On May 23, staff from the Erie National Wildlife Refuge, along with support from others, conducted the required periodic testing of the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for Dam #9. The testing was conducted to ensure refuge staff were acquainted with the procedures and required notification incase an incident were to occur during a storm event or dam failure. There is an EAP for Dam 9 due to the potential of flooding state or county roads. The overall testing included a review of dam facilities, potential failures, site visit to dam #9, review of EAP, mock exercises, and recommendations for any changes to EAP.

The periodic test was coordinated by staff from W.W. Wheeler and Associates, Inc. Additionally, on May 22 the dam facilities were inspected by refuge staff, Regional Dam Safety Officer, the Service's Dam Safety Officer, and folks from W.W. Wheeler and Associates, Inc. The team reviewed Standard Operating Procedures for Dam #9 as well as required maintenance of facilities. Refuge staff received accolades from the W.W. Wheeler and Associates, Inc. as well as the Service's Dam Safety Officer, and Regional Dam Safety Officer for having one the best maintained dams in the Service. Robert Battin, maintenance worker at Erie NWR is responsible for ensuring the refuge meets the requirements under the SOP and monitors the dam during storm events. Robert has done a tremendous job in keeping with these requirements.

The session ended with a few recommendations for improvement, which were very minor. The report is forth coming. Those in attendance included: Steve Jamison and John Treacy, W.W. Wheeler and Associates, Inc.; Don Sutter, Randolph Township EMP; Jim Boswell and Tom Bold, PA - DEP, Division of Dam Safety; Gary Wozniak, PA-DEP, Emergency Response NWRO; Brad Iarossi, Service's Dam Safety Officer; Ken Brownell, Regional Dam Safety Officer; Thomas Roster, Patty Nagel, Robert Battin, Jeff Enlow, Norma Kline, Erie NWR.