Mike Handley, the president of the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance, works to clear roots from the area of a stairway he and alliance board members are installing at a canoe and kayak launch along the Connoquenessing Creek earlier this year.The alliance has placed four launches along the creek in Butler County and two in Beaver County.

This year Butler will get a companion canoe landing site for boaters drifting down the Connoquenessing Creek from another launch site at Oneida Dam.

Dean Selfridge, 37, director of Butler's Parks, Recreation, Grounds and Facilities Authority, said $5,000 in grant money being brought to Butler by the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance will fund the construction of a new water access point in the city. Work should begin in May.

The access point will be off Kittanning Street by the city's road department, he said. The landing will be on city property.

This site is intended to give a landing point for canoers and kayakers heading downstream on the creek. It isn't really meant to be a launching point, Selfridge said, as the creek leads to another dam near AK Steel soon after the access point.

This is an excerpt — read the full article in Wednesday's Butler Eagle.