Mugser Run is a stream in Columbia County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the United States. It is a tributary of

South Branch Roaring Creek South Branch Roaring Creek is a tributary of Roaring Creek in Columbia County and Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long. The upper reaches of the creek are located in Weiser State Forest, between Bi ...

. Mugser Run is located in Locust and Cleveland Townships. Forested land and agricultural land are by far the most common uses of land in the watershed. Brown trout and rainbow trout are found in the creek. The main rock formations are the

Trimmers Rock Formation Trimmer may refer to: * Trimmer (construction), beam used in construction * Trimmer (electronics), small electrical component * Trimmer (gardening), gardening power tool * Trimmer (surname) * Trimmer, California, community in Fresno County * Lam ...

and the

Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire For ...

–Buddys Run formation.

Course

Mugser Run starts in near

Pennsylvania Route 42 Pennsylvania Route 42 (PA 42) is a state route located in central Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at PA 61 in Centralia. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 220 (US 220) in Laporte. The route heads north through Columbia ...

in Locust Township, between

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

and Little Mountain. The creek flows west into Cleveland Township after a short distance. Upon entering Cleveland Township, it turns south and briefly skirts the northern edge of Little Mountain before turning north again. It passes by the community of Fisherdale and turns west, then turns north. For a while, the creek flows into a deep and narrow river valley. The valley widens out as the creek passes by a covered bridge. Just before its mouth, it enters

Knoebels Amusement Resort Knoebels Amusement Resort () is a family-owned and operated amusement park, picnic grove, and campground in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1926, it is America's largest free-admission park. The park has more than 60 rides including three wooden ...

. The creek empties into South Branch Roaring Creek at the Northumberland County line inside the park just under Knoebels Crystal Pool. Mugser Run has at least one tributary.

Watershed

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

ed land is the largest land use in the Mugser Run watershed, with 50.24% of the watershed consisting of forests. 45.65% of the land in the watershed of Mugser Run is devoted to

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. The third-largest use of land in the watershed is developed land, which takes up 4.11% of the watershed. The southern edge of the Mugser Run watershed is on Little Mountain and the northern edge is in the rolling hills of Cleveland Township. The western edge is in Locust Township and the eastern edge is at the Columbia/Northumberland County line. The area of the Mugser Run watershed is 11.9 square miles. A total of 3805.4 acres of land in the Mugser Run watershed consist of forest. 1781.6 acres of land in the Mugser Run watershed are devoted to

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

s. 1685.3 acres in the watershed consist of cropland. 276 acres of land are in low-intensity development. 19.8 acres are land in transition, 12.4 acres are

unpaved road Unpaved roads may refer to: * Dirt roads * Gravel roads A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the ru ...

s, 9.9 acres are from

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, and 2.5 acres are high-intensity development. On 61% to 66% of Mugser Run, there is a road within . On 75% to 83% of the creek, there is a road within . There is no location in Mugser Run that is not within of a road.

Hydrology

The average annual amount of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

in the Mugser Run watershed from 1991 to 2011 was . The average annual amount of

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

in the same period was . 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 ...

per day flow through Mugser Run. per day come from cropland. per day come from stream banks. A total of of sediment are contributed from hay and pasturelands. per day come from low-intensity development. Forests contribute per day. Unpaved roads contribute of sediment per day and land in transition contributes per day. per day come from high-intensity development and per day come from wetlands. In the summer of 2006, the temperature of Mugser Run ranged from and the site MURU1 to at the site MURU3. The

specific conductance Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allow ...

of the creek ranges from 93 micro-

siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

to 102 micro-siemens per cubic centimeter. The pH of the creek is slightly acidic, ranging from 6.33 to 6.84. The

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

of the creek ranges from 35.2 to 42.8 liters per second. In the summer of 2006, the concentration of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

in the waters of Mugser Run ranged from 1119.3 micrograms per liter to 1613.6 micrograms per liter. The concentration of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

ranged from 7.2 to 15.5 micrograms per liter. Mugser Run received a visual assessment in the fall of 2007, and was given scores on a scale of 0 to 28, with higher scores indicating higher quality. The scores of Mugser Run ranged from 19 to 20.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

significantly influences the

chemical hydrology Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tre ...

of Mugser Run.

Geology

Mugser Run is located entirely within 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 ...

physiographic province. The most significant

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sediment ...

s in the Mugser Run watershed are the

and the

–Buddys Run, which both occur in 35% of the watershed. The Catskill Formation–Irish Valley formation is the next-most prevalent formation, occurring in 20% of the watershed. The

Hamilton Group The Hamilton Group is a Devonian-age geological group in the Appalachian region of the United States. It is present in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, northwestern Virginia and Ontario, Canada. It is mainly composed of mar ...

and the Spechty Kopf Formation occupy 6% and 4% of the watershed, respectively. The Berks-Weikert-Bedington soil series is the most prevalent soil series in the Mugser Run watershed, occupying 34% of the watershed. The Leck Kill-Meckesville-Calvin soil series and the Hazleton-Dekalb-Buchanan soil series both occupy 33% of the watershed. Mugser Run has an elevation of above sea level.

History

The Johnson Covered Bridge No. 28 crosses Mugser Run. It was built by Daniel Stine for $799. Adam M. Johnson owned a shoe store on the creek near the Johnson Covered Bridge No. 28.

Biology

Mugser Run is a

trout stream 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-salmonid ...

. Its headwaters are considered

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 ...

. In 1985, it was stocked with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

. The concentration of brown trout in the creek ranges from about 76 to 78 kilograms per hectare. The fish range from 0.25 centimeters to 39.9 centimeters. At one site on Mugser Run (named MURU1 at 40.854461, -76.443677), 19 species of microinvertebrates have been observed. Three are considered abundant, one is considered common, six are considered present, and nine are considered rare. At another site (named MURU2), 21 species of microinvertebrates have been observed. Three are considered abundant, two are considered common, six are considered present, and ten are considered rare. At a third site (named MURU3 at 40.877083, -76.495773), 24 taxa have been observed. Two are considered abundant, two are considered common, ten are considered present, and ten are considered rare. The canopy coverage of Mugser Run ranges from 50% to 85%. The concentration of

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...

ranges from 2.00 to 2.66 micrograms per cubic centimeter.

References

{{authority control Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Pennsylvania