I'd driven past the construction probably a hundred times since it began. Catching glimpses of the progress wasn't enough to make me nosy enough to stop and have a look around. A glance on occasion was adequate.
Part of my interest in all the work was that the northern portal is The Millennium Circle Portal, so named for a philanthropic group within The Luzerne Foundation. We're members and proud to be so.
My main interest, likewise altruistic, was that the River Common project had replaced and effectively stopped forever another project; the inflatable dam. I thought the dam a horrid idea. It was.
Please know that my opposition to this man-made intrusion was based on one fact and one fact alone; it would have been an ecological nightmare. As such, it had the potential to halt the Susquehanna River's recovery permanently, or for however long the dam was in place.
The thought of a big rubber water-stopper scared me from the start. A river needs to flow free, it's how they work, how they are ever changing and never changing at the same time. More important, it's how they heal themselves from human abuse. The Susquehanna is healing, that blow-up bladder would have been death to the riparian ecosystem that has begun to timidly return.
Despite what many may think, this river has made huge gains over the last ten to twenty years. Even throughout its stretch in this valley the Susquehanna is home habitat to Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons, and Snowy Egrets. Beneath the surface, the river holds a bounty of smallmouth bass, muskellunge, walleyed pike, catfish, eels, turtles.
Even the outrageous annual mayfly explosion on the river is cause for great optimism. These mayflies are truly the "canary in the coal mine" when it comes to water quality. Bad water - no mayflies. Mayflies are incredibly delicate, needing excellent water. Good water - lots of mayflies.
If we can ever get the good sense to remove all impediments, the American Shad will return to the river, even as far north as the Wyoming Valley. And that would be one heck of a site to see. Shad are anadromous, they start life in freshwater, maturing, growing to adulthood in salt water. They then return to their natal rivers to begin the cycle all over again.
For now, one heck of a site is the River Common. Go, see, enjoy the river as we haven't been able to since the years immediately following the Flood of '36, which is when the levee system began to take shape.
The mighty Susquehanna has been effectively sealed off to our population center for over seventy years. It is now again open to us all. Walk through the portals, they're yours and mine. The river is ours. The River Common is a great thing. My guess is that you will be impressed.
