Deerlick Run (also known as Deer Lick Run) is a tributary of Fishing Creek in

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 long. The stream flows through Mount Pleasant Township and Orange Township. The annual load of

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

in it is . The stream's watershed has an area of 6.1 square miles, most of which is agricultural land. There are also large areas of forested land in the watershed.

Course

Deerlick Run starts in northern Mount Pleasant Township, near the community of Welliversville. It flows southeast for a number of miles in a fairly shallow valley to the eastern part of Mount Pleasant Township. Here, the stream turns eastward and exits Mount Pleasant Township. Upon exiting the township, it enters Orange Township. The stream then exits its valley and enters a

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

. Shortly afterwards, it reaches its confluence with Fishing Creek. The confluence is slightly north of

Pennsylvania Route 487 Pennsylvania Route 487 (PA 487) is a , north–south state highway running from PA 61 in Shamokin Township, Northumberland County, to PA 87 (near its intersection with US 220) in Dushore, Sullivan County. In Bloomsburg, PA 487 and US 11 ...

and slightly south of a

gauging station A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation ("stage") and/or volu ...

. Deerlick Run has no named tributaries.

Hydrology and climate

The daily load of

in Deerlick Run is , which equates to an annual load of . The

total maximum daily load A total maximum daily load (TMDL) is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quali ...

for sediment in the stream is per day, or per year. of sediment per year comes from croplands and comes from pastures or hay. comes from stream banks, comes from land classified as "transition" by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, comes from forests, and comes from land classified as "low-intensity development" by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Deerlick Run experiences significant levels of

siltation Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...

and stream bank

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

. The erosion coefficient of Deerlick Run ranges from 0.12 between September and March to 0.3 during the rest of the year. The average annual precipitation in the Deerlick Run watershed is . The average runoff rate in the watershed is per year. Deerlick Run has little

riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a "buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality i ...

ing. No part of the stream or any of its tributaries attains the water quality standards of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Geography and geology

The minimum elevation in the watershed of Deerlick Run is less than and the maximum elevation is more than above sea level. The stream is in the

ridge and valley The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

geographical region. 80 percent of the surface rock in the watershed of Deerlick Run is

interbedded In geology, interbedding occurs when beds (layers of rock) of a particular lithology lie between or alternate with beds of a different lithology. For example, sedimentary rocks may be interbedded if there were sea level variations in their sedimen ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

. 20 percent of the surface rock is

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

The dominant hydrologic soil groups in the Deerlick Run watershed are C (90%) and B (10%).

Watershed

The watershed of Deerlick Run has an area of 6.1 square miles. There are of streams in its watershed. The majority of the watershed of Deerlick Run (60.8 percent) is agricultural land. 1134.2 acres are used for hay or pastures and 1213.3 acres are used for crops. 34.9 percent of the watershed's land is forested land. 4.0 percent of the land is designated 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. ...

as "low-intensity development". 0.3 percent of the watershed's area is

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 ...

. 9.9 acres of land in the watershed are classified as "transitional" by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

History

In 1853, Deerlick Run was part of the border between Columbia County and Montour County. However, in the 21st century, it is near the center of Columbia County. In the past, the valley of Deerlick Run was home to many industries, although little is known about them. The remains of 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 ...

can be seen on the stream and there was once a

gin mill A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

, a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

, and a

woolen mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods s ...

. A mill known as the Behm Mill was built on the stream in 1801. An ice house also was once built near the stream.

Biology

Deerlick Run is designated as a coldwater fishery because it can support fish species of the family

Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...

. It is also designated as a migratory fishery because it is in the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

watershed.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Fishing Creek (North Branch Susquehanna River) Rivers of Pennsylvania