Tanoma

Directions to Tanoma AMD Wetlands

From 286 coming from Indiana, turn left onto Tanoma Rd (by the church with the gold dome). Stay on Tanoma Rd for about 2 1/2 miles (you will go over 2 small one lane bridges, stay left on Tanoma Rd at a Y in the road). When you come to Rayne Church Rd turn left. Tanoma AMD Wetlands Educational Site will be on your right. Turn into the parking lot and park there. Begin your walk at the parking lot. Pick up a brochure at the pavilion to help you identify plants and trees at the site. Enjoy your walk!

From 119 turn onto Tanoma Rd at Andy’s Maket. Travel on Tanoma Rd till you get to Tanoma and bear right to continue on Tanoma Rd. Turn right at the first road on your right – Rayne Church Rd

You can put the following address into your GPS: 3775 Rayne Church Road, Indiana, PA 15701. (That is the farm right next to Tanoma AMD Wetlands

Tanoma Wetlands – Mine Drainage Treatment System is in the headwaters of Crooked Creek in Rayne Township, a major tributary of the Allegheny River.

Acquired by EC in 2006, This site uses a series of ponds/wetlands designed to filter water, remove heavy metals and pollutants at a low cost and return clean water to Crooked Creek.

  • The discharge originates from one mine pool of three connected mines. The mine pool is estimated to be in excess of two billion gallons.
  • Untreated this discharge dumped 126 pounds of iron per day into Crooked Creek.
  • Developed by PA DEP and maintained by Southern Allegheny Conservancy in the 90’s
  • In 2008 DEP began working on the bore holes and completed improvements on the ponds to improve the efficiency of the passive treatment system summer.

Signage and Education At Tanoma

  • Grant for $4,680 to support Tanoma Abandoned Mine Drainage Wetlands Educational Trail awarded to EC by the Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections Sprout Fund.
  • Signs were designed, ordered and installed in September/October of 2008.

Guided Trail and Pavilion

  • A wetlands self guided trail established
  • An opening celebration was held October 4, 2008 which included education about the system, wild flower walks, and games.

2009
Additions At Tanoma

  • Awarded a grant from Senator Don White to install a small parking lot. The parking lot is now completed and functional as of 9/4/09.
  • We were awarded a grant from the Indiana County Endowment/The Pittsburgh Foundation to build our pavilion. The Indiana County Vocational Technical  School designed  the  pavilion for us.  Volunteers built the pavilion. The pavilion was dedicated as the “Don Robertson Memorial Pavilion” at the Tanoma AMD Wetlands Event October 3rd, 2009.
  • We also received a community Grant from Wal-Mart for the site. One of the uses of this grant was to design and install plant and tree identification signs along the trail. This project was a collaboration between Evergreen and Penn’s Corner Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc.

Parking Lot

  • The  parking lot was completed by October of 2009 in time for the second annual Tanoma AMD Wetlands Celebration.
  • EC held the second annual Tanoma educational event in the October 2009  for the community. It was well attended (over 100 people). We presented a plaque to Stacy Robertson and dedicated the pavilion in memory of her husband and founding board member Don Robertson. We offered programs and environmental activities for the attendees.
  • The successful completion of the pavilion and parking lot has moved forward in allowing us to  EC’s goal of providing a site for future education on environmental issues and awareness for our community.

2010
More Improvements

  • In 2010 we received three grants for a micro-hydroelectric project for Tanoma. The project will utilize the flow of the discharge to produce electricity, in addition a wind turbine and solar panels will be utilized to light the pavilion and power a water fountain in the pond to help take iron out of the water. These grants were from ARIPPA and EPCAMR (Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation),
    Dominion Foundation and Penelec Sustainable Energy Fund of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies.. Our solar panels are now in place and working to provide lights to the pavilion.
  • Another grant from the Indiana County Endowment/The Pittsburgh Foundation to building materials for an ADA approved path from the parking lot to the end of the trail.
  • The Evergreen Garden club had their meeting at Tanoma and a tour of the passive treatment system.
  • EC would like to do additional native plantings in the area, We have a commitment from the Evergreen Garden club and other local groups to help with these plantings in 2010.
  • April 24, 2010 a group of about 30 girl came to Tanoma and had an exciting day working on and accomplishing their eco-action badge. They learned to test water, catch creek critters to determine water quality, learned about recycling, using herbs instead of chemicals to clean, made tie-dye T-shirts with the iron collected and recycled from the mine water, learned about renewable energy from Dan Boone and his wind mill and learned about native plants in the area.
  • We had our third annual event in October 2010. The highlight of the day was the fly fishing and fly tying by the Ken Sink chapter of Trout unlimited. Other activities included educational stations, plant walks, system walks, a demonstration of wind energy, and a wetlands scavenger hunt!
  • We applied for and received a grant from the Sprout/Spring fund for environmental educational materials and attended a ceremony in Pittsburgh for the awards ceremony. We are excited to be able to purchase materials and are eager to start scheduling programs in 2011 at our outdoor educational Tanoma site!

2011

  • We have several programs scheduled for 2011. If you are interested in scheduling a program at Tanoma, please contact us!
  • The wind and water turbines are now installed and will be fully working by this summer.
  • We held our annual membership meeting at Tanoma this year. We were able to use the electric provided by our solar panels for the power point presentation on the Natural Heritage Project by Chris Tracey. He said it was the first time he ever did a presentation outdoors powered by renewable energy!
  • We applied for a grant for water aerators and hope that we will get this grant to complete our renewable energy project this year.

2012

  • We installed a multi-parameter data logger in the first pond at Tanoma to monitor DO and pH as well as depth, conductivity, and temperature.
  • IUP technology students created YouTube videos about Tanoma and Renewable Energy for a class project.
  • As part of IUP’s “Into the Streets” events, students installed a storybook walk, pland I.D. signs, and bat boxes.
  • We hosted many environmental education programs this year : Divine Redemmer Catholic School field trip, 4-H Summer Camp, and high school students.
  • One Girl Scout installed 6 bluebird boxes to earn her Silver Badge Award.
  • 25 people came out with the Tourist Bureau Mingle in July to tour the system.
  • In September, 45 people came out as part of the Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours to tour Tanoma.
  • Several Girl Scout groups came out throughout the year to sample macroinvertebrates and earn Bug Badges. They also created tie dyed shirts with iron oxide and earned Eco Art Badges.

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