July 5, 20000
Commissioner Thomas Pizano, Chairman
Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority
Luzerne County Courthouse
200 North River Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
Dear Commissioner Pizano:
I would like to submit this letter to be included in the official record of comments on the proposed Wilkes-Barre inflatable dam as an addendum to the Greater Wyoming Valley Audubon Society's comments on the Wyoming Valley Inflatable Dam Feasibility Study.
At the June 29, 2000 public meeting, Commissioner Steven Urban suggested that the $14 million that have been earmarked for construction of an inflatable dam might be reallocated to other forms of mitigation for the levee raising project. The Officers and Directors of the Greater Wyoming Valley Audubon Society would like to offer an additional suggestion as an alternative to the inflatable dam.
If the funding that has been set aside for an inflatable dam can, in fact, be used for other forms of mitigation, then we recommend that you consider using the money to build an environmental education center near the Susquehanna River. The center could be patterned after the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, near Jim Thorpe, PA, possibly with more of a river theme. In this way, instead of using the mitigation money to construct recreational facilities, the money could be better used to construct educational facilities, and to provide programs that would educate visitors about large rivers and related topics. Such a center could be the focus of research by local college students, while students in local elementary and high schools could visit to learn about river ecology and other environmental subjects.
An environmental education center would likely enjoy a great deal of support from the community, as well as from schools and organizations. For example, partnerships could be formed between such groups as Wilkes-Barre's Riverfront Parks Committee, the Susquehanna Warrior Trail group, and the GWVAS. The center would complement the Riverfront Parks Committee's efforts to display, in an ecologically responsible manner, the Susquehanna River and its natural environs. If possible, the center could be located to serve as a feature of the Susquehanna Warrior Trail, and to serve as the impetus to extend that trail to points upstream from the trail's currently-proposed northern terminus in Plymouth. Local environmental groups could use the facility to present educational programs relating to environmental topics.
Partnerships could also be established with the local colleges. Students from Wilkes University, Kings College, Luzerne County Community College, and College Misericordia could use the center's laboratory facilities to conduct research as part of their academic programs, and they could present the results of their research to the community in the environmental education center's meeting area/auditorium. Since an environmental education center could be built regardless of the condition of the Susquehanna River's water quality, monitoring programs could be established to document the improvements to water quality as efforts proceed to remove sources of pollution.
Along with those mentioned above, other possible partners in an environmental education center could include the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Commission, and PPL, with its Susquehanna Riverlands and Wetlands Nature Area facilities, and its Ecology III environmental laboratory. In addition, an environmental education center could help to attract environmental technology companies that wish to relocate or expand their operations. Attracting such companies would boost enrollments in local colleges, whose environmental science and biology graduates could find employment in Luzerne County. With corporate and community support, and with the support of local institutions of higher learning and local environmental organizations, an environmental education center that conducts state-of-the-art research could become the model after which similar facilities in other communities are patterned.
If you would like to discuss this idea, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you for considering our suggestions.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Wasilewski
Vice President, GWVAS
c.c. Commissioner Makowski
Commissioner Urban