Into the Canyon - 1 - Friends of the Cheat

Into the CanyonNewsletter of Friends of the Cheat Winter 2008

In this issue

Rail-Trail Update .......................... 1Donors, Partners ........................... 2Working Upstream ....................... 3,4ECRR EPA Grant ......................... 4Morgan Run Project ..................... 5Playmates in the Watershed ......... 6New Cooling Tower, Albright ....... 7Electronic vs Print ........................ 7New Directors Enrich Board ....... 7Outdoor Classroom Update ......... 8Cheat Access Updates ................... 8FODC Education Efforts .............. 9Cheat River Festival ..................... 10Membership Form......................... 11Loss of Doug Ferris ...................... 12

This is a view of the Cheat River taken from the trestlethat crosses over the river at Preston. The trestle will beincluded as part of the rail-trail, allowing visitors tocross to the trail that is on the east side of the river fromPreston south to Rowlesburg.

First Major Funding for CSXCorridor Announced

In mid-January, it was announced that the 2008Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by Congressand signed into law by President Bush included$294,000 to Friends of the Cheat toward acquisition ofthe CSX rail corridor along the Cheat Narrows betweenRowlesburg and Rte. 7.

Congressman Alan Mollohan initially had ear-marked the funding as part of the 2008 Transporta-tion, Housing and Urban Development and RelatedAgencies Appropriations Bill. When Congress com-bined eleven different appropriations bills into theConsolidated Appropriations Act, he was able to main-tain the funding.

The Preston County Rail Trail Committee andFriends of the Cheat are elated with CongressmanMollohan’s efforts and look forward to leveragingthese funds into the larger target needed to acquirethe ten mile corridor from CSX Transportation, Inc.

Current communications between Friends of theCheat and Greer Industries may lead to a public / pri-vate partnership that acquires the railroad corridorand maintains public access to it. Friends of theCheat Director Keith Pitzer and Greer Industries’ JoeDean agree this would be a win-win situation for thecommunity.

The Congressional funding will flow throughWVDOT. Details and scheduling of the funds are notyet known. Friends of the Cheat is already workingwith WVDOT on Recreational Trail Grants for theKingwood to Tunnelton corridor.

The overall vision of the Preston Rail Trail Commit-tee is to develop the three abandoned rail corridors inthe area to connect with Kingwood and also the exist-ing Decker’s Creek Trail to Morgantown. This wouldserve several local communities with a trail and en-hance tourism and recreation in the area.

Negotiations are still in process with Kern ValleyRailroad concerning the Kingwood to Tunnelton corri-dor. The need for drainage work and repair only in-crease as the corridor is left unattended. People inPreston County are anxious to see a useful rail-trailin this area and we hope to see their support.

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 Directors Charlie Walbridge, Dave Bassage, Dave or Lena Cerbone, Dan or Janet Lenox, Tom Nutter,

Nathan Ober, Bob Spangler, Ralph Teter, Troy Titchenell

Business SponsorsAdventure’s Edge • Adventure Sports Center International • Aquafix • Arkley Forestlands • Backlund Paddles • Boofgear •

Cellular One • Cheat Canyon Campground • Cheat River Outfitters • Cool Runnings • Doppio Coffee • East/West Printing •Electro-Kote Company • Firefly Grill • Filtersource • Grateful Heads Helmets • Highland Prospects • Longhollow Pens • Mario’s

Fishbowl • WKMM • Mountain Streams and Trails • Mountain Surf • Parker Sales • Preston Distributors • PS Composites •Pyranha • Rigby and Bosley, LMT • Riversport School of Paddling • Rocky Mountain Kayak • George Simms Interiors • SONY •

Stonyboater Paddle Wax • T’s N More by Johnson • Video Veritas • Gail Anderson Vincent • Wagamuffin Pet Care • Wavesport• We’re Nuts • West Virginia Brewing Company • WFSP • Whitegrass Cafe • Whitewater Warehouse • Whitewater Video •

Wilderness Voyageurs • Chrissy Zeltner Massage Therapy

Major Donors with thanks to all of our members

Steven Barnett • Dave Bassage • Richard Brooks • Peter Bross • Peter Bernstein • Jonathon Burgess • Rence & BarbaraCallahan • Paul & Betty Connelly • Cliff Decker • Jack Ditty • Stephen Dorick • Strat Douglas • Christopher Earl • Robert Gedokah

