08/05/24 - 134 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/2ftnnnut
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Spotlight- Brook Trout Return To Kettle Creek After 13 Years Of Work
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After more than a decade of work repairing damage from abandoned coal mine drainage in the lower Kettle Creek Watershed, native brook trout have returned to a once-dead section of Middle Branch, a tributary to Twomile Run in northwestern Clinton County. "Improving water quality so that brook trout, Pennsylvania's state fish, can once again thrive is a major milestone," says Amy Wolfe, director of TU's Eastern Abandoned Mine Program. "The 13 years of hard work is paying off, thanks to thousands of hours spent by the dedicated volunteers of the Kettle Creek Watershed Association who have helped make this happen."
In August, TU and the Clinton County Conservation District conducted a fish survey on the stream and found that brook trout are living in the once biologically dead section of Middle Branch.
The brook trout were "young-of-year," meaning they were less than 10 centimeters, which is a good sign that the fish are naturally reproducing in the stream. The stream also has an increase in stonefly and caddisfly activity in this section, another sign of healthy water quality. The improved water quality in the Middle Branch is a result of a system TU installed there to treat abandoned mine drainage.
The project, a joint effort between TU and KCWA, was completed in 2007. TU and KCWA are working on additional restoration of Twomile Run to address mine drainage impacts there. The stream is a Class A native brook trout stream above the polluted section-- the highest quality ranking in the state. TU has worked to restore the Kettle Creek watershed since 1998.
Brook trout, Pennsylvania's only native salmonid, have inhabited eastern coldwater streams for millions of years. Prior to colonial times, the fish were present in nearly every coldwater stream and river throughout in eastern U.S. Strong brook trout populations, often used as an indicator of healthy water, began to decline in the Kettle Creek watershed and throughout the rest of the West Branch Susquehanna River basin due to early agriculture, logging and mining practices.
(Reprinted from the Winter 2011 edition of Trout from Trout Unlimited.)
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12/27/2010 |
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