CCJ has completed the first edition of our Greene and Washington Counties Watershed Atlas. The Atlas shows the mining activities and potential mining related environmental impacts within each watershed.

Click on the map below to see the individual watershed maps. As you'll see, some watersheds have already experienced extensive longwall mining activities (for example, Dunkard Creek and Enlow Fork watersheds), while others remain relatively free from the damaging effects of mining (for example, Buffalo Creek).

More information on the watershed maps and the Watershed Atlas is provided below.

Bound copies of the Washington and Greene County Watershed Atlas are available for purchase through CCJ.

$15 for non-profit groups and watershed organizations
$20 for CCJ Supporters (Members and donors within past 12 months)
$25 for the general public

Reading the Maps:

Each map has a thumbnail reference in the upper-right of each page, indicating where the watershed is located. The table on each map calculates statistics of each feature shown on the map. Some features occupy the same geographic space, meaning all features may not be visible on the map. The graph on each map represents the acreage of each watershed, the acres of longwall panels under each watershed (if any), the number of stream miles, and the number of stream miles that do not attain water quality standards as defined in PA Code Title 25, Chapter 93 due to mining impacts (if any).

A quick word on watersheds:

This atlas provides maps showing mining features and potential environmental impacts due to mining and mining related activites of the 23 watersheds of Greene and Washington Counties, Pennsylvania. Watersheds represent areas of land that drain to a common waterway, such as a stream or river. Elevated areas, such as ridges or hilltops, provide drainage divides between watersheds. Watersheds are hydrologic systems bounded by these elevations, and these systems are functional ‘machines’ that produce many things in which living organisms rely on daily – such as abundant clean water, sediment transport, and flood control in the form of floodplains and wetlands. Modifications to these ecological units can have severe impacts on a community’s short-term and long-term health and economic development. The 23 watersheds shown in this atlas are the management units used by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) for stormwater control.

All data used in these maps are from public sources. All sources are listed at the bottom of each map. These data sets are not guaranteed to be complete or 100% accurate. All limitations of each dataset are expressed in each dataset’s metadata. A portion of the longwall mining panel metadata is on page 27 of this atlas. A Data Dictionary of the datasets used in this atlas is electronically available by request. Requests should be made to the Center for Coalfield Justice.

The atlas was produced by Richard J. Hoch on behalf of the Center for Coalfield Justice. Richard can be contacted at richardhoch@gmail.com.

Information about the PA DEP longwall panel coal mine data
(from the accompanying metadata)