Beaver Run is a tributary of

Catawissa Creek Catawissa Creek (colloquially known as The Cat) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in east-central Pennsylvania in th ...

Columbia County, Pennsylvania Columbia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,727. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Beaver Township. The stream's watershed has an area of .

Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s are present in the watershed. The stream was named by Alexander McCauley in 1774.

Course

Beaver Run begins in a valley in Beaver Township, a few hundred feet from the border between Columbia County and Luzerne County. The stream flows north for a short distance before turning west, flows west and slightly south for several miles between McCauley Mountain and Buck Mountain, eventually turns northwest and then southwest less than a mile later. A short distance downstream, it turns west and crosses

Pennsylvania Route 339 Pennsylvania Route 339 (PA 339) is a , north–south state highway located in Schuylkill, Columbia, and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at PA 54 in Mahanoy City. The northern terminus is at PA 93 in Nescopeck. ...

, then reaches its confluence with Catawissa Creek. Beaver Run joins Catawissa Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

While Beaver Run has no named tributaries, it has two numbered tributaries: Trib 27552 and Trib 27553.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Beaver Run is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The elevation of the stream's source is just over above sea level. Beaver Run is a fairly slow-moving stream. It is also relatively wide in some places. The watershed of Beaver Run is mostly or entirely on rock of the

Mauch Chunk Formation The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the township of Mauch Chunk, now known as borough of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania and for nearby Mauch Chunk Ridge where th ...

. The soil in the watershed is Leck Kill soil.

Watershed

The watershed of Beaver Run has an area of . Most of the watershed is in Beaver Township, Columbia County, but a small portion extends into Luzerne County. The

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s on the creek's upper reaches are the largest and most biologically diverse wetlands in Columbia County. Much of the watershed of Beaver Run is in

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

land. The stream's valley is fairly narrow and situated between Buck Mountain and McCauley Mountain. The community of Shumans is near the stream's mouth. Main roads in its watershed are Pennsylvania Route 339, Beaver Valley Road and Mountain Shadow Lane.

History

Scotch Run was most likely named by Alexander McCauley in 1774. A legend says that he named the stream so after watching a group of

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

s construct a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

on it. Beaver Township is in turn named after the stream. In the late 1800s the Beaver Valley Post Office was near the mouth of Beaver Run. Two

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s longer than have been built over Beaver Run. The first, a

concrete slab A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...

bridge built in 1930, is long. The second, a steel

stringer bridge Beam bridges are the simplest structural forms for bridge spans supported by an abutment or pier at each end. No moments are transferred throughout the support, hence their structural type is known as '' simply supported''. The simplest beam ...

built in 1934, is long.

Biology

The wetlands of Beaver Run are listed as a "locally significant site" in the Columbia County Natural Areas Inventory. They rank in the inventory at 4 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the most important. The

s of Beaver Run are a highbush blueberry / meadowsweet

shrub swamp Shrub swamps — also called scrub swamps or buttonbush swamps — are a type of freshwater wetland ecosystem occurring in areas too wet to become swamps (“true” or freshwater swamp forest), but too dry or too shallow to become marshes. They ...

which includes trees and shrubs such as

red elderberry ''Sambucus racemosa'' is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder. Distribution and habitat It is native to Europe, northern temperate Asia, and North America across Canada and the United States. It ...

, black ash,

poison sumac ''Toxicodendron vernix'', commonly known as poison sumac, or swamp-sumach, is a woody shrub or small tree growing to 9 metres (30 feet) tall. It was previously known as ''Rhus vernix''. This plant is also known as thunderwood, particul ...

speckled alder ''Alnus incana'', the grey alder or speckled alder, is a species of multi-stemmed, shrubby tree in the birch family, with a wide range across the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Tolerant of wetter soils, it can slowly spread with runners ...

buttonbush Buttonbush is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Cephalanthus'', a genus of shrubs or small trees in the madder family, Rubiaceae, especially: **''Cephalanthus occidentalis'', the common ''Cephalanthus'' species in eastern North ...

steeple-bush Steeplebush is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Spiraea douglasii'', native to western North America *''Spiraea tomentosa ''Spiraea tomentosa'', commonly known as steeplebush, meadowsweet, or hardhack, or eastern hardhack, ...

, and

mountain holly Mountain holly is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Olearia macrodonta'', endemic to New Zealand * ''Ilex montana'', native to eastern North America * ''Ilex mucronata ''Ilex mucronata'', the mountain holly or catberry, is a ...

. Other plants inhabiting these wetlands include various

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s and

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

s and

skunk cabbage Skunk cabbage is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * the genus ''Lysichiton'' ** Asian skunk cabbage, ''Lysichiton camtschatcensis'', grows in eastern Asia ** Western skunk cabbage, '' Lysichiton americanus'', grows in western Nor ...

cattail ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...

s, yellow pond lilies,

smooth goldenrod ''Solidago gigantea'' is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. Its common names include tall goldenrod and giant goldenrod, among others. Goldenrod is the state flower of Kentucky, and ''Solidago gigantea'' is the state flower ...

, swamp candles, woolgrass, and several other plants. A red maple / yellow birch / eastern hemlock palustrine forest is also found in the vicinity of Beaver Run, as is a buttonbush / highbush blueberry shrub swamp. Both of these habitats contain several plants not found in the highbush blueberry / meadowsweet shrub swamp. A number of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

species have been observed in the Beaver Run wetlands. These include

common yellowthroat The common yellowthroat (''Geothlypis trichas'') is a New World warbler. In the U.S. Midwest, it is also known as the yellow bandit. It is an abundant breeder in North America, ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico. The genus name ''Geot ...

gray catbird The gray catbird (''Dumetella carolinensis''), also spelled grey catbird, is a medium-sized North American and Central American perching bird of the mimid family. It is the only member of the "catbird" genus ''Dumetella''. Like the black catbird ...

house wren The house wren (''Troglodytes aedon'') is a very small bird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America, and is thus the most widely distributed native bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban ar ...

ovenbird The ovenbird (''Seiurus aurocapilla'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). This migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and winters in Central America, many Caribbean islands, Florida and northern Venezuela. ...

swamp sparrow The swamp sparrow (''Melospiza georgiana'') is a medium-sized New World sparrow related to the song sparrow. Description Measurements: * Length: 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm) * Weight: 0.5-0.8 oz (15-23 g) * Wingspan: 7.1-7.5 in (18-19 cm) ...

, and

yellow warbler The yellow warbler (''Setophaga petechia'') is a New World warbler species. Yellow warblers are the most widespread species in the diverse genus ''Setophaga'', breeding in almost the whole of North America, the Caribbean, and down to northern S ...

. A

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

species known as the spangled skimmer also occurs in the wetlands. Beaver Run is considered by the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...

to be a coldwater fishery.

References

External links

Map of the Catawissa Creek watershed
{{authority control Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Catawissa Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania