Oatka Creek
Oatka Creek Allan's Creek | |
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Le Roy, Wheatland | |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Near Gainesville-Warsaw town line |
• coordinates | 42°41′42″N 78°5′38″W / 42.69500°N 78.09389°W |
• elevation | 1,380 ft (420 m) |
Mouth | Genesee River |
• location | 1 mi (1.6 km) east of Scottsville |
• coordinates | 43°1′26″N 77°43′28″W / 43.02389°N 77.72444°W |
• elevation | 500 ft (150 m) |
Length | 58 mi (93 km) |
Basin size | 215 sq mi (560 km2) |
Discharge | |
• location | Garbutt |
• average | 215.3 cu ft/s (6.10 m3/s) |
• minimum | 0.9 cu ft/s (0.025 m3/s) (August 1, 1965) |
• maximum | 7,050 cu ft/s (200 m3/s) (March 31, 1960) |
Discharge | |
• location | Warsaw |
• average | 67 cu ft/s (1.9 m3/s) |
• maximum | 4,110 cu ft/s (116 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Cotton Creek, Relyea Creek, Stony Creek |
• right | Mud Creek |
Oatka Creek (
Like its parent stream it originated during the end of
For a time the Oatka was called Allan's Creek after the area's first settler, Ebenezer "Indian" Allan. Its waterpower facilitated early 19th-century
Course
Several small streams, some of which ultimately rise to the north at elevations of almost 1,600 feet (490 m), come together to create the main stem of the creek amid the fields and
To the west of Rock Glen, it passes through the narrow gorge that gave it its name, emerging at another hamlet, Newburg, at the head of the Oatka Valley it follows for the rest of its run. Again crossing under Route 19, it has descended 280 feet (85 m) since its rise. From Newburg it meanders northwest, then north, staying close to the highway on the valley floor.
Several miles further downstream it enters Warsaw, the county seat. It goes under Route 19 again and trends to the west, flowing under U.S. Route 20A to pass to the west of Warsaw High School and its athletic fields. North of the village the valley widens, staying generally level. The creek and NY 19 cross again amid large cultivated fields.
The valley begins to angle northeasterly towards
In another small wood two miles (3.2 km) north of Pavilion,
It narrows again north of the village towards Buttermilk Falls and the section that flows underground in warm, dry weather. The valley here is broad, its walls now long and gently sloped instead of steep and short. After going over the 60-foot (18 m) falls, marking the
After bypassing that hamlet to the north,
Watershed
External image | |
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Map of the Oatka watershed |
The Oatka's basin is relatively narrow and does not extend far from the Oatka Valley or the towns through which the creek itself flows. Almost all of the towns of
is in the Oatka basin even though only a small portion of the creek flows through it.In
There are five
The watershed's highest point of 1,990 feet (610 m) is located in southeastern Orangeville;[2] its lowest point, 525 feet (160 m), is the Oatka's mouth. Including the Oatka itself, there are 425 miles (684 km) of stream in the watershed.[3]
There are few significant lakes or ponds within the watershed. The largest is
Water quality
The
Only one community along the creek, the village of Warsaw, uses it as a water supply, putting it through a filtration plant before distributing it to residents and other customers.[4] Its wastewater treatment plant is downstream of the intake. Le Roy also has state permits to discharge effluent into the stream from their wastewater plants, along with the Lapp Insulators plant in Le Roy and the fish hatchery in Caledonia (via the Spring Creek tributary). The latter has the highest permitted discharge of any permit in the Oatka watershed.[7] The villages of Caledonia and Wyoming, and one of Pavilion's water districts, use wells in the watershed.
