign atthe entrance showed a cost of $168,000 for con-struction.

This is because the company forfeited itsbond on the site once it was through mining coal.It was cheaper to lose the bond than to continueto treat water. And so it went for several years at

continued on page 10

Heather Run as it flows beneath Rt. 72 on its course tothe Cheat River. The stream is bright orange currently.It has excellent structure with pools and falls andcould be good fish habitat if the water quality isimproved by restoration projects.

Into the Canyon - 9 - Friends of the Cheat

Tackling Invasive Species at theFestival Siteby Sally Wilts

“In West Virginia invasive plant species areone of the largest threats to our agricultural, forestand water resources and are a national and globalconcern. These species can be so competitivethey overtake or destroy native or desirable plantsand encroach on valuable producing land and/orwater resources. “ Brad Durst, EnvironmentalSpecialist with the WV Conservation Agency. Bradhas helped us inventory invasive plant species atour festival site and has sent us links to websiteswith information about the most effective methodsto control or eliminate problem species.

The most widespread plant is Japaneseknotweed, which has overgrown most of the wet-land area and lines the banks of the river inplaces. This plant is not utilized by wildlife andcrowds out native plants that birds and animalsdepend on. It spreads primarily by rhizomes andcommonly occurs along streambanks as the rootsegments are carried by the current to start newcolonies. The banks of the Cheat River byRowlesburg City Park are lined with solid standsof this weed.

Control is possible by twice monthly mowingduring the entire growing season for three years.Ralph Teter will try and mow the areas on the festi-val site which are accessible to the tractor as oftenas feasible over the next few years. Most of theareas will have to be treated by cutting the stemsof the plant and applying an approved herbicide tothe stump. This places the chemical only on thetarget plant and does not harm surrounding veg-etation.

Keith, Doug and Sally have tackled many ofthe areas on the festival site this fall. Our neigh-bors Dave and Lena Cerbone and the whitewatercompanies that own the land for our public parkinghave agreed to let us attempt control on their prop-erties also. We will apply for some assistancefrom the companies that manufacture the herbi-cide and start again next spring.

Other invasive species on the site are mul-

tiflora rose, autumn olive, Russian olive and pos-sibly tree-of-heaven. We’ll follow recommendedcontrol practices for each of these as vigorouslyas we have manpower, tools and herbicide touse. Let us know if you are interested in helping orhave loppers to use for cutting the stems.

Knotweed in flower during late summer and fall.

Outdoor Classroomby Jessica Zamias, OSM VISTA

In an effort to increase public environmentalawareness through an outdoor classroom on thefestival site, Friends of the Cheat has beenawarded three grants and received donationsthrough a benefactor, Eloise Milne. The outdoorclassroom is planned to be a multi-use pavilion,which will be used as a location for various meet-ing and learning activities based at the site.

Friends of The Cheat received a $5,000Stream Partners grant, a $5,000 Oakland Foun-dation grant and a $1,000 WV Trophy Hunters As-sociation grant that will go towards the construc-tion of the outdoor classroom.

In conjunction with the grants, a benefactor,Eloise Milne has donated money for the construc-tion of the classroom. Eloise was raised on thepresent Cheat Festival site and wants to see thestream restored to its natural beauty.

We hope that the WVU Landscape Architec-ture Program will design the pavillion. We are stillsearching for additional funding and grants to payfor the construction.

Into the Canyon - 10 - Friends of the Cheat

Cheat Canyon Updateby Charlie Walbridge, FOC Board member

Stewardship work in the Cheat Canyon areacontinues. On a scorching hot day this past sum-mer the posts were placed for a new, improvedgate at the Cheat Canyon and Lower Big SandyTakeout in Jenkinsburg. Dave Hough from Moun-tain Streams joined Keith Pitzer from Friends ofCheat and Charlie Walbridge from AmericanWhitewater to dig the holes and set the posts. Thenew gate was installed by Preston Machine Enter-prises of Kingwood a few weeks later. It lookspretty bombproof! The gate was painted a brightyellow color by Friends of Cheat board memberand campground owner Ralph Teter, so that late-night drivers won’t drive into it by accident.

The gate purchase was financed by the saleof Cheat River Access stickers at the Cheat Fes-tival this past spring. If you didn’t buy a sticker,now’s the time! These stickers are available for$20 by mail from Friends of Cheat, 119 SouthPrice St. #206, Kingwood WV 26537-1478.Phone orders can be made by calling 304-329-3621; credit cards are accepted.

Recently students from Greg Corio’s Out-door Adventure Program at West Virginia Univer-sity conducted cleanups at both Jenkinsburg andRockville. Groups of 15 students get a lot done ina short time! At Jenkinsburg they worked hard toremove trash from several badly abused camp-sites below the Blue Hole on the Big Sandy. AtRockville the cleanup focused on land to the up-stream left of the bridge and the remains of theold hermit cabin at the trailhead to Wonder Falls.Both areas are clear of trash and look good.

many mine sites through the 1980’s. We field checked the discharge from the

treatment site and found a pH 5.8. Just upstreamfrom this site was pH 6.3. And just downstreamand across from the Borgman site was an un-treated AMD discharge. This was a pH of 2.9 andshowed significant impact on the stream. Highmetals were indicated by an Electrical Conductiv-ity of 1680. Solids in the form of iron had droppedout of solution and build up a hard surface that thewater continued to run over. We took samples forlab analysis, got a GPS reading and measuredthe flow with our Marsh McBirney flow meter. Aflow meter of some type is essential. The labanalysis tells the concentration of metals in thewater. Measuring the flow times concentrationgives us the total loading of metals for that site.

