About our watershed

A watershed is a basin-like landform, defined by the surrounding topography, dividing areas that are drained by different river systems. A watershed encompasses the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it from the land goes into a particular body of water. The water travels through the soil, groundwater, and streams, creating a combined water system. These areas are also sometimes referred to as basins.

Click on the illustration below to learn more about what a watershed is; how watersheds are formed; how natural systems handle water; and how our society impacts water quality.

The sections below are taken from Chapter 2 of the Juniata Watershed Management Plan.

Physical Setting of the Juniata Watershed

The Juniata River watershed is located in south-central Pennsylvania, encompassing 3,400 square miles and all or parts of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder and Somerset counties. The watershed is bordered by the West Branch of the Susquehanna on the north, the Susquehanna River on the east, the Potomac River to the south and the Ohio River to the west. Map II-1 shows the location of the Juniata watershed in reference to the location of these larger basins.

The main stem of the Juniata River forms at the confluence of two major tributaries: the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata and the Little Juniata. The Raystown Branch, the third major tributary to the Juniata River, joins the main stem a few miles downstream of its origins. All three major tributaries originate on the eastern slope of the Allegheny Front, a major ridgeline that divides waters traveling eastward into the Chesapeake Bay from waters traveling westward into the Gulf of Mexico. The Raystown Branch is the largest tributary of the Juniata River at 120 miles long and drains 964 square miles of rough mountainous country. The Frankstown branch is 45 miles long and drains 396 square miles. The Little Juniata is 32 miles long and drains 342 square miles. The main stem of the Juniata River is over 100 miles long and empties into the Susquehanna River near Duncannon, Pennsylvania. Other major tributaries include Aughwick Creek, Kishacoquillas Creek, Standing Stone Creek, and Tuscarora Creek. Map II-2 shows the Juniata watershed and outlines the seven major subbasins that comprise it. There are also over 400 named streams that make up the river basin drainage area, for a total of 6,560 total stream miles (DEP, 1989; ERRI, 1998).

The Juniata watershed encompasses 12 counties, with a majority of the watershed lying within Bedford, Blair, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, and Perry counties. All together, there are 200 municipal political subdivisions. (USACOE, 1995a). Please see Municipal Support for a list of municipalities supporting this planning initiative.

Socio-Economic Setting-History

The first human inhabitants in the Juniata watershed arrived approximately 11,000 years ago. These Paleo-Indians were hunter-gatherers, living in small bands. The Paleo-Indians living in present-day Pennsylvania were probably indistinguishable from other bands found throughout North America.

From about 8000 BC to 1000 BC, as the glacial period ended and arctic conditions moved further north, a new culture developed, known as the Archaic. These people were also band-organized hunter-gatherers who occupied small watersheds as their primary territories. The 25 to 50 members of a band would generally reside in their territory for their whole lives. This less mobile lifestyle was made possible by a more robust and abundant ecology. As with the Paleo-Indians, Archaic groups in Pennsylvania used similar stone tools (axes, pestles, knives, scrapers, spear points) as other groups throughout the eastern U.S.

The next period, the Transitional, is notable more by the technological changes that were occurring than by a particular period of time. Transitional people made broad spear points that are markedly different from Archaic period spear points. It is with Transitional groups that permanent cooking vessels are first found in the archaeological record. Also, Transitional sites are found more frequently along major rivers. Even with these distinctions, Transitional people were still very similar to Archaic people.

Around 1000 BC, the Woodland period began. It was during this time period that pottery cooking vessels were first made and tobacco smoking began. Primitive horticulture began during the Early Woodland period in the Ohio Valley and settlements grew gradually larger. From about 200 BC to 1000 AD, the Middle Woodland culture existed, characterized by differences in pottery and projectile points. In the Ohio Valley, the Hopewell peoples, or great mound builders, replaced the Adena, and were in turn replaced by the Mississippian culture. These great chiefdom societies had some influence on Pennsylvania Indians, but this influence grew less important as one traveled east.