• Ed Gertler • Ken Gfroerer • Jess Gonzales • Carlton Gutschick • Stephen Haid • Edward Hanrahan • John Harvey • EricHenrickson • Rick Herd • Ed Hughes • Stephen Ingalls • Frank Jernejcic • Jack Kangas • Pat Kingman • Chris Kirkman • JohnKobak • Blakely Lacroix • Greg Lee • Fred Lemke • Dan and Janet Lenox • Mary Lynn Mack • Harry Marinakis • Mike McCarty •Tom McCloud • Joanne McGrew • Don Millard • Constance Miller • Eloise Milne • Arch Moore • Alfred Murray • Ann and Wayne

Nelson • Larry Pethick • Howie Pentony • Dan & Denise Rabun • Jack Sanders • James Scott • David W. Smith • Peter F. Smith •Toddi Steelman • Keith Strausbaugh • John Sweet • Ann & Cecil Tickameyer • Mac Thornton • Barry Tuscano • Robert Uram •

Charlie Walbridge • Fred Wright • Vero and Anastasia Placentini Charitable Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation

OrganizationsAmerican Canoe Association • American Whitewater • Blue Ridge Voyageurs • Canoe Cruisers Association •

Cheat Lake Environmental and Recreation Association • Coastal Canoeists • Coopers Rock Foundation • Downstream Alliance •Friends of Deckers Creek • Friends of Laurel Mountain • Greater Baltimore Canoe Club • Harper’s Ferry Outdoor Festival •

Kayak and Canoe Club of NY • Keel Haulers Canoe Club • Monocacy Canoe Club • Philadelphia Canoe Club • 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 -monitoring, Drake Asberry - OSM/VISTA

Major Funding SupportersAlpha Associates • Allegheny Power • Bikes Belong • Canaan Valley Institute • Chesapeake Energy • George and Miriam Martin

Foundation • Morgantown Energy Associates • Nisource Environmental Challenge Fund • Norcross Wildlife Foundation • OaklandFoundation • 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

Fall became winter, or at least that’s what the cal-endar says. Some of the weather has been decidedlynot like winter. With ever more countries taking ac-tion on climate change, the question is finally becom-ing not if it is real, but rather, how quickly can theearth’s climate respond if we make real change inCO2 emissions? Although it has been too long sincethe last newsletter, I assure you readers, we atFriends of the Cheat have not been idle.

Putting this newsletter together has required morefalse starts than usual. In September, we were dev-astated to have Doug Ferris stricken with heart symp-toms that led to triple by-pass surgery. This in itselfwas very serious but Doug was beset by complica-tion after complication. After more than three monthsin the hospital Doug passed away on December 29th.The loss is profound, both professionally and as afriend.

Whether monitoring in the field or applying his sci-entific background to data assessment, Doug wassuperb. Always astute and in good humor, Dougdrove the water quality monitoring of the Cheat water-shed to a peerless level for the last year and a half.After getting to know Doug, that wasn’t surprising.

He first came to FOC as an OSM/VISTA. When hearrived with his resume’ in hand, I had to wonder whysomeone with his credentials wanted to serve a yearwith a small non-profit watershed group. He had aPhD in biology and had worked for nineteen years asa researcher at the National Cancer Institute. ButDoug was looking for new challenges that would gethim outdoors. His years in the lab were not without flyfishing, birding and canoeing and he wanted to becloser to where he could pursue these physical andmental outlets.

His work on our monitoring and mapping programwas soon noted. Before his year as an OSM/VISTAwas up, he was being asked by state and federalagencies to present at meetings and conferences ondatabase management. His scientific training com-bined with a common sense approach proved invalu-able. Whether in the office crunching data, or in thefield sampling streams and mine discharges, he wassharing a wealth of knowledge about a broad range of

topics, from song birds to literature. Everyone thatworked with him came to see him as a deep well ofhumanity.

In our hour of need, Jessica Zamias, previousOSM/VISTA whose term just ended last September,has come on board to help our current OSM/VISTADrake Asberry, with the monitoring and mapping pro-gram. She worked closely with Doug on the projectand so is very familiar with it. We welcome back herpositive energy and infectious smile.

To have a job that gets one out on streams and inthe woods, even if it’s usually on impaired streamsand looking for abandoned mine sites in the woods, isnot a bad job. I am fortunate. Combine that with sometime spent developing data and assessing a pictureof water quality that can be used in planning futurerestoration projects and you start to get an idea ofhow we spend a lot of our time. I have the assistanceof a steady stream of talented people who come towork with FOC for a year or more as OSM VISTAs. Iget to know these folks, gain insight on what makesthem tick and I am rewarded beyond measure by theexperience.