The creek's water quality has been extensively studied in its lower watershed, below Buttermilk Falls. Most chemicals within it are within normal limits, with slightly higher levels of sulfates due to the gypsum and dolomite present in the bedrock. Those minerals also produce detectable magnesium and strontium levels as well. Trichloroethylene is sometimes found as well, the legacy of a spill from a railroad accident near Le Roy in the early 1970s. During high-runoff events, fecal coliform in the lower Oatka sometimes exceeds permitted levels.[8]
There are no major issues at present that could significantly degrade water quality on most of the stream. Accordingly, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) classifies the Monroe and Genesee sections of the stream as "threatened", since some issues could arise in the future. The Wyoming County portion is considered "stressed", in that while its quality is generally good, occasional issues arise that limit use.[9]
In 1999, following a "Caring for Creeks" conference in Rochester, the Oatka Creek Watershed Committee was formed. It sponsored research into the stream and watershed, including the first "State of the Basin" report two years later. Intermunicipal agreements were adopted in 2004, and an outline for an Oatka Creek Watershed Management Plan was adopted in 2006, in cooperation with the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council.[10]
Wildlife
There is limited data on the fish and plant species that thrive in and around the creek as no comprehensive survey has been done. The state has identified several communities of species it lists as rare, threatened or endangered. To protect them more effectively it has limited publication of the exact species or location of the communities.[11]
More specific data exists on
Many of those insects constitute the food supply for various trout species. The lower Oatka is considered a blue-ribbon brown trout fishery, with some brook trout populating the water as well. The state fish hatchery on Spring Creek near Caledonia stocks the stream annually, and there is also evidence of a wild trout fishery on the stretch between Bowerman and Wheatland Center roads. A 1999 survey estimated the creek's total trout biomass at 30 pounds per acre (33 kg per hectare) bass, walleye and northern pike have also been taken near the Genesee.[12]
Geology
Buttermilk Falls divides Oatka Creek into two distinct geological regions. The upper stream's bedrock is local
North of Le Roy, the Oatka becomes a losing stream, with water disappearing into the ground. In the warmer months this results in the creekbed drying up above Buttermilk Falls, and slowly re-emerging further down from springs and seeps.[14] After it does, and turns to the east, it flows over the Akron Formation, Bertie Group of dolomitic shales, and the Salina Group. The latter is diverse, including evaporites such as halite and gypsum in addition to its limestones and shales.[13]
In the lower section of the creek there is significant groundwater entering the creek. As it discharges, it weathers the gypsum and limestone. This results in increased sulfates in the water, and bicarbonates and calcium have also been found near the falls. These concentrations are in winter and spring, when heavier precipitation and runoff offsets the impact of the groundwater.[13]
History
As the glaciers retreated 12,000 years ago the landscape they left behind on the Allegheny Plateau was a rolling expanse of drumlins and depressions in which meltwater and precipitation could accumulate. It was ideal topography for stream formation, and these bodies of water eventually combined and became the Oatka, eroding the Oatka Valley. Fertile soil from the highlands accumulated in the valley, and the land eventually reforested.[15]
The
In 1779, during the Revolutionary War the Continental Army's Sullivan Expedition came into Western New York to suppress Senecas who had professed loyalty to the British or might do so. Many of the troops came from farms in New England and recognized the quality of land in the Oatka watershed. After the war they agitated for it to be opened to settlement. After the war, New York and Massachusetts resolved the latter's claim to the area, and the 1797 Treaty of Big Tree (today Geneseo) extinguished all Native land claims.[15]
The first settler along the Oatka was Ebenezer "Indian" Allan, who established himself near the mouth of the stream, in today's Wheatland, in 1786. The creek would be known as Allan's Creek for years afterwards. After he moved further down the Genesee, other settlers came, the beginnings of what became Scottsville. In the 1790s settlement progressed upstream with the establishment of Le Roy where the stream intersected an old Indian trail that later became New York State Route 5. Settlement moved quickly afterwards, with all present communities as far south as Gainesville seeing their first settlers in the opening years of the 19th century, when the Holland Land Company owned much of it.[15]
River modifications
The only significant change made to the river by human engineering is the dam at Le Roy near where Route 5 crosses the creek. It creates a 25-acre (10 ha) lake in the center of the village. Other dams or diversions that were created for milling purposes in the 19th century have been abandoned and/or removed. There are no power plants or flood control projects along the creek.
