Limestone Channel Before Settling Pond at Robbins Hollow Project

Trout Unlimited and the Kettle Creek Watershed Association this week celebrated completion of a large abandoned mine reclamation project and construction of four passive mine drainage treatment systems that significantly reduce the flow and severity of mine discharges into the Kettle Creek watershed in Sproul State Forest, Clinton County.

The mine reclamation project involved site grading, the addition of soil amendments and establishing vegetation on a 57-acre abandoned strip mine that contributed a significant amount of mine drainage to Twomile Run, which enters Kettle Creek approximately four miles upstream from the West Branch Susquehanna.

Twomile Run supports a Class A population of native brook trout upstream of the point where mine drainage enters the stream and destroys all aquatic life.

The four passive treatment systems were constructed in Robbins Hollow which is a tributary of Twomile Run. The passive systems utilize treatment methods such as ponds that contain just limestone, or a bottom layer of limestone with mushroom compost on top, to generate alkalinity and help to precipitate toxic metals such as aluminum and iron.

The combination of treatment methods will treat approximately 1/3 of the mine drainage that impacts Robbins Hollow.

A second phase of the project is underway to construct two more passive treatment systems to completely restore the headwaters of Robbins Hollow, and improve the overall water quality of Twomile Run and Kettle Creek.

The project was funded in part by a $576,712 Growing Greener Grant from the Department of Environmental Protection in 2001. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provided additional funding.

Reclamation was coordinated and completed through the efforts of Trout Unlimited and the Kettle Creek Watershed Association. Total project cost is approximately $1 million.

The main stem of Kettle Creek runs for nearly 43 miles and drains 244 square miles of remote mountain land in Northcentral Pennsylvania. It is home to over five percent of Pennsylvania’s Class A wild trout streams, but the creek’s final 15 miles are virtually sterile due to acid mine drainage from abandoned surface and underground coal mines.

Restoring the Kettle Creek and the 4.4 million-acre West Branch Susquehanna watershed is a cornerstone of Governor Rendell’s PA Wilds initiative to reclaim and protect this vast natural resource for future generations.

For more information on the West Branch, click here. (See separate article on Trout Unlimited magazine article.)

Attachment: Twomile Run Photo Feature - PDF

8/12/2005