Throughout the year, we sampled many sites on aregular schedule, some less often and a few that wehad never sampled before. The new sites are alwayssomewhat intriguing. We wonder if we’ve found a sitethat wasn’t previously catalogued by the state, if it is asignificant source of acidity to the receiving stream,possibly something about it makes us wonder aboutthe history of the site.

Usually it looks much too much like other sites,bad water coming out of a collapsed portal, the sitesurrounded by acidic spoils and abandoned pieces ofmachinery. These are truly abandoned industrial sitesand they are a lesson in history. I only wish more ofus could read it.

In time it all gets mapped and added to the data-base. Analysis of the data leads to prioritization ofrestoration sites. This will become increasingly im-portant as we juggle existing funding with the newAML program funding and its priorities. Good informa-tion will always be a resource at the table with fundingagencies.

We’ve also worked hard on the invasive plantproject at the Cheat Festival site. Japanese Knot-weed has made a large incursion into the area along

continued on next page

Into the Canyon - 4 - Friends of the Cheat

The Eastern Coal Region Roundtable, an infor-mation clearinghouse and support network for CoalCountry watershed groups, is the proud recipient ofa four hundred thousand dollar grant that will supporttrainings for watershed groups throughout Appala-chia.

The Roundtable has been around for severalyears, surviving on a tight budget and staffed by Of-fice of Surface Mining VISTA volunteers. Fundinghas been provided through the grant to hire a fulltime executive director and for the first time in theorganization’s history, the ECRR is truly poised tofulfill its mission of serving, supporting and advocat-ing for grassroots watershed groups. The ECRRseeks to become the voice of Coal Country, speak-ing on behalf of the needs of the many hardworkingwatershed groups throughout the region.

The ECRR would like to formally and publicly an-nounce Adam Webster as our Executive Director.Mr. Webster is a native of WV who has long beeninterested and invested in advocating for issues inCoal Country. We are privileged to welcome him atthis most exciting and pivotal time in ourorganization’s growth.

By the end of the two year cycle, the Hope andHard Work trainings will have created over 50 prop-erly trained and fiscally sustainable watershedgroups. The trainings, two each year interspersedwith a hands on practicum period, will be regionallybased. One session will be held in Canaan Valley,WV for the Northern Coalfields and the other will beheld at the Breaks in VA for the Southern Coalfields.Two tracks will be offered at the trainings: waterquality monitoring and fiscal sustainability.

As a final wrap up, the ECRR plans to hold aRoundtable Summit that will bring together partici-pants, partners and policy makers. We will synthe-size the information garnered through the two yearprocess and deliver a State of the Region report,with the intention of elevating our regional issues toreceive national attention.

For more information about the trainings pleasecontact Sarah Walters at the ECRR office: 1-(304)-329-8049 or write to info@easterncoal.org.

the river and around the wetland there. After muchresearch and two grants written by Sally Wilts, wehave embarked on a control program. Once aware ofKnotweed, one sees it at many points alongstreambanks. Water is a common carrier of the plantand once established, it out-competes all other plantsas ground cover. As such, it destabilizes streambanks and lessens game cover and food sources. Inanother season or two, we will have a good ideaabout whether our control measures are successfuland could be extended to other areas. If so, we intendto survey upstream to determine the extent of Japa-nese Knotweed’s hold in the Cheat watershed and tobegin control measures there, working downstreamover time.

The festival site beckons us more and more withideas for usage beyond festival day in May. We arehappy to have a landscape architecture student, MaryLukini, working on a senior design project at the site.She has visited the site several times, taken stock ofexisting planning, and met with original owner EloiseMilne, who grew up there.

Eloise’s memories of the site are as a family farmin the 1930’s and this gives yet another perspective tothe land and its uses over time. Eloise is a great sup-porter of FOC and our Nature Learning Center projectat the Cheat Festival site.

Our efforts at Rails-to-Trails development in thewatershed are continuing. We are making progressin negotiations with the owner of the Kingwood toTunnelton corridor and the development of a private/public partnership for the CSX Cheat Narrows corri-dor continues.

Another spring will soon be here. We’ll continueto sample, to log data, to map sources of impairmenton the watershed. We’ll take this information to meet-ings, write grants and influence reclamation invest-ment in the Cheat watershed. With this and otherprojects, we envision a more vibrant Cheat river, alivein every sense of the word, with fisheries, wildlife andplant communities, and people, all coexisting in aquality of life not known in many generations’memory….maybe only in the river’s memory.

To this end, we’ll be working upstream.