By the Late Woodland period, tribes in Pennsylvania began to differentiate into noticeably different groups. Agriculture of corn, beans, and squash was well established, and the bow and arrow was newly used to hunt game. Increasing population led to an increase in warfare. From 1000 to 1300 AD, the Clemsons Island people resided on the floodplains and islands of the Juniata and middle Susquehanna valleys. This culture was the only one in eastern Pennsylvania to build burial mounds, one of which remains near Academia, Juniata County. After 1300 AD, various groups may have inhabited the Juniata watershed at various times. The Shenks Ferry people were found mostly throughout the lower Susquehanna, but Shenks Ferry artifacts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have been found all the way to the headwaters of the Juniata. The Susquehannocks, who overran the Shenks Ferry people by 1600 AD, migrated south from New York, likely moving through the Juniata watershed.

The Susquehannock were the most prosperous tribe in central Pennsylvania during the early colonial period, with settlements of up to 3000 people. They were culturally similar to the Iroquois of New York, yet their territory was eventually wrested from the Susquehannock by the Iroquois. The conflicts between the two groups were at least in part over control of the European fur trade. By 1675, most Indian tribes were utterly dependent on European goods, and their cultures were being degraded by European diseases, alcohol, land grabbing, and inter-tribal conflicts (Kent, 1994).

In the early 1700s, displaced tribes from other parts of the mid-Atlantic region, including the Delaware, Shawnee, and Tuscarora, moved to the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys at the invitation of the Iroquois confederacy. By this time, most Indian cultures were disintegrating, leading to the kinds of raids and other violent confrontations that occurred with unfortunate frequency between Indians and European settlers. By the time of the Albany Purchase in 1754, when most of western Pennsylvania was purchased from the Iroquois by the colonial government, only a few scattered Indian villages remained in the Juniata region, including present-day Lewistown.

The Juniata watershed first started to become populated by European immigrants after the purchase of the region from the Iroquois League of Six Nations and the ensuing conflict of the French and Indian Wars in the 1750s and ‘60s. Before European settlement, Native Americans used the river and a land trail known as the Juniata Path as a travel corridor to the Allegheny Mountains (Stroup, 1957). In the 1700s fur traders, explorers, and missionaries began using the well-worn trails established by the Native Americans. The first settlers were largely Scotch-Irish people who immigrated for religious reasons. They were followed by a large influx of Germans. Generally, industry and settlement remained sparse due to the isolation of the area until 1771, when the Pennsylvania Assembly declared the Juniata River a public stream and highway for navigational purposes. The Juniata River valley became a major turnpike route between the east and the west by the early 1800s. Agricultural settlements began to spring up, usually near convergences of trails or tributaries. The areas became noted for its production of grasses and grains due to the rich lime soils. Woolen mills, gristmills, flourmills, and breweries started to become the dominant industries.

The Juniata division of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal was formally opened in November 1832, following the Juniata River from its mouth at the Susquehanna River upstream to Hollidaysburg. In 1834, the Allegheny Portage Railroad was completed, linking the canal’s Juniata and Western divisions and allowing travel all the way from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia (Fritz and Clemensen, 1992). Transportation of goods between the major markets in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was now much easier. Iron production flourished, and population increased tremendously. For example, in Hollidaysburg, the western-most town on the Juniata division of the canal, population rose from 72 in 1831 to 3,000 in 1840 (USACOE, 1995a).

In 1854, only 20 years after the completion of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad completed its line across Pennsylvania. Three years later, the Pennsylvania legislature sold the canal to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The railroad’s owners immediately abandoned the Portage railroad, severing the Juniata division’s connection to points west of the Allegheny Ridge. Over the next 40 years, the railroad succeeded the canal as the primary form of trade and transportation. Segments gradually closed down so that by 1876, all of the Juniata division west of Huntingdon had been closed. In 1899, the final portion of the Juniata division was abandoned (Fritz and Clemensen, 1992).

