This week the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy and its partners announced the completion of the Beaverdam Run Watershed Study to document the current water quality status of the stream and its tributaries.

In 2012, the Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team, a program of the local not-for-profit conservation organization – Conemaugh Valley Conservancy – received a grant from the Coldwater Heritage Partnership to create a conservation plan for the Beaverdam Run Watershed near Central City, Somerset County. 

The purposes of this project were to document the value of and threats to this high-quality stream and to jump-start projects to maintain or enhance this waterway.

The Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team worked with the California University of PA, Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Environmental Protection, Shade Creek Watershed Association, and others to study the current state of Beaverdam Run and its tributaries and compare results to historical data. 

The Stream Team found that over the years, the water quality of Beaverdam Run has fluctuated ever so slightly, but enough to change the dynamics of the fishery.  In the 1990s, the upper reach of Beaverdam Run was classified as a Class A Wild Trout Water by the Fish and Boat Commission. 

Wild brook and brown trout were found in abundance; however, a drop in trout biomass in the late 1990s and early 2000s, prompted the PFBC to lower this section of Beaverdam Run to a Class B stream in July 2006.  It seems a drop in alkalinity – the ability of water to neutralize or buffer an acid – impeded the natural cycle of trout. 

While a healthy fish population exists in the upper portion of Beaverdam Run and the PFBC and local trout cooperative stock the lower portion, the Stream Team feels the fishery could be enhanced by careful additions of an alkaline material, like limestone, which would counteract the effects of acidic precipitation and naturally acidic geology. 

In cooperation with state agencies, the Shade Creek Watershed Association has been adding crushed limestone to select stream segments throughout the Shade Creek Watershed.  The Stream Team will work with them to expand this work.

Partners were excited to find two wild tiger trout fingerlings in Beaverdam Run.  Tiger trout are a cross between brook and brown trout, which typically do not crossbreed in the wild.  Additionally, they were surprised to find a true blue crayfish – (Cambarus monongalensis) – a rare find as it is a burrower, most active at night, and at the very edge of its range in the Beaverdam Run Watershed.

The Beaverdam Run Coldwater Conservation Plan may be downloaded on the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy’s website.

11/11/2013