Loyalhanna, Buffalo creeks in the running for Pa.'s 2021 River of the Year, chosen by public vote

Pennsylvanians can vote online for the state’s River of the Year, and Susan Huba would like to see a Westmoreland County waterway win the award.

“This is a great opportunity,” said Huba, executive director of the Loyalhanna Watershed Association.

The association helps manage Loyalhanna Creek, one of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ nominees for 2021 River of the Year.

“We’ve been nominated twice before, and we think the third time is going to be the charm,” Huba said. “That also goes along with the fact that our organization is going to turn 50 years old in 2021.”

But just a county away, Loyalhanna has some stiff competition from Buffalo Creek. The other three nominees are the Lehigh River, the Shenango River and Tunkhannock Creek.

The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, which nominated Buffalo Creek, believes the little-known waterway traversing Butler and Armstrong counties is poised to win River of Year for 2021.

Buffalo Creek came in second last year to the Lackawanna River in Susquehanna County in the eastern part of the state but had a strong showing.

Buffalo Creek was only bested by about 1,000 votes with Lackawanna River garnering 8,506 to Buffalo Creek’s 7,460. Connoquenessing Creek in Butler got 1,718 votes, while the Ohio River came in last at 636 votes.

“For a first-time nominee last year, we broke records, and we look to pull it out and give Buffalo Creek the recognition it deserves,” said Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

“Buffalo Creek and the entire watershed is spectacular in many ways,” Bonner said. “You’ve got beautiful terrain, nice valleys and it has a number of northern-facing slopes that provide different habits.”

The unique and Audubon-designated important bird habitat offers great fishing and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. “It has about everything you want,” Bonner said.

With large gatherings discouraged during the covid-19 pandemic, the state’s waterways and other natural areas have gotten a boost this year, according to DCNR Press Secretary Terry Brady.

“Never has there been so much focus by so many on our waterways, not just in our state parks and big rivers, but also some of our state forest streams saw a heavy influx of people,” Brady said.

DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said, “Much more than a public vote gauging popularity, this annual competition builds community support around our rivers and streams, putting them in the public limelight. All have truly unique attributes, offer incredible recreational opportunities and offer significant boosts to local economies.”

Huba grew up near Loyalhanna Creek.

“I remember taking my grandfather to work at Latrobe Steel, crossing a bridge and looking down at the horrible orange water,” she said. “In my lifetime, it’s wonderful to be able to see that it’s improved to the point that it’s clear, people are fishing, boating and enjoying our environment more than ever.”

The centerpiece of the association’s work was the installation of a treatment system in the late 1990s at Saint Vincent College.

“It’s been working and improving that heavily affected section of the creek since it was installed,” Huba said. “It’s been tremendous to see all the wildlife we now have that wasn’t even here 10 years ago, let alone 50 years ago.”

After a waterway is chosen for the honor, local groups implement a year-round slate of activities and events to celebrate the river, including a paddling trip, or sojourn. The organization nominating the winning river will receive a $10,000 leadership grant from DCNR to help fund River of the Year activities.

Brady said he isn’t sure how that will work in 2021, given that most of the activities to celebrate the Lackawanna River as 2020 River of the Year were canceled.

“The emphasis is really on not holding group activities right now,” he said. “That said, looking forward to next year, who knows what it will bring? June is (Pennsylvania) Rivers Month, and we still have some time to hopefully get through this.”

The public is invited to vote on the state’s 2021 River of the Year through Jan. 22 at PARiverOfTheYear.org.

Since 2000, Western Pennsylvania waterways have earned the designation a half-dozen times, with the Allegheny (twice), Kiskiminetas-Conemaugh, Three Rivers, Monongahela and Clarion rivers all earning the title. The Clarion was the most recent, in 2019.