How The Boy Scouts contributed to a major Environmental Disaster when Pine Creek Flooded in 2014 during Hurricane Ivan

The Best of Intentions lead to the Worst Decision.

How The BSA thought it was doing something good but in 2004 caused a Major Disaster when Ivan the Terrible came calling.

Around 30 + years ago in North Park one of the Allegheny County system of parks located in South Western Pa.

A group of scouts from the Silver Tip District held a Stream/Environment Improvement Camporee weekend . Camped appropriately next to a new Waste Transfer Station to help the environment In an effort to improve the condition of a well known Trout stream called Pine Creek which runs thru the park and all the way to the Allegheny River in Etna Pa.

The scouts under the direction of a Pa. Fish Commissioner and local Sportsman Assoc. from Allison Park Twp area with help from the local Navy Reserve Construction Battalion who brought in heavy operating equipment. got to work to help save the stream and make it better for fishing. So we thought.

One of the first areas to receive attention was behind a privately owned Babcock Swimming pool along the creek where the North Park Lake Spill way empties into the creek the whole area along this section of the creek was eroded and needed rebuilt it was decide to build a massive 100 plus foot wall 6 foot high with truck and car tires filled with rocks which provided a formidable barrier and did stop the erosion.

This was also done in several other areas along the creek as well. The tire walls worked where cheap and held back the hill sides and stopped the erosion. Only one problem no one thought thru what they where doing. Tires float and this was before all the environmental regulations of streams where in place. Today the scouts would have been forbidden from doing it.

Well for almost 30 years these walls held solid and caused no problems. But then in 2004 a Tropical storm which grew in to a horrendous Hurricane Ivan came up the East Coast and it visited the Western Pa. area bringing with it massive flooding in some areas worse than what was seen in 1936 during the St. Patrick Days flood. Pine Creek was decimated

Dozens of homes and business where badly flooded some so bad they where condemned.

Several Millions in damage,

And one of the big reasons why Pine Creek flooded so badly was because of all the thousands of tire used to make walls which broke loose and formed dams blocking the water.

There where plenty of township and state officials extremely mad about who put those tires in the creek all those years ago. Because it took big bucks to get them all rounded up taken out and properly disposed of. But is seems everyone has selective memory and no one dare point the finger at a Fish Commissioner who was a scoutmaster and who has since passed away or the Boy Scouts or the Sportsman assoc. whose insurance should have paid for this as they have activities insurance should they cause harm to a property. In fact no one wants to talk about what how and why to prevent some thing like this from ever happening again and yes it will happen.

But since the Boy Scouts can do no wrong and no one was willing to file actions or investigate a wrong has been allowed to go on.With no apology or review. So tell what exactly does the scout oath stand for.

Everyone is like well we did not know and there where no regulations and all the other bull crap that goes with it. But I know what happened and now you do.