The Shenango River - A waterway with two personalities

WPC Ecologist Robert Coxe has put together a series exploring the life, history and future of watersheds in Lawrence County. Today, Robert explores the Shanango River, which is the second in a series of six reports.

The Shenango River drains the northern parts of Lawrence, most of Mercer and southwestern Crawford counties in Pennsylvania and parts of northeastern Ohio. In terms of biological diversity, the river can be divided in two regions; that part upstream of the city of Sharon, and the rest of the river downstream of Sharon. Lawrence county is in the section downstream of Sharon which is the recipient of the accumulated pollution from industry, sewage treatment plants and forms of urban runoff which negatively impact the diversity in the river.

Above Sharon, the Shenango River is one of the more exceptional rivers in Pennsylvania in terms of biological diversity, especially as demonstrated by the variety of fish and freshwater mussel species. Pictured above is a scene on the Shenango River in Lawrence County, just upstream of the Route 18 bridge. Just below this scene is the Beaver River Islands biodiversity area, which is a significant conservation site identified in the Lawrence County Natural Heritage Inventory produced by WPC staff.

Photo by Robert Coxe.

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