On March 26, the PA Council of Trout Unlimited announced 12 grants totaling $80,000 have been awarded to conservation organizations across Pennsylvania through the Coldwater Heritage Partnership’s Coldwater Conservation Grant Program.

These funds will be used to perform stream assessments and develop conservation plans in seven watersheds and complete on-the-ground projects, such as construction of instream fish habitat structures, tree plantings, and stabilization of eroding stream banks in six additional watersheds. 

“The Coldwater Heritage Partnership is pleased to support the work that our conservation partners across Pennsylvania are doing to protect, restore, and enhance coldwater habitat for trout and other aquatic life,” said Rachel Kester, Program Director for the Coldwater Heritage Partnership program. “The projects they will be completing with these grants will have a measurable impact on water quality and will ensure that our coldwater streams remain healthy for wildlife and people alike.”

The following organizations will receive funding support from the Coldwater Heritage Partnership this year:

-- Centre County - Penns Valley Conservation Association: This project will install 16 streambank stabilization and fish habitat structures and plant 3,000 riparian trees and shrubs in a 1,200-foot segment of Muddy Creek on five adjacent properties in Centre County.

-- Chester County - Juniata College: This project will identify barriers to wild trout passage and areas for fish habitat improvement in the Doe Run watershed in Chester County.

-- Clearfield County Conservation District: This project will entail installation of structures to stabilize the banks of the Bennett Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek and Wilson Run in Clearfield County, improving sediment transport and instream habitat for native brook trout.

-- Clearfield County - Western PA Conservancy: WPC staff will complete at least 70 road-stream intersection surveys to determine current aquatic organism passage potential in three focal watersheds in Clearfield County.

-- Clearfield & Centre Counties - Moshannon Creek Watershed Association: This project involves updating water quality information in Moshannon Creek and its tributaries and identifying risks to the trout streams within this watershed in Blair, Clearfield, and Centre Counties.

-- Clinton County - Trout Unlimited PA Coldwater Habitat Program: This project will improve habitat for the existing Class A population of brook trout and reduce an estimated 5,400 pounds/year of sediment by addressing 7,920 feet of streambank erosion along Beaverdam Run in Clinton County.

-- Franklin County - Falling Springs Chapter of Trout Unlimited: This project will implement plans to clean, improve access to, and plant a riparian buffer along Falling Springs Branch in “The Meadows” section in Franklin County.

-- Huntingdon County Conservation District: This project will entail completion of a watershed assessment and development of a conservation plan that will provide a foundation for the management of the coldwater stream ecosystems in the Upper Standing Stone Creek watershed in Huntingdon County.

-- Jefferson County - Western PA Conservancy: This project will restore a 200-foot section of Clear Creek at Clear Creek State Park in Jefferson County by removing failing gabion baskets along the bed and banks and installing 12 fish habitat enhancement structures.

-- Luzerne County - Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation: EPCAMR will assess naturally reproducing and wild trout populations, aquatic connectivity, macroinvertebrates, and fish passage barriers within the Mill Run watershed in Luzerne County, and will identify where potential restoration and watershed improvement projects can be recommended for future implementation.

-- Somerset County - Western PA Conservancy - This project will mitigate the negative effects of stream acidification by strategically adding alkaline material to various locations in the headwaters of Shade Creek, in Somerset County, through instream dosing of limestone sand.

-- Warren County Conservation District: Project partners will gather data to prioritize projects that will improve the water quality, fish habitat, and streambank stability of Farnsworth Branch in Warren County.

The grants are made possible with financial assistance from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources through a Community Conservation Partnerships Program grant administered by the Bureau of Recreation and Conservation; annd through funding from the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.

The Coldwater Heritage Partnership is a collaboration between PATU, DCNR, the Fish and Boat Commission, and the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.

For more information on this and other initiatives, visit the Coldwater Heritage Partnership website.

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[Posted: March 26, 2020]

3/30/2020