By Stephen Smoot
Pendleton County sits at or near the headwaters of the rivers whose watershed helps to define the Potomac Highlands region. With the South Branch, South Fork, and North Fork valleys all historically suffering floods from time to time, emergency management officials need as much information as they can obtain about rainfall and streamflow during conditions of both heavy rains and drought.
Yet only two gauges measure streamflow in Pendleton. One operates at the low water bridge in Franklin while the other measures the flow of the South Fork at the US 33 bridge in Brandywine.
The North Fork’s farthest upstream gauge sits near Smoke Hole in Grant County.
The Pendleton County Local Emergency Planning Committee in its second quarterly meeting heard an update on new gauges, as well as other vital information last Thursday.
Bruce Minor, who chairs the LEPC, opened the meeting, saying “I want to thank eve- ryone for coming.” He then shared that the new traffic camera on Elk Mountain was operational, adding “I’ve gotten onto the web page and looked at it. It has some really great pictures.”
Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, noted, “It’s definitely well lit. It lights up the top of the whole mountain.”
Minor then informed the committee of the need for a commodities flow study. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the studies “are conducted to provide detailed information about the type, volume, and spatial distribution of hazardous materials traveling through your counties by highways and rail.”
The commodities flow study became necessary when the requirements of the county emergency plans were changed. Minor expressed in frustration of mandates derived from a template formed for the Kanawha Valley that “the shoe doesn’t fit us.” Pendleton County has neither chemical producing facilities, nor railroads that trains carrying hazardous materials might use.
Another federal directive is mandating that the LEPC adjust its bylaws. Minor stated that “everybody’s trying to save their jobs” at the federal level. “They don’t like our bylaws, so we have to change our bylaws.”
Minor had already crafted a draft of new bylaws and offered to share with anyone on the committee who wished to peruse them. He also mentioned that the membership list required an update and asked for ideas on who else should be invited to join, then suggested that state forestry officials might be suitable candidates to participate officially.
Gillespie then provided the update on river and rain gauges.
Pendleton County will receive, as Gillespie describes, “more modern radar based stream gauges.” The current ones in operation, installed and run by the United States Geological Survey, he said are “old fashioned.”
He then thanked the Pendleton County Commission for providing funding, as of July 1 of this year, to install six gauges using the latest technology. They will measure streamflow in all three valleys.
Gillespie stated that “as we know, a lot of carnage can happen” in the North Fork upstream of the initial gauge in Smoke Hole.
“The way they report and the way we monitor them” will provide “instantaneous” information that can make a major difference in extreme weather events.
Three rain gauges will monitor that form of weather. Gillespie said that one will be placed at the position of the Elk Mountain traffic camera. Both electric power and access to the internet make it a convenient spot.
Gillespie also explained that the location has strategic type value since it sits “near the birthplace of several different rivers going in several different directions.”
This will help serve the needs of Pocahontas and Randolph counties as well.
Brooke Hott shared from the Pendleton County Health Department that “we are potentially getting a grant to get some outreach to poultry farmers.” That would come in the form of updated information about the avian flu which has caused deep concerns and heightened restrictions protecting the industry and those who work in it.
Minor praised the effort, saying that it will “make sure our people aren’t getting into any trouble, getting sick, that sort of thing.”
J. L. Dempsey provided an update from the Pendleton County Sheriff’s Department, saying that they will soon install a new records management system. This improvement will share information “a lot quicker and easier” than what they use currently.
Later in the meeting, he told of the sheriff’s department’s ongoing efforts to hire a new deputy. Dempsey shared that the state had recently “taken age limitations off.” Anyone 18 years of age or over can now be hired by county sheriff’s departments where before they could not hire an individual aged 45 or older.
Dempsey added the provision that they would have to meet would be the physical conditioning standards of the West Virginia State Police Academy. He added that both a criminal record and “a pattern of criminal activity” would also prevent one from hire.
Dempsey explained that “we can’t hire you if you are lying, cheating, or stealing” or have a pattern of arrests or connections with criminal activity, even if one has never been convicted of an offense.
Mike Alt, training officer for Pendleton County Emergency Rescue, described ongoing concerns about the West Virginia Legislature’s approaches to supplementing the funding of EMS. “We’re all watching the state to see what’s happening” on the issue.
A legally established EMS Salary Enhancement Fund was depleted, but lawmakers are currently examining a bill that would allow each county’s voters to enact a one cent sales tax to fund emergency services.
Alt also shared worries about the impact of a little known COVID era federal law change regarding camping on national forest lands. Previous restrictions on where and when one may camp were erased, including time limits on how long one can remain in place.
This change allows people, as Alt puts it, camp “anywhere and everywhere.” He joked that “it makes me want to go onto national forest land and set up a house there.”