There are 32 bridges currently spanning the creek, built between 1915 and 2003. The oldest carries Union Street in Wheatland; the newest is the NY 251 bridge into Scottsville above the creek's mouth.[16] Seven of them carry NY 19 over the creek. These include both the longest, the 227-foot (69 m) crossing over the lake created by the Le Roy dam,[17] northernmost along Route 19, and the shortest and southernmost, its 29-foot (8.8 m) bridge south of Rock Glen.[18] Most are steel or concrete stringer or box girder structures, with the US 20 bridge in Pavilion and one of the Route 19 bridges north of Warsaw being steel truss designs.[16]
Economy
In the early days of settlement the creek contributed directly to the local economy through the mills established along it. They were removed in later years when
The narrow and deep Oatka Valley was a preferred
Recreation
Oatka Creek's primary direct contribution to the local economy today is as a scenic and recreational resource. The former is enhanced by the Oatka Valley. The latter consists of hiking, boating and primarily angling in three distinct fisheries.
The upper creek, above Warsaw, is stocked with 1,850 yearling brown trout in the spring of each year, supplementing an indigenous wild population. DEC surveys have found that by June few of the stocked trout remain, showing that the stretch has heavy fishing pressure. The record size for trout taken from this stretch is 16 inches (410 mm). DEC has not acquired any public fishing rights along the four miles (6.4 km) south of, but public access is relatively unhindered as there are several bridges, paralleling railroad tracks (both of which automatically create public access to adjacent areas of the stream under New York law) and the area is otherwise lightly posted against trespassing.[19]
From Warsaw to Le Roy, the stream matures and warms. This is conducive to different species of sport fish, particularly
The lower Oatka is the portion most popular with fly fishermen. The groundwater infusions from the Blue Hole and falls cool the creek again; from the bend eastward to its mouth it is a freestone stream with a large population of stocked and wild brown trout. The 11,200 fry added to the waters each year come from the state fish hatchery north of Caledonia on the Oatka's Spring Creek tributary established in 1864 by Seth Green,[20] the oldest such facility in the Western Hemisphere. Brown trout was first introduced to American waters from it; today the 170,000 pounds (77,000 kg) of fish produced supply almost all of the state's stocked streams.[21]
Public access to this section is extensive. The 1.7-mile (2.7 km) section in
Access is also available from a small Scottsville village park on the south bank east of Route 251, the hundred feet on the other side of that highway and both sides of the
Tributaries
See also
- List of New York rivers
References
- ^ Tatakis, Timothy; "The Oatka Creek Watershed: State of the Basin Report" (PDF).; Oatka Creek Watershed Committee; 31. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ Warsaw Quadrangle – New York – Wyoming Co (Map). 1:24,000. 7½ minute quadrangles. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
- ^ "Genesee River watershed". New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ a b State of the Basin, 32.
- ^ "List of New York State Wildlife Management Areas". New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ State of the Basin, 16.
- ^ State of the Basin, 34.
- ^ State of the Basin, 20–27.
- ^ State of the Basin, 13.
- ^ "Management Plan". Oatka Creek Watershed Committee. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
- ^ State of the Basin, 12.
- ^ a b State of the Basin, 27–28.
- ^ a b c Dowling, C.B. et al; "Geochemistry of the Oatka Creek, New York State" (PDF).; Oatka Creek Watershed Committee, December 2001, 12. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^ Geochemistry, 11.
- ^ a b c d "History of the Oatka". Oatka Creek Watershed Committee. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
- ^ a b "National Bridges Inventory results for Oatka Creek". nationalbridges.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "NBI Structure #000000001015230". nationalbridge.com. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "NBI Structure #000000001015110". Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "Oatka Creek (2001) Fisheries Survey Summary". New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
- ^ a b "Fishing". Oatka Creek Watershed Committee. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
- ^ "Fish Hatcheries". New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
- ^ a b "Public fishing rights maps: Oatka Creek" (PDF)., New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved October 17, 2010.