Dry conditions continue in The Commonwealth. A change in the weather pattern is forecast for next week.
2025 Drought
Centre County
Clearwater Conservancy Groundbreaking Ceremony
On August 5, 2025, Clearwater Conservancy held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of The Hamer Community Conservation Center.
The center is named after Donald Hamer (1925-2016), who cared deeply about the preservation of natural resources and generously donated his time and resources to environmental groups, including ClearWater Conservancy. Construction of the 10,392-square-foot, two-story center is scheduled for completion by mid-August 2026. The 10-acre construction site is located at 1601 Houserville Road in Houserville, PA.
Clearwater founder Barbara Fisher explained how the organization originated from citizen efforts to stop a mall from being developed on farmland in Ferguson Township, which set the stage for the Tudek family to purchase and donate the land that became Tom Tudek Memorial Park.
Speakers also included:
Also present were Centre County PA Senior Environmental Corps (CCPaSEC) Members: President William Smith, Vice President Carolyn Hatley, and Equipment Manager David DeCapria.
Weather Station Overhaul
On October 10 I gave my Davis weather station an overhaul. The dew point readings seemed to be off and I had ordered and received an overhaul kit from Davis Instruments. The instrument package has been in use since December 2015.
I removed the radiation shield, cleaned the accumulated mildew from the plates, and replaced the temperature/humidity sensor. I also installed a new battery and solar panel. I replaced the rain sensor with a more accurate one. The spikes are to deter birds from clogging the rain collector.
I will work on the wind vane and anemometer in the Spring. They were replaced about 4 years ago.
Two other sensors are also part of the instrument suite. A UV sensor measures the UV index and a solar radiation sensor provides readings of Watts per square meter.
The other part of my weather station is the air quality sensor. Its operation remains nominal. It measures 1, 2.5, and 10-micrometer particulates in units of micrograms per cubic meter.
Practical 3-D Printing
After my tugboat model project I began to produce more practical parts. I made covers for my electronics, a cable holder, a and switch lock plate.
At a CCPaSEC board meeting, a new dissolved oxygen meter was demonstrated. One of the drawbacks was that the probe was unprotected while in use. I volunteered that I had a 3-D printer and that I would like to try making a protective cover.
I started with a simple design (the prototype on the left). The posts were too small which caused the rough filament dispersal at the top of the object. The second prototype was better. However, the circular holes were too large which resulted in a weak structure. Also, the inside diameter was too tight to attach to the probe. The final design on the right has smaller circular holes, giving the cover strength. I widened the diameter of the inside diameter 2 mm from the bottom to the top. That resulted in a snug fit.
The final prototype was made with orange filament for visibility if dropped.
PA 550 Speed Limit
Someone has set up a petition on change.org to increase the speed limit on PA 550 to 55 m.p.h. The petition states:
“The speed limit on PA route 550 south is too low and should be increased to 55mph. A large portion of motorists already consistently drive over 50mph on 550 daily and by increasing the speed limit the road would be made safer as the speed limit would more closely resemble the speed motorists actually travel on the road. This would also likely eliminate most tailgating and strings of traffic behind someone going ‘exactly 45 THE WHOLE WAY DOWN 550.’”
As of this posting, 22 people have signed the petition.
PA 550 is a rural highway that runs from Zion, PA to near Tyrone, PA. The petition does not state which section of the highway it is addressing, or mention that the current posted speed limits are not consistent along its length (35 m.p.h. in Stormstown, 25 m.p.h. in Bellefonte, and above 45 in Huntingdon County). Nor does it mention the no passing zones for much of its length, the limited sight distances, sharp curves, the presence of slow moving farm equipment, or wildlife crossing the highway.
The argument stated in the petition is a logical fallacy. Just because “everyone” is exceeding the speed limit is not a valid argument for increasing it. As stated above there are too many potential hazards to warrant an increase to 55 mph.
Volunteers Take Action To Monitor Centre County’s Watersheds
I am one of the volunteers that monitors the streams in Center County, PA.
The following article appeared in The Centre Daily Times on June 6, 2021:
Volunteers take action to monitor Centre County’s watersheds
BY KEN JOHNSON
Late last year an effort was made to determine the effectiveness of some our volunteer water monitoring groups in aiding in determining our state’s compliance to the watershed clean-up efforts. CCPaSEC was qualified due to their extensive data (more than 12 years), their quality assurance program and association with Clear Water conservancy, Penn State’s “Shale Network,” Penn State laboratories, the Centre County RSVP and Centre County Conservation Services.
The Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps, a nonprofit associated with the ClearWater Conservancy and the Centre County RSVP, has been monitoring many of our local streams since 2003. Pennsylvania is second only to Alaska in the number of natural clear-water surface streams. Pennsylvania’s streams constitute a major source of water entering the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and is subject to federal concern due to pollution, including that from Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Pennsylvania’s AMD abatement and treatment program (AMD Set-Aside Program) was first authorized in 1990. Our mission is to inform the public and our county leadership of the quality and health of our local streams.
WHAT DO CCPASEC VOLUNTEERS DO? CCPaSEC’s volunteers are dedicated to help Centre County compliance with our state and federal stream monitoring standards. The CCPaSEC members support 13 teams that, weather and conditions permitting, monitor many streams each month using field kits equipped with instruments and chemical reagents to measure levels (mg/L) of phosphate, nitrate, sulfate and alkalinity, flow (m3/sec), pH, and conductivity. Twice a year they perform counts of macroinvertebrates — those little creatures like mayflies, Stonefly Larvae and riffle beetle that indicate year-round stream health.
WATERSHEDS CLEANUP DAY
The ClearWater Conservancy held its annual Watersheds Cleanup Day on April 24. The first Cleanup Day was held in 1997. Over these 24 years, roughly 6 million pounds of trash has been removed from our roadways and streams, all done by volunteers. The CCPaSEC is a division of the ClearWater Conservancy and the Centre County Retired Senior Volunteers Program (RSVP) has been participating in the cleanup effort over the years. This year we had eight of our members participating. We concentrated our efforts in the Buffalo Run watershed area, and did our cleanup
https://eedition.centredaily.com/ccidist-replica-reader/?epub=https://eedition.centredaily.com/ccidist-ws/mcclatchy/mcclatchy_stc_newsbroad/issues/61… 1/26/10/2021 SENIOR CORPS
along Filmore Road, Upper Gyp Road, and Valleyview Road. All of these roadways border on or have tributaries to Buffalo Run. The total bags for the cleanup day this year was 217. The CCPaSEC volunteers collected of 36 bags of that total.
Since our main volunteer effort is monitoring the quality of Centre County streams, we view it as important to continue our participation in the Cleanup Day campaign. After all, we do “all live downstream.”
DEDICATION TO CENTRE COUNTY WATERSHEDS In 2020, CCPaSEC members logged 2041.4 hours of volunteer service in their mission to gather and publish data on the quality of water in the streams of Centre County.
The value of those hours to the community in 2019 dollars is $51,871.97 and in the past 7 years, (2014-2020), $433,128.27. CCPaSEC works with several organizations, universities and youth groups to carry out projects benefiting Centre County watersheds.
Through the pandemic the group continued to meet using the internet and to preform field surveys when permitted by the Pennsylvania COVID-19 regulations.
CCPaSEC’s water monitoring efforts are no longer limited to seniors. Previously, the RSVP restricted membership to seniors, due to provisions imposed by the AmeriCorps for supplemental accident insurance to cover costs over and above what you may already have and it is only for accidents that occur during volunteer service. Now, the ClearWater Conservancy allows its members to participate by providing Clearwater members with additional accident insurance while participating in in volunteer activity.
You must join either organization to participate with a survey team. If you wish to join one of our volunteer teams, please contact either the Centre County ClearWater Conservancy or the Centre County RSVP.
For more information, visit http//www.ccpasec.org
KEN JOHNSON IS THE CCPASEC PUBLIC RELATIONS RESOURCE ADVISOR.
Bellefonte, PA
This is the town of Bellefonte, PA, looking NE. The image was taken from 3000’ MSL by a local pilot. Bellefonte is the Centre County seat.
Bellefonte was the initial stop on the first scheduled west-bound air mail flight made by Pilot Leon D. Smith on December 18, 1918. The site for the field was chosen by pioneer aviator Max Miller and was in regular use for air mail until 1925. The field was located at the center right of the image. It became a major refueling stop for mail traveling between New York and Chicago. This leg of the flight was called “hell stretch” because of the fog shrouded ridges of the Allegheny Mountains. Six pilots would lose their lives. One pilot used a half empty whiskey bottle strapped to his dash to tell when his wings where level!
Stormstown Dispatch 