First Friday Lunch Bunch (Adult)
Allegheny National Forest — Aquatic Ecosystems and Communities
Nate Welker
Friday, January 5, 2018, 11:00 a.m.–noon
Rescheduled due to weather:
Friday, January 12, 2018, 11:00 a.m.–noon
$8 Adults; $6 Nature Center members
Registrations accepted online through January 11, 2018.
Walk-ins welcome.

Learn from fisheries biologist Nate Welker about some of the work being done in the Allegheny National Forest.

Established in 1923, the 513,000-acre Allegheny National Forest (ANF) lies within an 8-hour drive of 1/3 of the U.S. population and is the only National Forest in Pennsylvania. Like most of the eastern United States, the ANF is working to recover from a “Legacy of Impacts” including widespread timbering, oil and gas development, industrial pollution, and the growth of the nation (e.g., increased road building).

Fortunately, water quality has improved over the last several decades in many waters that were historically polluted primarily by point-source discharges; however, overall habitat degradation continues to threaten the health of aquatic communities. Increased development and urbanization, poorly managed crop and animal agriculture, and oil and gas development all impact aquatic systems with point and nonpoint source inputs. Additionally, impoundments on major rivers and stream crossings on tributaries drastically alter the hydrologic regime of many ANF waterways and result in habitat fragmentation, blockage of aquatic organism passage, and physical habitat alterations.

Today, the ANF’s aquatic ecosystems are recovering and local fish communities have begun to rebound. Unfortunately, non-fish species like freshwater mussels and Eastern hellbenders will be much slower to recover if they can recover at all.

Nathan “Nate” Welker grew up in Sugar Grove, PA, where he graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1990. After a 14 year hiatus away at college, graduate school, and in the Army, he returned to Warren County to take a position with the US Forest Service, Allegheny National Forest (ANF). In that role, Nate has spent the last 13 years providing fisheries and aquatics expertise for a wide range of projects and activities throughout the Forest. Nate also serves on Audubon Community Nature Center’s board of directors, and this is only one of his community-minded activities.

Special Information: BYO brown bag lunch and conversation follows the program. Audubon provides coffee and tea.