The Pennsylvania Railroad actually made inroads to the Juniata watershed in 1849, opening a line from Harrisburg to Lewistown that was soon extended to McVeytown (Baer, 2000). Following the railroad’s development, communities continued to grow. Iron production began to decline in the 1870s, while coal mining, limestone quarrying and sand quarrying increased. The production of silica bricks became the dominant industry into the early 1900s. Since the early 1900s through the present day, the Juniata River basin has seen an alternation between periods of prosperity and depression.

Population and Employment

The population of the Juniata River basin is estimated to be approximately 317,000.[1] The most populated city in the watershed is Altoona, Blair County, with more than 15 percent of the total basin population. Blair County itself contains nearly 45 percent of the total basin population. There has been only a slight increase in basin population over the past forty years, averaging about one-quarter of one percent annual growth. According to the PA State Data Center, Perry County is the third most rapidly growing county in the state according to population projections for 1990-2000. Perry County is projected to be the sixth most rapidly growing county in 2000-2010 by increasing another 10 percent (Pennsylvania State Data Center, 2000). This is most likely due to improved infrastructure between Perry County and Harrisburg. Bedford, Fulton, Huntingdon, and Juniata Counties are also projected to see a slight increase in population. The two remaining counties, Blair and Mifflin, are projected to see a decline in population. Currently, the top five most densely populated areas (population per square mile) are Mifflintown Borough, Newport Borough, the City of Altoona, Bellwood Borough, and Orbisonia Borough. Table II-1 lists the population in the watershed by county, along with projections of future change. Map II-3 displays the population ranges of townships and boroughs within the watershed.

In 1999, the average unemployment rate in Pennsylvania was 4.4 percent, down from a decade-high 7.6 percent in 1992. Counties within the Juniata watershed generally experience a higher rate of unemployment. Huntingdon County has the highest rate at about 8.5 percent. Perry and Fulton counties have the lowest rates at 3.8 and 4.2 percent respectively (PA Department of Labor and Industry, 2000). In 1998, average per capita income across the seven counties was approximately $20,240, considerably lower than the Pennsylvania average of $27,470. Table II-2 lists the 1998 per capita income figures and 1999 unemployment rates for the seven major watershed counties.

Major industries in the area include Seton Leather in Bedford County, the Altoona Hospital in Blair County, JLG industries in Fulton County, Standard Steel in Mifflin County, and Empire Kosher in Juniata County. Each of these businesses employs over 1,000 people (PA Department of Labor and Industry, 2000)

[1] The overall population of the watershed was estimated by summing all municipal populations. Municipalities with area outside of the watershed had their populations adjusted. First, the proportion of municipal area within the watershed to total municipal area was calculated. This percentage was then multiplied by the total municipal population to derive an adjusted watershed population for that municipality. This process led to the figures in the “Percent of County Population in Watershed (estimated)” column in Table II-1, which was then used to adjust the county population projections.

TABLE II-1 Watershed Population and Projected Growth
County	1980 Census Population in Watershed	1990 Census Population in Watershed	1998 Estimated Population in Watershed	2000 Projected Population in Watershed	2010 Projected Population in Watershed	Percent of County Population in Watershed (estimated)
Bedford	39,907	40,939	42,264	42,822	44,687	85.4
Blair	136,241	130,193	130,258	128,179	126,503	99.7
Fulton	3,245	3,385	3,542	3,682	3,903	24.4
Huntingdon	42,253	44,164	44,599	46,876	48,299	100
Juniata	17,499	18,664	19,955	18,844	18,968	90.3
Mifflin	46,165	45,454	46,180	45,568	44,903	98.3
Perry	11,349	12,912	13,801	14,918	16,416	31.1
Cambria	933	918	955	911	849	0.6
Centre	8,649	10,772	13,626	14,184	15,148	10.3
Franklin	711	813	867	901	921	0.7
Snyder	491	564	582	627	693	1.5
Somerset	539	532	542	535	512	0.7
Total	307,982	309,310	317,171	318,046	321,804

