The Land

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It is important to survey surrounding land use needs of the watershed when assessing water quality. Different land cover characteristics (canopy cover, shrub or turf, bare soil, and impervious surfaces) filter water percolating through the basin differently. Run-off rates, filtering properties, erosion prevention, and habitat values vary with soil type, slope gradient, vegetative cover, and human intervention. Which type is best for stream ecology? Canopy and cover crops hold soil and provide habitat for wildlife; sandy soils provide the best filtering properties to remove impurities from water percolating through it; and places where no chemicals or excessive fertilizer run-off occurs are all beneficial to maintaining a healthy watershed ecosystem.

In the foreground, a field located
in Upper Little Fishing Creek, shows
relatively no sloping features

This ridge found in the headwaters
demonstrates changes in elevation
and slope

To view a map of land use characteristics of the Fishing Creek Watershed, click here

The Appalachians began to rise about 600 million years ago and reached their maximum height about 300 million years ago. These mountains have been uplifted out of the ocean for more than 500 million years, making them one of the oldest terrestrial environments on earth. By comparison, the Andes, Himalayas and the Alps are a mere 50 million years old.

During the past two million years, the Appalachians may have seen 18-20 glaciations, each cycle lasting about 100,000 years (punctuated with brief warming periods). The last cooling period saw a 2000 foot-thick ice sheet polish rocks, excavate lake basins and scrape away soils before it ground to a halt. These geographic and climatic changes shaped the Appalachian Mountain Range.

Appalachia has been divided into several geographic regions, called provinces. Columbia County lies within the Ridge and Valley Province. This province is also called the Folded Appalachians because of its corrugated look consisting of mountain ridges alternating with valleys. The Ridge and Valley runs the entire length of the Appalachians and varies in width from 14 to 80 miles. In northeastern PA, ice movement direction was parallel to axes of valleys and ridges, with ice was so thick, it covered the ridges.

Evidence of Glacial activity is also found in the Fishing Creek Watershed Basin.

"We are beginning to see the necessity of learning about our home. We see it in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and in the soils that grow our food. We can see it in the fungi that help nourish the trees, the trees that cleanse our air and produce our oxygen, the squirrels that unwittingly plant more trees while storing food for themselves, the predators that need on the squirrels then die to feed others or to enrich the soils as they continue to play their part in this grand cycle of being. So the next time we here the trilling of American Toads, see a Dogwood in bloom or watch the flight of neo-tropical birds on their way to nest in our beautiful mountains, we might pause for a moment and allow our minds to wander through the ages-to sense the antiquity of our land-to reflect on the ideological growing pains of our ancestors, and then to define for ourselves our present hope. This is the great Appalachian Mountain Range and we, through many trials, have become its people. It is our resource yes, but it is more than that. It is the source, the very reality of our lives, a precious and irreplaceable treasure."