This week a notice went out that Robert W. McCullough, Jr., 84, long-time Lycoming County Environmental Coordinator, advisor to the Department of Environmental Protection and Presidents as well as an advocate for local watershed protection, had passed away.

Over the last 30 years Bob demonstrated outstanding dedication and leadership in many public service positions from seats on the DEP Citizen’s Advisory Committee, DEP Solid Waste Advisory Committee, the Heinz Foundation, where he served on the Western Pennsylvania Watershed Group, and as a member of the Lycoming County Planning Commission as an advocate for environmental conservation.

Bob began his work with Lycoming County in 1971 by persuading all of the Lycoming County municipalities to adopt floodplain ordinances and enroll in the Federal Flood Insurance Program. This was a very timely action considering the Agnes Flood followed in 1972.

After the flood he served as the Pine Creek Recovery Coordinator supervising a pre-release prison crew to clean up flood debris and keep a tight rein on stream clearance projects and other stream work done by the various agencies. In the process, he prevented much of the large-scale bulldozing of the creek bed that channelized and ruined neighboring Kettle, Lycoming, Loyalsock, and Muncy Creeks.

Particularly noteworthy during this period was Bob’s dedication and passion to protect the fishing streams that he so loved.

Bob was infuriated when one of his favorite night fishing holes on the Sullivan County tributary of Loyalsock Creek was bulldozed after the Agnes Flood, and he beat a path to Harrisburg where he worked with DEP and Fish Commission officials to develop regulations and standards of operation for “stream clearance projects” done to remove gravel bars and debris after floods.

As an Environmental Coordinator with the Lycoming County Planning Commission he spearheaded the cleanup of 231 illegal roadside and stream-side dumps in Lycoming County. In order to discourage the re-occurrence of these dumps, he helped to develop a Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance that was adopted by municipalities. He also devised a system of municipal trash collections containers (“green boxes”) that are still used by municipalities today.

Bob negotiated adoption of the first Lycoming County Solid Waste Management Plan by municipalities and the Waste Flow Control Contracts that provided the financial assurance to build Lycoming County’s landfill. In conjunction with Jerry Walls from the Lycoming County Planning Commission, he also served as a consultant to Warren and McKean Counties to prepare their Solid Waste Management Plans and design their recycling systems patterned after the Lycoming County model.

Bob was a primary advocate of the Susquehanna River Flood Forecasting System that was established under the Susquehanna River Basin Commission during the 1980’s. He also developed the Lycoming County Flood Warning System that has provided property owners with advanced warnings of impending flood events. A related benefit of these systems has been to reduce demand for additional flood control dams on the river and its tributaries.

The Lycoming County Flood Warning System was rated by an independent evaluator under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the best flood warning system for high gradient streams in the nation. The Lycoming County Flood Warning System was featured in a FEMA National Training Video, and FEMA contracted with Bob to set up a flood warning system in West Virginia.

While working with DEP’s Citizen Advisory Committee, Bob was instrumental in drafting legislation to regulate the drilling and close-out of oil and natural gas wells. He then testified before the General Assembly on the need for such controls. That legislation, passed in 1986, has helped to reduce environmental damage from well drilling operations such as erosion and sedimentation, spillage of chemicals and the discharge of highly concentrated brine into steams.

Bob regularly spoke to school classes, Scout units, and other youth groups about water quality conservation, solid waste management, recycling and similar topics. The County Planning Commission recognized his outstanding work and kept him on as an Environmental Planner until he became the County’s first Recycling Coordinator with the County Solid Waste Department.

Bob retired from the County in January 1989, but continued to carry on the fight for Pennsylvania’s waterways and the environment.

As President of Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited and as Chair of the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, which uses legal action to bring polluters to justice, Bob worked to save numerous streams from pollution and has helped to positively influence state laws and programs affecting water quality, fish habitat, and fisheries management.

Through his contacts in the state’s angling community, Bob arranged for President Jimmy Carter’s first trip to Spruce Creek in Huntingdon County. For several years running thereafter, he acted as a personal fishing guide for former U.S. Senator John Heinz and his Senator friends, including Senators John Danforth and Al Simpson, on their visits to Lycoming County to fish our streams.

At every opportunity he advocated to the elected officials the need to strengthen environmental laws to protect the incomparable natural resources they were enjoying for future generations. As a result, he was called to Washington DC on several occasions to discuss environmental policy, once at the White House and another time with Interior Secretary James Watt.

Under his leadership with PEDF, Mr. McCullough has influenced governmental policy through legal actions against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force State Government to maintain and strengthen its special protection waters program.

He also took on the Fish & Boat Commission when it refused to clean up hatchery discharges to Fishing Creek, which led to long overdue upgrades to their sewage treatment plant. He was compelled to take this action even after the Fish Commission had awarded him their highest conservation award several years prior.

For the past 30 plus years, much of Bob’s personal environmental efforts have been focused on the Pine Creek Valley, a place he loves above all others. His efforts have contributed greatly to the valley’s current status as the most popular fishing destination in the State, as reported in the Fish Commission’s trout angler survey.

Bob led PEDF’s successful filing of petitions to have Slate and Cedar Run upgraded to “Exceptional Value” status. Through personal contacts with the Department of Transportation, he persuaded the agency to design an award winning relocation of Blockhouse Creek to reduce sedimentation flowing into Cedar Run from the dirt road that runs along it. This project was the forerunner of the successful State Dirt and Gravel Program.

Through his personal relationship with a landowner, Bob was able to coordinate the purchase of the 540 acre property on Pine Creek by the Nature Conservancy, which later sold it to the DCNR Bureau of Forestry assuring perpetual public access to more than a mile of creek frontage.

He was president and an active member of Babbs Creek Watershed Association where he work tirelessly with many different partners to ultimately accomplish his goal; by 2003 Bob and his partners worked for over 25 years, project by project, to clean up all the mine water discharges in the Babb Creek Watershed.

NewsClip: Community Says Goodbye to a Campion of the Environment

Online Video: Bob McCullough Talks About the Challenges of Babb Creek

Links: Babb Creek Watershed – A Success Story

Last Mine Discharge on Babb Creek Cleaned Up

Robert McCullough Profile, GreenWorks Gazette

Lycoming County Citizens Public Service Award

6/22/2007