Working Upstream continuedECRR RECEIVES EPA GRANT: HOPE AND HARD WORK TRAININGSby Sarah Walters, OSM/VISTA

Into the Canyon - 5 - Friends of the Cheat

Work was completed in August on the MorganRun/DeAntonis site project. Ray and JeanDeAntonis are the landowners that graciously co-operated and allowed access to build the projecton their property. The mine was called Lucky Jackand drains into the north fork of Morgan Run notfar south of Kingwood.

Monitoring the water quality from the mine be-gan in 2005. The site consisted of a collapsedmine portal discharging as much as 300 gallonsper minute of pH 2.7 water and electrical conduc-tivity as high as 2300. As one would expect withthis field chemistry, iron and aluminum concentra-tions were high. The mine portal is less than 100yards from Morgan Run, so space for constructionwas limited. The total area draining into this site isabout thirty acres and a small stream flows aboutten months of the year.

It was decided to utilize this fresh water as atreatment source, augmented by having it runthrough a steel slag bed. From this bed, waterflow is controlled by a vertical gate system andgravity flows to near the portal to mix with the minedischarge. The fresh water is now a high pH, ini-tially as high as pH 13. When this mixes with thepH 2.7 water from the mine, the iron precipitationis dramatic. A system of shallow collection poolsallows for metals to drop out before dischargingthrough a culvert and into a larger settling pond.From this pond, the water exits and runs down ashort channel to the stream.

At the time the construction was finished,there had not been significant rain in weeks andthere was no fresh water entering the steel slagbed. After recent rains, the bed is full and waterlevels have been adjusted. Initial visits since con-struction yielded field chemistry of pH 2.64 and anEC of 2600 coming from the portal. The end of thechannel at the stream, or system out, has fluctu-ated widely from pH 6.7 and EC 400 (high flow offresh water and hence alkaline treatment) and pH

3.5 and EC of 1600 ( low flow of fresh water enter-ing the slag bed and hence level of alkaline treat-ment). Chemical samples have been taken andwe are awaiting lab results. Managing alkalinegeneration with steel slag has been a topic of dis-cussion for some time. The material is highly alka-line but becomes hardened with calcite productionover time. With this project design, the slag is sub-merged under water which should not produce thehardening calcite as quickly as if exposed to air.These initial results are encouraging; achievingsignificant treatment in a small space with a pas-sive system.

The project was constructed by Charles E.Bolyard & Son, Inc. of Kingwood, WV. The projectdesign was graciously donated by Alpha and As-sociates, Morgantown, WV. The conceptual de-sign was by Water Research Institute, WVU. Theproject cost of $126, 601 was funded by Office ofSurface Mining’s Watershed Cooperative Agree-ment Program and by 319 funds through WVDEP/Non-Point Source Program.

Submerged Slag Adds Alkalinityto Morgan Run Project

by Keith Pitzer

The photograph above shows a settling pond at theMorgan Run Project. The Morgan mine portaldischarges into a mixing basin, where mine drainagemixes with high alkaline water and discharges into asettling pond. The high alkaline water is produced bycombining fresh water and steel slag. As the minewater mixes with the alkaline water the pHincreases, allowing the metals to precipitate out intothe settling pond. The water is piped to anothersettling pond allowing more reduction to occur. Thewater discharges into a limestone channel and intoMorgan Run.

Into the Canyon - 6 - Friends of the Cheat

The Cheat Has Playmates!by Jim Snyder, world-wide kayak adventurer

So there I was~ my kayak cutting through the

glass-flat mile-long pool above Seven Islands on theupper Cheat. It was a beautiful warm early summerday a couple years back. I could smell wood smokefrom the nearby camps and I could hear childrenlaughing and playing by the riverside. I had a fast boatand was moving along swift and silent- unnoticed. Then suddenly, near the end of the pool, some tinyfigures disturbed the surface- so I kinda veered thatway a bit to see what was up.

At a hundred feet away I could tell for sure it was acouple small river otters playing! I’ve been paddlingthe Cheat since 1969 and have never seen otters so Iwas pleasantly surprised. I came up on these guysso quick and quiet- they had no idea they were aboutto be visited. I got within five feet before I was no-ticed. They were like the size of a cat and were ap-parently playing some form of tag with eachother. Then~ BOOM!~ there I was among them. Oneerupted from the water and skittered backwards withalmost his entire body clear of the surface and hemade a hissing sound- facing me the whole time. Hewent about two feet that way and figured out I wasn’t athreat and went immediately back to playing with hisbuddy. I was so glad to see them. Otters eat fish andcrawdads and love clean rivers. The Cheat is a cleanriver with fish there and I love that.

