Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps. This group of dynamic, concerned citizens is keeping an eye on the quality of water in Centre County and on the environment surrounding the streams.
In 1991, the federal government joined with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to create the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) with the goal of enlisting senior citizens’ time and talent to help monitor the environment. Six years later in 1997, Pennsylvania was the first state in the nation to partner with EASI, establishing the Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps (PaSEC).
In the early 2000s through various, serendipitous events, several casual acquaintances became aware of their common concern for water and decided to gather to discuss it.
At that time, only the major streams and rivers were being monitored by various agencies, while hundreds of small but important tributaries in central Pennsylvania were left unobserved.
While it seems to be a common thing locally to worry, complain, wring our hands and fret over an issue for years before doing anything substantial, about 16 Centre County senior citizens decided to act by taking advantage of the opportunity offered by EASI.
In February of 2002, they founded the Centre County chapter of the Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps (CCPa-SEC) in cooperation with the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), the Centre County Conservation District and the Centre County Office of Aging.
It didn’t take long before the Centre County chapter got down to work. Stream testing began in April 2002 when the founders group divided up into four teams.
As a result of their dedication and sustained leadership, there are currently over 60 CCPaSEC volunteers in 14 teams of three to six people who visit designated sites on an assigned stream once a month.
Some teams monitor several streams and some visit more than one site on their stream. All CCPaSEC members are volunteers and in 2021, over 2,200 hours were devoted to monitoring water quality, recording data and seeing that CCPaSEC runs smoothly. A quality control team annually checks each team’s procedures and equipment to ensure that the data collected are as accurate as the equipment allows and is uniform across teams.
There are no paid positions in the organization and there are no dues. CCPaSEC volunteers take note of the water color and smell, measure stream depth and width, record the flow rate, and record the dissolved oxygen level, water temperature, and air temperature. They collect a sample of the water and then measure its pH, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate content, its conductivity, and alkalinity.
Some teams also measure salinity and total dissolved solids. Sampling is done every month except November, December, and January although in some years, a few hardy souls have made visits in those months when their stream had not frozen over.
As of January 2022, depending on the site, 5 to 20 years’ worth of monthly data on stream quality have been recorded by CCPaSEC teams. Each spring and fall at each site, macroinvertebrates populations are assessed. Based on the diversity and numbers of mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, sowbugs, riffle beetles, crayfish, snails and many other aquatic organisms recorded, a stream health rating is calculated. All this data are entered into a publicly available database (https://www.ccpasec.org/index.php/data).
These data constitute a baseline of information that can be used to detect significant problems that are then brought to the attention of the Centre County Conservation District Watershed Specialist and, if appropriate, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for action.
The value of the work done by CCPa-SEC volunteers has been recognized by many groups and individuals. Over the years, other partners in short- and longterm projects have been Trout Unlimited, the Penns Valley Conservation Association (PVCA), the Bald Eagle Watershed Association, and the Beech Creek Watershed Association.
CCPaSEC members contribute to public education about water quality and stream protection, partly through overlapping memberships on township watershed association boards, Trout Unlimited and other organizations but also at various events around the county.
CCPaSEC activities promote the health and wellbeing of the participating seniors by providing meaningful social interactions among the volunteers through healthy physical, outdoor activity while sampling water quality and working with others to see that this endeavor flourishes.
Anyone interested in learning more about the program is encouraged to contact one of the Membership Advisors Susan Robb (814) 482-0293 or (410) 507-0801.