TABLE II-2 Income and Unemployment
County	Per Capita Income 1998	Unemployment Rate 1999 Annual Average
Bedford	$ 18,657	6.0 %
Blair	$ 22,216	4.5 %
Fulton	$ 19,830	4.2 %
Huntingdon	$ 17,491	8.5 %
Juniata	$ 19,140	5.9 %
Mifflin	$ 18,761	6.7 %
Perry	$ 21,163	3.8 %
Watershed Average	$ 20,236	5.5 %
Pennsylvania Average	$ 27,469	4.4 %

Topography/Geology

The Juniata River basin lies within the Appalachian Ridge and Valley physiographic province. This region is comprised of alternating ridges and valleys generally oriented in a northeast to southwest direction. The western boundary of the watershed (its headwaters) is the Allegheny Front, which separates rivers that flow eastward towards the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay from the rivers that flow westward towards the Ohio River and eventually the Mississippi (USACOE, 1995a).

Most of the rock found in the basin is sedimentary siliclastic and carbonate rock of alternating layers of sandstone, shale, and limestone. These formations range from Ordovician through Pennsylvanian time periods (500 million years ago to 290 million years ago). A study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that, in the Ridge and Valley province, 87 percent of the underlying bedrock consists of siliclastic rocks (sandstone, shale, and coal-bearing rocks) and 13 percent consists of carbonate rocks (limestone) (Risser and Siwiec, 1996).

There are two broad groups of soils generally found in the Juniata River basin. The first can be associated with non-carbonate sedimentary rocks as a parent material, and the second can be associated with parent materials of carbonate sedimentary rocks. The dominant soil associations in the watershed include the following: the Hazleton-Laidig-Buchanan Association, the Berks-Weikert Association, the Hagerstown-Hublersburg Association, and the Calvin-Klinesville-Leck Kill Association (USACOE, 1995a). Map III-1 shows the major soil associations in the watershed.

Mineral resources in the basin are somewhat abundant. There is one major area of coal in the watershed, located in the Broad Top region, where Bedford, Fulton and Huntingdon Counties adjoin. All of the streams that flow off the Broad Top Plateau eventually empty into the Raystown Branch of the Juniata. Coal in the Broad Top region is a semi-bituminous coal formed around 286 to 320 million years ago during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Periods. Three seams of the Pennsylvanian age have been mined extensively: the Fulton, Barnett, and Kelly seams. The Fulton is the deepest, with varying depths due to extensive folds and faulting in the region. All three of these seams are located in the Allegheny Formation (Groenendaal et al, 1981). Several other types of mineral extractions have occurred in the Juniata watershed, such as sand, shale, manganese, clay, limestone, zinc, lead, iron, aluminum, and copper. Map II-4 shows the location of coal seams and limestone areas.

The highest ridges of the Juniata River basin range upward of 3,000 feet above sea level, with the highest point being Blue Knob Ridge, at 3,146 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the basin is at the confluence of the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers at 340 feet above sea level. The average fall of the main stem Juniata River is approximately 3.2 feet per mile, whereas in the headwaters it is much steeper. Several of the streams that drain the basin, the Little Juniata and the Frankstown Branch in particular, cut diagonally through the ridges. However, the Raystown Branch follows along the steep slopes of Allegrippis Ridge and Terrace Mountain, containing many deeply entrenched meanders. The mainstem river channel width varies from 200 to 700 feet wide. Channel capacities range from 25,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) near Huntingdon to 82,000 cfs near Newport (USACOE, 1995a). Flow records for the river have been recorded since 1899, and are now published annually by the U.S. Geological Survey. Daily stream gage data is also available on the World Wide Web at http://water.usgs.gov/pa/nwis (USGS, 1999).