River Otters used to live virtually everywhere onthis continent but errant beaver trapping and pollutioncut their numbers in West Virginia until there were onlya couple small enclaves in remote sections of thestate. Even with total protection provided by the statein 1925- they didn’t have breeding size populationsand were on their way out. Then, from 1984 to 1997the West Virginia DNR elected to re-introduce 245 ot-ters into 14 major rivers in the state. The otters hadbeen caught with soft-catch foot hold traps in Mary-land, Virginia, North Carolina, and Louisiana. Theywere transferred to holding facilities, given healthchecks and vaccinations and released back into thewild. Yeah- the DNR put fun back into the rivers.

Last summer I was playing on the Narrows sec-tion of the Cheat just below Rowlesburg. I was with agroup of friends from down south and we were doing

“Mystery Moves” at a certain magical spot named“Fascination Alley”. A Mystery Move is where you takea very small “squirt boat” and dive into whirlpools andride around underwater until your breath runs out (andthen presumably return to the surface). It’s an otter-like endeavor with a certain mystic appeal to somehumans.

We were sitting up on the shore at one point andsomeone said, “Hey look!”. Here comes a pair of GI-ANT otters floating on their backs. They get suckedaround in the whirlpools and casually just keep layingback like they were relaxing in the tub. These guyswere a lot bigger than adult beavers. They got a fewswirls in before they noticed us and then they eddiedup on our shore and stayed for a couple minutes get-ting a good long look at us. That was cool. We werelike...”Hey aren’t we part of the same tribe...?”

And we are somehow- some cosmic fun-lovingtribe. Fun is a global language and not specially spe-cific (is that a word?). And Fun’s ambassadors live inthis valley. Later that summer a sighting was reportedon the lower Cheat- above the Lake and another ottersighting was reported on the Big Sandy. This valley isre-assuming all the accouterments of a “wild” river.

So- what are the Otters trying to tell us? Theyare saying there is hope for a full rehabilitation of theCheat. Otters in the Cheat Canyon might be morethan just a dream.

The Canyon has been stained with ambition, need,and greed- but the fun is still there. And now the qual-ity is coming back. We are out, out, outing the damnstain! The entire Cheat River as one long clean play-ground.... sounds awesome! We really have aunique and valuable resource here. The otters sayso!

Into the Canyon - 7 - Friends of the Cheat

Allegheny Energy’s Albright Power Station wasconstructed in the early 1950’s. The original, once-through cooling system cooling tower was designedas a “helper” tower to be employed at times of lowriver flow. In 1976, due to the Cheat River’s long his-tory of impaired water quality due to acid mine drain-age, Albright Power Station was granted a Clean Wa-ter Act variance with heat rejection limitations.

As conditions in the Cheat River have im-proved, WVDEP decided that the thermal variancewas outdated. Additionally, EPA issued new rulesabout cooling water intake in 2004. The best optionfor achieving compliance with both mandates wasdetermined to be conversion to a closed-loop coolingsystem including the installation of a new high-effi-ciency cooling tower.

The concentrations of AMD metals in theAlbright Power Station’s discharge are typically lowerthan the levels of these pollutants in the river itself,but the NPDES permit issued by WVDEP in June2006 imposed much lower limitations for these met-als. Therefore, plans for the water treatment facilityfor the closed loop system were expanded to includetreatment of all of the station’s process water also.

The maximum existing water discharge to theriver with full load operation has been about 248 mil-lion gallons per day. Once the new systems are inoperation by October 31st of this year, the averageexpected treated water discharge will be about 0.75million gallons per day at very close to ambient tem-perature.

New Closed Loop CoolingSystems at Albright Power Station

FOC Board of DirectorsEnriched by New Members

Two new board members joined Friends of theCheat this fall. Bob Spangler lives on a farm be-tween the Elk Run and Beaver Creek tribs of LittleSandy Creek in Bruceton Mills, WV. He teachesPhysics, Astronomy, and the occasional musicclass at Bethany College and also teachesPhysics occasionally at WVU. AtBethany College, Bob advises the Outdoors Cluband works with the Environmental Science Club.

Dr. Spangler’s interest in helping FOC islargely motivated by his love of rivers, in which helikes to kayak and to refine his well-practicedswimming techniques. It also satisfies an innatedesire to help.

In his free time, Bob likes to play music (usu-ally with The Halftime String Band), kayak, hike,ski, and root around on his farm wherehe plays with semi-homegrown beer, cider, wine,and mead production.

Nathan Ober works for Hatch MottMcDonald, an engineering firm. “My passion forthe Cheat River Watershed was first born duringraft guide training in 1998 with Mountain Streamsand Trails. I have lived near the watershed whilepursuing academic studies, employment and rec-reation opportunities for the past 10 years.

