Fun Facts

Quick and interesting facts about the Juniata Watershed!

Culture Fun Facts

Historic Fun Facts

c There are 115 historic sites in the watershed listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These properties are at least 50 years old!

c There are 349 other historical and archaeological sites identified throughout the watershed, about 300 of these are assumed to date from pre-European settlement (9000 B.C. to 1700 A.D.).

c Two State Heritage Parks intersect the watershed, The Allegheny Ridge State Heritage Park, and The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.

Outdoor Fun Facts

c The most popular activities of visitors in the region are camping and nature sightseeing, According to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

c Hiking, wildlife watching, and fishing are other popular activities for visitors and residents. About 46,000 fishing licenses and 61,000 hunting licenses were sold throughout the watershed in 1996.

c A study by the National Park Service estimated that 89% of all participants in outdoor recreation activities in Blair and Huntingdon counties are nonresidents.

c Eleven state parks are located in the watershed!

c The location of state parks was designed so that no resident of Penn’s Woods would be further than 25 miles from at least one of these precious places.

c There are 32 State Game Lands in the watershed, totaling 158,192 acres.

c The Mid-State Trail (MST) provides 189 miles of rugged, cross-country hiking along the ridges of central Pennsylvania.

c The watershed houses two outdoor and environmental education facilities: the Raystown Field Station and Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center.

Raystown Lake Fun Facts

c The Juniata Watershed houses the largest lake in all of Pennsylvania; the Raystown Lake.

c The lake was man-made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

c It is 30 miles long, and 8,300 acres!

Biology Fun Facts

I Biological resources are the flora and fauna, or living organisms, of an ecosystem.

I The Juniata Watershed is home to many different species of wildlife including:
172 species of birds (songbirds, waterfowl, raptors)
50 species of mammals (game and non-game)
10 species of snakes (including two venomous species: the northern copperhead and the timber rattlesnake)
8 species of turtles and lizards
20 species of amphibians (including bullfrogs, wood frogs, and the American toad)
63 species of fish
119 different macroinvertebrate species

I Game birds in the Juniata Watershed include waterfowl and forest/meadow birds. Non-game birds in the watershed include 29 species of warblers, 18 species of sparrows, finches, and grosbeaks, 9 species of hawks and eagles, 8 species of flycatchers, 7 species of woodpeckers, 6 species of swallows, 5 species of owls, and assorted wrens, vireos, thrushes, nuthatches, chickadees and more.

I Canoe Creek State Park is the home of the largest nursery colony of little brown bats in Pennsylvania.

I Right now, a total of 10 endangered/threatened species live in the watershed. The species include: upland sandpiper, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, osprey, least bittern, loggerhead shrike, Eastern small-footed myotis (bat), Indiana myotis (bat), Allegany woodrat, and regal fritillary.

I Approximately two-thirds of the Juniata watershed is forested. This amount of forestland in the watershed is much greater than 100 years ago.

I An "invasive species" is defined as a species that is 1) non-native (or exotic) to the ecosystem and 2) whose introduction to the ecosystem causes harm. Invasive species can be plants, animals, and other organisms. There are about 40 invasive plant species in the watershed.

I Wetlands are unique habitats where water meets land. More than one-third of the endangered or threatened species in the United States spend all of their lives in wetlands.

Land Fun Facts

4 Almost 60 percent of Pennsylvania is covered by forest which amounts to about 17 million acres.

4 Pennsylvania forests contain more hardwood growing stock than those of any other state, and they support a $5 billion per year forest products industry which employs 90,000 people.

4 A wide variety of wildlife and plant habitats can be found in the forests, including those of more than 90 species of trees and about two-thirds of Pennsylvania's native plants.

4 The ownership of Pennsylvania's forest is diverse. Public ownership, including federal, state and municipal holdings, accounts for 25% of the Commonwealth's forests. Industrial ownership accounts for less than 3% of our forestland. Over half a million private non-industrial forest landowners control most of the remaining 12.5 million acres.

4 The Pennsylvania State forest is the largest "green certified" forest in North America at 2.1 million acres.

4 In 2001 Pennsylvania was awarded the 3rd annual SFI State Implementation Committee Award for its achievements in the implementation of sustainable forest practices.

Water Fun Facts

$ Each person uses about 12,000 gallons of water a year, with one-third used for flushing toilets!

$ There are 83,161 miles of streams and rivers in Pennsylvania!

$ 70% of both the Earth's surface and our bodies is water!

$ 75% of a living tree is water!

$ The average cost of water in an American home is about 5 gallons for one cent!

$ There is the same amount of water on Earth as there was when the
Earth was formed. The water from your faucet could have molecules that dinosaurs drank!

$ Only 1% of the Earth’s water is available for drinking! The rest is in oceans or glaciers!

$ A person can live for about a month without food, but for less than a week without water!

$ The rain supplies the aquifer with water. It is part of a water cycle:
• Water vapor gathers in clouds. Wind cools the vapor, turning it into a liquid (rain) or a solid (snow, hail or sleet).
• Gravity makes the water fall to the earth.
• Some water runs across the land into bodies of surface water.
• Other water soaks into the ground.
• This water is stored in the ground in Aquifers.
• The sun heats surface water turning it into vapor that rises into the sky.