Due to their parallel alignment, the ridges of the basin have a significant local effect on temperature and precipitation. Prevailing winds are from the west and northwest. The average annual temperature is 50.6° Fahrenheit. The winters are generally cold with average monthly temperatures below freezing in December, January and February. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of 28.9° F. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 72.6° F. The mean annual precipitation is 39 inches (USACOE, 1995a).

The Juniata watershed is approximately 67 percent forested, 23 percent agriculture, seven percent developed, and the rest in mine lands, water, or miscellaneous. Developed uses include residential, commercial, and industrial areas as well as utility lines, railroads, and highways. Maps II-5 and II-6 show land cover and land use in the upper and lower sections of the watershed.[2]

Most of the forestland in the Juniata watershed exists on or near the mountain ridges. These forests include oak, hickory, maple, beech, birch, elm, ash, red maple, white pine, aspen, and Virginia pine. A very large portion of the Juniata watershed has been logged. Heavy logging occurred in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Most of the wood was used for charcoal, log homes, and furniture. From 1890 to the mid 1920s, most forests were completely clear-cut. Therefore, although most of the area is forested, it represents secondary successional growth. Lumbering still remains a major industry in the watershed. Major managed forestlands exist in Rothrock, Bald Eagle, Tuscarora, and Buchanan State Forests.

Agriculture is the second largest land use (23 percent) in the watershed, and is generally confined to the valley bottoms. Approximately 14 percent of this land is considered “prime farmland” and approximately 15 percent is considered to be of “statewide importance.” Prime farmland is specifically designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops and is available for these uses” (USDA, 1998). Farmland of statewide importance is not as high quality as prime farmland, but it is nevertheless valuable agricultural land.

Historically, farming has been the largest source of income for a majority of counties in the watershed. Markets range from fruit, grain, and dairy to poultry, hogs, and cattle. Agricultural land and services are decreasing throughout the watershed due to increase in population size and regional development. Of the seven main counties in the Juniata watershed, a 13 percent loss of farmland has been seen between 1958 and 1978, and another 10 percent, or 87,000 acres, was lost from 1982 to 1997 (USDA, 1997). Most of the acreage lost over the past 50 years was due to erosion and development of prime farmlands (USACOE 1995a).

Land use in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is primarily regulated at the local level. Municipalities manage growth primarily through comprehensive planning and local subdivision and zoning ordinances. Assistance is provided by county planning entities and the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services to help identify, create, and implement municipal policies. Of the 200 municipalities in the basin, a total of 45 have zoning ordinances, 63 have comprehensive plans, and 142 have subdivision ordinances (29 of those are governed by a county subdivision ordinance). Map II-7 shows the municipalities that have one or more of these land use planning tools. Table C-1 in Appendix C lists the same information for all municipalities.

[2] It should be noted that the maps do not show a seven percent level of developed land. These maps are based on 1992/93 Landsat satellite imagery data that was classified and edited by a consortium of federal agencies. Although able to identify vegetation types at a fairly high resolution (30 meters), this dataset tends to underestimate developed land uses, especially in rural residential areas or heavily forested towns (Kutz, 1999). For example, this dataset indicates that only 1.8 percent, or 4,762 acres, of Mifflin County is developed (Hughes-STX Corporation et al., 1996). Mifflin County’s own geographic information system (GIS), however, indicates that 7.5 percent, or 19,764 acres, is considered to be in developed uses (Mifflin County Planning Commission, 1999). The difference is most likely due to the methods of determining land use; the Mifflin County Mapping Department uses aerial photographs and parcel maps as well as satellite imagery, allowing them a more precise analysis of land use.

The sections below are taken from Chapter 2 of the Juniata Watershed Management Plan.

The sections below are taken from Chapter 2 of the Juniata Watershed Management Plan.

Physical Setting of the Juniata Watershed

Political Boundaries

Socio-Economic Setting-History

Population and Employment

Topography/Geology

Land Use/Land Control

Works Cited