While studying geology at West Virginia Uni-versity I found myself involved in field trips to theCheat River Canyon and many of the tributariesfeeding the canyon. As a river enthusiast I haveenjoyed the opportunity to find serenity by raftingand kayaking the many rapids that make up thewatershed from as far south as Blackwater Fallsto the northern reaches such as Big Sandy Creek.

On October 15, 2005 I married my wife Leslieat one of our favorite spots, Coopers Rock StateForest, overlooking the Cheat River. I still visit theCheat Watershed frequently with my family andfriends to enjoy the beauty and excitement it holds.

As a board member for the Friends of theCheat my mission is to apply my knowledge andexperience of geology and stream restoration topreserve and restore the beauty of the watershed.”

Choice of Electronic vs. Mailed,Printed Copy of our newsletter

Friends of the Cheat would like to know if youwould prefer not to receive a print copy of thenewsletter. Instead, we will send you an email tolet you know that the latest newsletter is postedon our website.

Many organizations are increasing their reli-ance on electronic media to cut down on theiruse of resources and to save money. If youwould like to switch to electronic notification, letSally Wilts know at swilts@cheat.org.

Into the Canyon - 8 - Friends of the Cheat

Cheat Access Updatesby Charlie Walbridge, FOC Board Chair

For the third year in a row West Virginia Universitystudents joined forces with Friends of Cheat to main-tain vital river access points. On September 27th, 12students and several staff from Greg Corio’s Adven-ture West Virginia program spent three hours im-proving the boat launch area at the FOC river accessin Albright. The spot, at the confluence of the CheatRiver and Muddy Creek, is used by kayakers andcanoeists who run Cheat Canyon. Low water andwarm air temperatures made the job easier.

The group used the method that Dustin and ScottStough used to repair shore side erosion at the SangRun access on Maryland’s Upper YoughioghenyRiver. The entire muddy launch area was coveredwith big flat rocks; these are in excellent supply in thenearby river. When the water rises, silt fills the gapsbetween the rocks and creates a natural-looking, buttough launch area. This procedure can be repeatedseveral times if necessary to restore the shoreline.

Then the group waded into the shallow CheatRiver to remove some rocks that block easy accessto the main river flow at low levels. This area hasbeen shallow since the 1985 flood pushed bouldersbetween the shore and the main current. We hopethat this will make it easier for paddlers to begin theirtrip but we’ll have to wait and see what effect the win-ter high water will have.

The day ended with a discussion of acid minedrainage and thermal pollution, two problems vividlydemonstrated here, at the confluence of the CheatRiver and Muddy Creek. We also discussed the min-ing heritage of Preston County, the T&T mine blow-out, the founding of Friends of Cheat, and our ongo-ing efforts to repair the damage from a century ofmining.

Two weeks later, twelve more community servicestudents from Adventure West Virginia put in a hardthree hours work at the Jenkinsburg Access. Thisspot, at the junction of the Cheat and Big Sandy Riv-ers, is an important paddling access point that getsused heavily by college students and local residents.

The group spread out and scoured the woods fortrash. The resulting 25 bags of garbage overflowedthe bed of a pickup. Afterwards, we stood on the HighBridge and discussed the logging heritage of the

area, the challenge presented by acid mine drainage,and the work of Friends of Cheat. These areas lookreally good now, thanks to the folks from WVU.

At Rockville, FOC was contacted by AlleghenyWood Products (AWP) in early fall about crossingland donated by Chesapeake Energy just monthsbefore. AWP owns the railroad grade downstream onriver right and ninety acres in the area of WonderFalls and Big Splat. Many folks have used this railgrade as a trail and 4-wheel drive route for years.

For those that haven’t ventured downstream,Wonder Falls is a wonderful scenic spot. No wonderit attracts the usage it does. In return for cooperatingwith AWP on access to haul timber out, FOC is re-ceiving another strip of land adjoining the Chesa-peake Energy donated land. This new acquisition willmake an easy put-in available river right upstream ofthe bridge. In addition, AWP and FOC will attempt torestrict motorized access over steep areas anddown river to Wonder Falls, but pedestrian accesswill be allowed.

This new development held up our work on puttingin a parking area last year, but the new put-in accesswill be better and more parking space can be madewith this arrangement. We hope to get this workdone this spring so that boaters and hikers can enjoythe improvements. Chesapeake Energy’s generosityand AWP’s willingness to work for a win-win situationwill provide improved public access to the Big Sandyfor years to come.

