Watershed Conservation Research Center

Watershed Conservation Research Center We aim to protect French Creek Watershed & work with students to preserve FCW for future generations.

The summer research season has flown by and our summer research technicians presented on their summer research for URSCA...
07/21/2026

The summer research season has flown by and our summer research technicians presented on their summer research for URSCA. Jacob Hochstetler ‘28, Emma Stephens ‘29, and Gage Johnson ‘29 investigated darter abundance in response to stream water hydrology in the Upper Allegheny Watershed. They found that Rainbow and Fantail darter populations have a positive relationship with stream width while Johnny darter populations have a positive relationship with stream temperature. Thank you to Jacob, Emma, and Gage for their hard work this summer!

Congratulations to Allegheny College and WCRC students Ryan Cox '26, Lorenzo Tovanche '26, Abi Riedel '27, and Mitchell ...
04/30/2026

Congratulations to Allegheny College and WCRC students Ryan Cox '26, Lorenzo Tovanche '26, Abi Riedel '27, and Mitchell Curtis '26 for presenting their research at the Penn State Behrend-Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference this past weekend. Ryan won 1st place for Oral Presentation in the Biology Session! We are so proud of the amazing research our students produce and wish our seniors the best of luck with their graduation and careers!

04/30/2026

We are pleased to announce the release of our April 2026 Newsletter. This issue focuses on recently completed and upcoming long term WCRC projects. We also bid farewell to outgoing students and welcome our new summer research team. Finally we check in with WCRC alumni that are doing some amazing research in Texas!

The time is now! Today is the 12th annual Gator Give Day! Are you ready to Jump in for Allegheny?? You can donate at htt...
04/16/2026

The time is now! Today is the 12th annual Gator Give Day! Are you ready to Jump in for Allegheny?? You can donate at https://www.givecampus.com/schools/AlleghenyCollege/gator-give-day-2026/?a=12319894

Remember you can designate your donation for the WCRC and that if we surpass last year's donation totals, our research scientists, Mark and Bryan, will be Jumping In.. to French Creek which is still very chilly!

We are only one week away from the big day, the 12th annual Gator Give Day! Are you going to help us Jump in for the WCR...
04/09/2026

We are only one week away from the big day, the 12th annual Gator Give Day! Are you going to help us Jump in for the WCRC?? You can begin donating now and don’t forget to designate the WCRC as one of your recipients. Remember if we surpass last year’s donors and money raised, Mark and Bryan will be Jumping In… to a frigid French Creek!

Valentine’s Day may be over, but love is in the air at the vernal pools in Northwest Pennsylvania. Wood frogs are typica...
03/11/2026

Valentine’s Day may be over, but love is in the air at the vernal pools in Northwest Pennsylvania. Wood frogs are typically the first arrivals to the vernal pools sometimes arriving before the ice has fully melted. Males will embrace females in a process known as amplexus. It is not uncommon to see multiple males trying to grab onto a single female.

Migration.. it’s not just for the birds! As temperatures begin to rise, ice and snow melts, and spring showers occur our...
03/06/2026

Migration.. it’s not just for the birds! As temperatures begin to rise, ice and snow melts, and spring showers occur our local amphibians begin their migration from the forest to vernal pools. Spotted Salamanders and Wood Frogs (pictures 1+2) are early migrants to the vernal pools and will soon begin to reproduce. At the Bousson Environmental Research Reserve, the WCRC uses pitfall traps (picture 5) to track amphibians movements to the vernal pools.

This shows the beginning of the formation of an ice jam on the mainstem of French Creek in Meadville. This ice jam will ...
02/03/2026

This shows the beginning of the formation of an ice jam on the mainstem of French Creek in Meadville. This ice jam will continue to grow larger and larger with the cold temperatures on the horizon. Ice jams occur when ice that is flowing downstream is caught against a barrier and comes to a stop. Ice jams typically occur during early spring when river ice begins to break up, but they can also form during the initial freeze. Ice jams can cause flooding upstream of the obstruction due to a decrease in flow leading to an increase in upstream water levels. As the ice jam begins to break up, it can cause flooding downstream of the jam due to a rapid increase in flow.

Winter may have showed up earlier this week, but this didn’t stop us from getting out in the field! The WCRC joined Dr B...
11/13/2025

Winter may have showed up earlier this week, but this didn’t stop us from getting out in the field! The WCRC joined Dr Bradshaw-Wilson’s Stream Ecology class on their trip to our German Run restoration site to collect aquatic macro invertebrates, water chemistry, stream hydrology, and habitat assessment data. Of course, we made sure to make snowmen while we were out there!

This week Allegheny College student Abi Riedel and WCRC staff members Mark Kirk and Bryan Winston presented on WCRC rese...
11/06/2025

This week Allegheny College student Abi Riedel and WCRC staff members Mark Kirk and Bryan Winston presented on WCRC research at the 2025 Regional Science Consortium Symposium. Thank you to for the opportunity to present on our terrestrial and aquatic research and restoration projects!

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Allegheny College
Meadville, PA
16335

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