Traversing almost the entire length of the Penn State Harrisburg campus is the daylighted section of an ephemeral stream. This stream provides at least partial support to various wildlife, including several woodchucks, geese, deer, fox, small fish, crayfish, and tadpoles/frogs.
It starts with spring located upstream of Penn State Harrisburg, but it is primarily a stormwater-runoff dominated stream. Other primary sources of water are dry-weather flow from upstream users.
Walking the stream highlights the problems that resulted from increasing the flow in the stream, such as bank instability and increased erosion. Maintenance near the stream used to include mowing up to the edge and putting the grass clippings in the stream, which blocked light penetration. Currently, the stream and a few feet of adjacent floodplain are in the campus’ low-maintenance/low-mow zones. However, changes upstream of the campus have resulted in increased flows and substantial incision.
The detention pond near the stream (used to reduce peak flows entering the stream at its midpoint on campus) has recently undergone a large renovation to accommodate future growth on the campus.
The stream has and continues to provide many opportunities for education of Penn State Harrisburg students in environmental engineering, biology, and ecology.
Research:
Baseline Characterization of an Urban Stream on the PSH Campus
Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling of the Storm Sewer System on the Penn State Harrisburg Campus
Looking Upstream and into the Watershed for the Big Picture of Stream Health (EWRI Conference Presentation)
Teaching:
Use of GIS to Evaluate Riparian Buffers on a Campus Stream
Open-Channel Hydraulics (CE 462): Modeling in HEC-RAS of the Campus Stream
Physical Geology (GEOSC 1): Characterization of the Stream and Riparian Buffers
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