This was the first of five sources we docu-mented in less than two miles. The temperaturewas above ninety by early afternoon, so the waterwe waded didn’t feel so bad. It just looked bad.In several places, the stream bed itself was im-bedded with precipitated iron so that it had an ap-pearance of being poured downstream and hard-ened with time. The water was always a light or-ange cast. The source points themselves fre-quently had old metal scraps from vehicles or ma-chinery, obviously abandoned by the mine com-pany. One source had old household trashdumped in the depression of the collapsed portal.It must have seemed a likely place for trash, giventhe lack of caring the site had received by thecompany.

With the heat and fatigue grew a sense ofquiet resigned disgust at the condition of HeatherRun. I recalled a current Senate candidate’squote opining that “industry is over regulated andthis has a negative effect on the economy.” Iwould submit streams like Heather Run as evi-dence of industry largely unregulated. The legacyof acid mine drainage is its lasting and devastat-ing effect on our streams and rivers long after theprofit made by a few has been spent.

Walking Heather Runcontinued from page 8

Into the Canyon - 11 - Friends of the Cheat

Why Get Involved with the Friends of the Cheat? From its headwaters in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, the Cheat River flows 157 miles to the

Pennsylvania state line. In its lower 20 miles the river has been so severely polluted by acid minedrainage that it is effectively dead. Most of this damage is caused by underground and surface coalmines that were abandoned decades ago. The continuing legacy of this pollution has been the loss offish and wildlife, aesthetic damage, degraded drinking water, and losses to the local economy fromdiminished recreation activities such as fishing and boating.

Our objective is to foster cooperative efforts by federal and state agencies, private industry, andlocal landowners to address the severe acid mine drainage problems that paint the Cheat Canyon or-ange and render it ecologically sterile. We need your support to create a new legacy for the CheatRiver. Our membership includes fishermen, paddlers, guides and outfitters; land owners and renters;politicians and activists; geologists and biologists; small businesses and large industries; residentsand folks from many states away. We are a diverse group with a common goal. Ours is a vision of ahealthy river that provides multiple recreational opportunities and sustains viable local economies. Help us make that vision a reality. Remember...Rivers carry the lifeblood of the planet... butthey should not run red. Restore water quality on the Cheat! Consider making a planned gift toFriends of the Cheat in your estate planning. Making us a beneficiary of a retirement plan, insurancepolicy or as a bequest can provide you or someone you designate with favorable financial or taxbenefits. Become a member by completing the form below or by visiting our website at www.cheat.org.

Yes, I Want to Be a Friend of the Cheat!Membership and Donation Form All donations are tax-deductibleMembership includes our quarterly newsletter Into the Canyon

Basic Membership Supporting Contributors___ Individual/family $20 ___ Stream Steward $100-$249 includes ball cap___ Non-profit Organization $50 with FOC logo and choice of video___ Business $100 ___ Watershed Watch $250 or more includes Tshirt & choice of video

Contribution for Preston Rail-Trail Committee _______ (make check out to Friends of the Cheat)

T-shirt - $15 Short sleeve ($10 with $50 or more donation) $20 Long sleeveSize __ Kids Large __ Adult Small __ Medium __ Large __ XLarge __ XXLargeChoose ___Cheat Map Shirt or ___ Cheatfest shirt Choose ___ Men’s style ___ Women’s styleCap – Low Profile Twill Cap with FOC logo. Camel, green, grey, putty $15.00 ______

Total amount enclosed: $____________ Payable to: Friends of the Cheat 119 S. Price Street, Suite 206

Kingwood, WV 26537-1478Name _________________________________

Address _________________________________________________

City, State, Zip _________________________________________________

Email ____________________________________________________________

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Friends of the Cheat119 S.Price Street, Suite 206Kingwood, WV 26537-1478

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Friends of the Cheat (FOC) receive an $80,000 Recreation Trail Grant for Preston County Rail-Trail Committee(PRTC). This grant program is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and administrated through WestVirginia Department of Transportation. These funds will be added to an agreement with WVDOT for a previousgrant toward acquisition and development of the Kingwood Northern Railroad corridor as Rails-to-Trails for non-motorized use. This corridor is ten miles long and connects Tunnelton and Kingwood. This trail project is a part-nership between FOC, PRTC, and City of Kingwood.

On Tuesday, September 12th, FOC Director Keith Pitzer and PRTC Chairperson Connie Ervin accepted theaward from Governor Manchin.

Pictured left to right are: State Senator Sarah Minear, State Delegate Larry Williams, FOC Director KeithPitzer, Governor Joe Manchin, PRTC Chairperson Connie Ervin, State Senator Jon Hunter, State Delegate DebbieStevens.

Members: The date on your address label showswhen your membership expires. Renew to continueyour support.