Hess Hollow is an unofficially named tributary of Coles 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 approximately long and flows through Sugarloaf Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . Hess Hollow is listed on the Columbia County Natural Areas Inventory as a "Locally Significant Area". The stream is also

Class A Wild Trout Waters Class A Wild Trout Waters are the highest biomass class given to streams in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. They are considered to contain the highest-quality naturally reproducing trout populations in Pennsylvania. Th ...

Course

Hess Hollow begins in a

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

in Sugarloaf Township, just south of

Central Mountain Central Mountain is a mountain in Columbia County, Sullivan County, and Luzerne County, in Pennsylvania, United States. Its elevation is above sea level. The mountain is part of the Allegheny Front. Rock formations on the mountain include the P ...

. It flows south for some distance, crossing

Pennsylvania Route 118 Pennsylvania Route 118 (PA 118) is a state route located in northeastern Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at PA 405 in Hughesville. The eastern terminus is at PA 415 in Dallas. The road is known briefly as East Wa ...

and entering a valley. After more than a mile, the stream turns southwest and then abruptly turns southeast, crossing Pennsylvania Route 487. Almost immediately afterwards, it reaches its confluence with Coles Creek. Hess Hollow joins Coles Creek upstream of its mouth.

Geography, hydrology and watershed

The elevation near the mouth of Hess Hollow 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. Hess Hollow does some

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

ing. Fritz Hill is situated to the west of the hollow. There is a

at the headwaters of the stream, but it is unnamed. The total concentration of alkalinity in the waters of Hess Hollow is 12 milligrams per liter. The watershed of Hess Hollow has an area of . The area in the vicinity of the stream mainly consists of forested wetlands and open

graminoid In botany and ecology, graminoid refers to a herbaceous plant with a grass-like morphology, i.e. elongated culms with long, blade-like leaves. They are contrasted to forbs, herbaceous plants without grass-like features. The plants most ofte ...

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

es. The stream has a fairly sizable riparian buffer around it. However, some selective cutting and

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 ...

activity is done in the watershed. The stream flows entirely through closed,

private land Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

. The Columbia County Natural Areas Inventory recommends selective cutting and increased

deer hunting Deer hunting is hunting for deer for meat and sport, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food source of animal protein that can be obtained through deer hunting. ...

in the vicinity of Hess Hollow. The inventory also recommends conserving the stream's riparian buffer.

History and etymology

Hess Hollow is most likely named after William Hess. Hess was a landowner with property in the vicinity of the hollow during the 1800s.

Plants

Hess Hollow is listed as a "locally significant site" on the Columbia County Natural Areas Inventory. Numerous tree species inhabit the forests in the vicinity of Hess Hollow. These include red oak, red maple, sugar maple, white pine, yellow birch, black birch, and Eastern hemlock. Trees such as sassafras and

striped maple ''Acer pensylvanicum'', known as the striped maple, moosewood, moose maple or goosefoot maple, is a small North American species of maple. The striped maple is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning that it can change its sex throughout its lifetime ...

grow in 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 of the hollow. A large number of plants other than trees inhabit the wetlands of Hess Hollow. These include many species of

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

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 also

buttercup ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe, ...

club moss Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants known as lycopods, lycophytes or other terms including the component lyco-. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching s ...

es, false hellebores, Indian cucumbers, huckleberries, jewelweed, raspberries,

sphagnum moss ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

, trillium,

wood nettle ''Laportea canadensis'', commonly called Canada nettle or wood-nettle, is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant of the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern and central North America. It is found growing in open woods with moist rich soi ...

s, and numerous others.

Animals

Several

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 Hess Hollow. These include two

warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers Th ...

s, the black-capped chickadee, the

blue-headed vireo The blue-headed vireo (''Vireo solitarius'') is a Neotropical migrating song bird found in North and Central America. There are currently two recognized subspecies that belong to the blue-headed vireo. It has a range that extends across Canada an ...

, the

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 ...

, the ovenbird, the

veery The veery (''Catharus fuscescens'') is a small North American Thrush (bird), thrush species, a member of a group of closely related and similar species in the genus ''Catharus'', also including the gray-cheeked thrush (''C. minimus''), Bicknell's ...

, and the wood thrush. Additionally, chipmunks and

red-spotted newt The eastern newt (''Notophthalmus viridescens'') is a common newt of eastern North America. It frequents small lakes, ponds, and streams or nearby wet forests. The eastern newt produces tetrodotoxin, which makes the species unpalatable to preda ...

s inhabit the stream's watershed. Hess Hollow experiences overgrazing by

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. The entire drainage basin of Hess Hollow is designated as a coldwater fishery, but is used as a high-quality coldwater fishery. It is also designated as Class A Wild Trout Waters.

Brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

inhabit Hess Hollow throughout its length.

Trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

also reproduce naturally throughout the length of the stream.

References