Outdoor Classroom Updateby Drake Asberry, OSM/VISTA

The Outdoor Classroom is steadily moving for-ward. We have raised about half of the funds that weestimate we will need to construct the pavilion on thefestival site. We are working with Mary Luckini, a se-nior in Landscape Architecture at WVU, who is de-signing some potential uses for the site. Her designconcept is utilizing the 12 acre site for many usesincluding the pavilion, nature trail and boating access.

Kevan Damm, experienced in post and beam con-struction, has given us some photos of his work andbrought some new ideas to the table for the design ofthe pavilion. The vision for the Outdoor Classroom isto educate people that visit the site about the historyof the area, the damage done with past coal miningand the work that continues to restore the area.

Into the Canyon - 9 - Friends of the Cheat

Friends of Deckers Creek & FOCTeam Up for Young Friends ofWatersheds Program in PrestonCountyBy Amanda Lachowski, FODC Education ProgramCoordinator

Greetings from the Deckers Creek watershed,neighbor to the Cheat! Friends of Deckers Creek(FODC) is happy to announce the expansion of itswatershed education initiative to include sites inPreston County. This is made possible with fund-ing from Project FLOW (future leaders of water-sheds) through the Commission for National andCommunity Service. Through this partnershipFODC staff will educate youth about pollutionproblems that both the Cheat and Deckers Creekwatersheds share. We are grateful to FOC forproviding their expertise, support, and equipmentas we develop classroom curricula, schedulesampling trips, and help youth develop meaningfulservice projects that connect healthy watershedsto healthy communities.

FODC has already begun working with its firstgroup of Preston County youth, the Preston HighHealth Science and Technology Academy (HSTA).This group of forty-four students is led by PrestonHigh science cornerstone, Bill Barlow. Each yearHSTA student groups develop research projectswhich they present at their annual symposium.HSTA students that meet club requirements re-ceive a tuition waiver to a WV state school upongraduation.

So far, HSTA students have learned what a wa-tershed is, what watershed they live in, and themajor pollutants that undermine local watershedhealth. Student groups have chosen to investigateone or two specific water quality parameters at avariety of sites and seek to become “experts” intheir field. Preston High HSTA will showcase theirfindings at Braxton High School in Flatwoods, WVon Saturday, April 19th. It is FODC’s hope that thispartnership will foster a sustainable watershededucation component for future HSTA groups andother Preston High students.

FODC and FOC are also working withRowlesburg teacher, AngE Williams, to develop aweeklong watershed feature for her eighth gradescience class. Williams will work closely withFODC staff to select materials and schedule atleast one sampling trip outside of class, allowingthese students the opportunity to test their creeklegs this spring.

The largest group that is included in this initia-tive is the Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy(MCA) at Camp Dawson. Approximately 100 at-risk youth from all over WV enroll in the MCA pro-gram each session. FODC staff will teach five,one-hour classes on watershed health this spring.Cadets’ service to community will also be environ-mentally focused including water sampling,benthic studies, trash cleanups, invasive eradica-tion, and special projects from Camp Dawson’sDivision of Natural Resources such as migratorybird box building.

FODC has also fostered the developmentof a Youth Advisory Board to increase youth voiceand participation within the organization. This coregroup of dedicated youth supports the mission ofFODC and wants to help in their own way, throughyouth-led activities and research. The Youth Advi-sory Board, or YAB as they like to be called,hopes to recruit more young people through theaforementioned partnerships, and extends itsmembership invitation to any Cheat Watershedyouth. For more information on YAB, contactYouth@DeckersCreek.org.

Into the Canyon - 10 - Friends of the Cheat

Cheat River Festival May 3rd -Mark Your Calendars!

Planning for this year’s Cheat River Festivalhas already begun. A group of dedicated volun-teers met in January and discussed changes forthis year’s event. May 3rd seems like a distantdream on cold wintry days, but letters to vendorshave already gone out and nonprofits and artistswill be contacted soon.

At the suggestion of Janet Lenox, we decidedto dedicate this year’s festival to Doug Ferris.The back page of the newsletter has more infor-mation about his recent death.

The Cheat Downriver Race is Friday May 2;go to www.cheatriverrace.com. The Cheatfest5K,which benefits Preston Rail-Trails, will start at10 am the morning of the festival and will be heldat Preston Country Club again. Our website willhave registration forms and information about therace.

Janet initiated a T-shirt design contest lastyear and has changed the criteria somewhat thisyear (see below). She is also starting a CheatWatershed drawing contest for students.

2008 Cheat River Watershed Drawing Contest

As a way of educating and creating aware-ness of our Cheat River Watershed, we invite stu-dents in grades K-12 to submit a drawing thatportrays the mission statement of the Friendsof the Cheat, “To restore, preserve, and pro-mote the outstanding qualities of the CheatRiver Watershed”. These entries should reflectthe beauty, the inhabitants, the benefits, or theproblems that can affect the aquatic life in the wa-tershed. All Drawings must be received at theFriends of the Cheat office by 12pm March7th, 2008. Send in your name, address, phonenumber and email address (if applicable) with allsubmissions. There will be one winner from eachof the following 4 age categories: K-2nd, 3rd-6th,

7th-9th, and 10th-12th. Winners will receive twopasses to the 2008 Cheat River Festival , plus aClay Art by Gail watershed token. All entries willbe displayed in the Friends of the Cheat booth atthe 2008 Cheat River Festival. For additional in-formation visit our website at www.cheat.org orcall (304) 329-3621

Second Annual T-shirt Design Contest

This contest is open to all that have graphicdesign or photography skills that can create adesign or image that best represents the missionstatement of the Friends of the Cheat (see draw-ing contest). Other judging criteria would includethe quality of the entry for screen printing, creativ-ity, and artistic merit.

Only digital artwork or good quality photos willbe accepted for this contest. Non vectored multi-colored art should be a high resolution (300 dpior greater) tiff, psd, or jpg provided at 100% ofthe desired final print size. The file format ofchoice would be Adobe Photoshop or a genericeps file for vectored art. A printed copy of yourdesign will be required for judging. Artworkshould not exceed 15”x 18”. Trademarked orcopyrighted images or logos of any kind will notbe accepted.

One winner will be chosen, but the judgingcommittee reserves the right not to use the de-sign or photo for the t-shirt. All entries will be dis-played in the Friends of the Cheat booth at the2008 Cheat River Festival. The winner will re-ceive a free one year membership to the Friendsof the Cheat, two Passes to the 2008 CheatRiver Festival, plus a Cheat River Festival t-shirt,along with recognition for the best graphic designor photo entered. All entries must be receivedby 12pm March 7th, 2008. Please submit yourname, address, phone number, and email ad-dress (if applicable) with all entries. For addi-tional information visit our website atwww.cheat.org or call (304) 329-3621

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 Penn-

sylvania state line. In its lower 20 miles the river has been so severely polluted by acid mine drainage that it iseffectively dead. Most of this damage is caused by underground and surface coal mines that were aban-doned decades ago. The continuing legacy of this pollution has been the loss of fish and wildlife, aestheticdamage, degraded drinking water, and losses to the local economy from diminished recreation activitiessuch as fishing and boating.

Our objective is to foster cooperative efforts by federal and state agencies, private industry, and locallandowners to address the severe acid mine drainage problems that paint the Cheat Canyon orange andrender it ecologically sterile. We need your support to create a new legacy for the Cheat River. Our member-ship includes fishermen, paddlers, guides and outfitters; land owners and renters; politicians and activists;geologists and biologists; small businesses and large industries; residents and folks from many states away.We are a diverse group with a common goal. Ours is a vision of a healthy river that provides multiple recre-ational opportunities and sustains viable local economies. Help us make that vision a reality. Remember...Rivers carry the lifeblood of the planet... but theyshould not run red. Restore water quality on the Cheat! Consider making a planned gift to Friends of the Cheat in your estate planning. Making us a beneficiary ofa retirement plan, insurance policy or as a bequest can provide you or someone you designate withfavorable financial or tax benefits. 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 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 video Catalyst for Change___ Business $100 ___ Watershed Watch $250 or more includes Tshirt & 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. Khaki, dark green, tan $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 ____________________________________________________________

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 35

BRUCETON MILLS,WV

26525

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

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

Loss of Doug Ferris

Friends of the Cheat mourns the death ofDoug Ferris on December 29, due to complica-tions of surgery.

Doug joined us in February 2006 as an OSMVISTA. An ardent fly fisherman and conserva-tionist, he had retired from an illustrious careerin cancer research. He was an incredibly ac-complished individual. As well as his PhD in biol-ogy, he had a very wide range of interests andpassions. He was an inspiring teacher with ex-cellent presentation skills.

His strong scientific background allowed himto quickly understand the chemistry of acidmine drainage. Soon he had reorganized ourdatabase and taught all of us the importance ofrigorously checking our data for accuracy. Ashis comprehension of all of the compiled waterquality information about our watershed grew,he advised us that project designs needed tobe altered to adjust to the increased under-standing of the hydrology of the area.

His contribution to our work was tremendous,and he will never be replaced. Our hearts goout to his most courageous widow, MelanieNichols, sister Martha Ferris, and his daughtersDiana and Carla.