The Real Problem (part II)

Kevin Brown- BCCD, Ag Resource Specialist
​For a recap on the first article- What is causing the impairment of streams in the state?  Ag takes a lot of the blame (75% worth), but is that where the focus should be?  In round 1, I wrote about the correlations of population density to impaired streams (82%) and cattle density to impaired streams (53%).  People seem to be much more correlated with it.  As I was explaining this to a counterpart of mine, she said, “Well the people that I have worked with have attempted to make the connection between tree canopy and impaired streams”.  That was a new take on it, and I had to run right back to my office and get working on those numbers.  Again, some very interesting numbers came out.

(Statistics from the U.S. Geological Survey 2021 National Land Cover Data) There are 6 counties (in the study area) that were over 70-80% canopy, only 1 had a high number of impaired streams.  Their average of impaired streams was 14.4% without the anomaly, and 21 with.  Of the 6 counties between 60-70% cover, only 1 high again.  The average was 17.6 without the anomaly, and 22.3% with.  As we got to 50-60% tree canopy, the numbers started to become a little more mixed- 2 high and 4 low.  An average of 20.75 without the 2 high ones, and 31 including them all.  Do you see a pattern here?  (Lower tree canopy, higher impaired streams)  Then the big jump, at 30-50% forest cover there were 12 counties with a nice tight range of 48-72%.  No real anomalies.  The average was 61, up from 31% on the last group.  Then, 10-30% cover was 75% to 95% impaired, with one outlier at 57%.  That is not very low, but different than the rest.  The average without the outlier, over 86%.  With it, 79%.  And the last one, with 0% cover- 98% impaired streams.  Less trees, less good streams.  HMMMM.  I will say, I am not sure that it is particularly the tree itself, but rather, the minute we decide to do something with land, what is the first thing we do to it?  Cut all the trees down.  Hence, the more human disturbance, the less trees.  So, it may not be the tree but rather the “canary in the coal mine”.  IDK??  (By the way, referring to the last article, the 3 counties that were high in population densities, but lower in stream impairment, guess what they had a lot of?  Tree canopy.  All above 55%, and 2 of them above 65%.  Cut down the trees and it could possibly be a perfect 100% correlation between high people density and impaired streams.)
Did you know that streams can actually (attempt) take care of themselves?  They have the ability to keep themselves from getting sick, if we don’t overload them. They need to be “normal”, healthy, lots of biology living in them, streams.  There are articles out there talking about some “streams” in the cities that are just concrete spillways.  Streams “heal” themselves with the living creatures growing in the bottom of them.  They grow under, and on, rocks and other structures.  No rocks or normal stream bottoms, no life to help heal it.
 Lastly, if you are a hunter, we talk about “carrying capacity” for deer.  In that instance, we are talking about the food side of things.  How many deer can the land sustain before there are huge detrimental effects on it?  It only makes sense that there is a “carrying capacity” for the amount of human intervention (nutrients, sediment, changing plant life) land can tolerate too.  Once we breach that threshold, we are in serious trouble. 
I am going to keep digging, as I have time, but here is the real reason I am looking at this.  If the problem lies in an area different than the one we are concentrating on, we will never be able fix it.  Human nature- we never blame ourselves for anything.  This may be an example of where “we are the problem”, but because we will not blame ourselves for anything, we throw the blame elsewhere.
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The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.