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Vol. 59. No. 1, Spring/Summer 2021 (pp. 2 - 21) Charles H. Wade Socioeconomic and Demographic Planner Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Abstract Boathouse Row, in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, is one of the city’s longstanding heritage landscapes. Among this historic collection of buildings stands Turtle Rock Lighthouse, Philadelphia’s only remaining lighthouse and one of the few standing in Pennsylvania. Notably, Turtle Rock is embedded within one of the boathouses, the Sedgeley Club, which was the first women’s athletic club founded in the United States. This paper traces the co-development of both Turtle Rock Lighthouse and the Sedgeley Club into a single institution as they became significant but lesser-known features of both Philadelphia’s social history and heritage landscape. Through this case study’s deeper examination of the historical and geographical contexts, I argue that lighthouses are too often overlooked or disregarded elements of cultural landscapes in scholarship and should be better appreciated aspects of our heritage and built environment. (pp. 22 - 32) Nicholas A. Moctezuma, Brian W. Okey and Sudeshna Ghosh Department of Geography, Geology, Environment, and Planning Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, Pennsylvania Abstract The growth of utility-scale wind energy in the U.S. in recent decades has been fueled by environmental priorities and new technologies. However, the resulting transformation of habitats and more direct, often fatal, interactions between avian wildlife and turbines have led to mitigation strategies to reduce conflicts involving birds and (more recently) bats. This paper focuses on approaches to reduce bat mortality at “wind farms.” Current literature is reviewed in order to compare different strategies being implemented or researched. Our findings suggest greater potential for reductions in bat fatalities when turbine cut-in speeds are employed than when ultrasonic or other deterrent methods are used. The limited number of articles addressing outcomes under different operational regimes underscores the need for further research on both the methods and relative costs of mitigation strategies. (pp. 33 - 56) Eric Clausen Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Temple University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Abstract Topographic map evidence for previously unexplained Casselman River direction changes (including where it joins the Youghiogheny River) indicates prolonged and massive volumes of south-oriented water once flowed across the Conemaugh-Casselman River drainage divide and formed diverging southwest- and southeast-oriented channels with the southwest-oriented flow joining south-oriented flow on today’s north-oriented Youghiogheny River alignment. The southeast-oriented channel eroded a water gap across an emerging Negro Mountain and then a diverging southwest-oriented channel followed the northeast-oriented Casselman River alignment to reach south-oriented flow on the now north-oriented Youghiogheny River alignment while the southeast-oriented channel and a southeast-oriented channel which diverged from the southwest-oriented channel eroded the Flaughtery and Piney Creek water gaps into an emerging Meadow Mountain. Conemaugh River drainage system development ended south-oriented flow into the Casselman River drainage basin while regional uplift caused drainage reversals to create today’s northeast-, northwest-, and southwest-oriented Casselman River. A CHANGE OF SCALE IN THE EXAMINATION OF CHILDREN’S BLOOD LEAD LEVELS IN READING, PENNSYLVANIA (pp. 57 - 74) Robert C. Ziegenfus Department of Geography Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown, Pennsylvania Abstract At the author’s request, the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided blood lead data for children living within the 69 block groups in Reading for the period 2015- 2019. Of the 12,232 children tested, 10.9% were considered to have an elevated blood lead level. There were no statistically significant differences between males and females by contrast with other studies. Block groups with the highest percent of elevated test results were concentrated in the center of the city. Old housing, the percent of Hispanic renters, a less than high school level of education, and low incomes were the most important risk factors correlated with the elevated blood levels. The techniques demonstrated herein could serve as a model to target the geographic areas of greatest concern. |