On March 21, the USDA Forest Service announced that a joint effort continues to improve the health of streams in the Allegheny National Forest.

Large wood additions improve stream health and entail directionally felling carefully selected trees into the streams to improve aquatic habitat and slow flood flows.

Five miles of large wood additions have been added to Bear Creek (Elk County) over the past two months.

Project work is planned to take place this year on the Farnsworth Branch of Tionesta Creek, Little Hickory Run, Lamentation Run, and Irwin Run.

These are joint projects with forest partners, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and Trout Unlimited that are funded by investments through the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

Present-day streams look very different today than what they looked like before the logging era in the late 1700s to the early 1900s.

Historic logging practices prevented large wood from accumulating in streams and rivers. Rocks and debris were cleared from streams to make it easier to transport logs to market.

The result over time was the degradation of stream health.

Large wood additions will help return the streams to a more natural state by slowing stream flows, aerating the water, and providing habitat for aquatic organisms like native brook trout.

Additional benefits include increased storage of water on the floodplain and increased groundwater recharge that makes the watershed more resilient during high-flow events and hotter summer temperatures.

The Forest Service provides a data explorer called Forests to Faucets 2.0 that can be used to learn more about watersheds.

The interactive map and data sets show that forests are a critical link in providing dependable water supplies across the country.

In recognition of World Water Day, March 22, 2024, explore where your water comes from.

The map shows how water from the Allegheny National Forest connects us all, from the Allegheny Scenic and Wild River to the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and all the communities in between and beyond.

Explore other ways Nature Connects Us on the National Forest Foundation website.

Click Here to read the complete announcement.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.

Click Here to check out your streams.  Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.

Resource Link:

-- Western PA Conservancy: Watershed Conservation Program Receives US Forest Service Award For Decades-Long Work To Improve Water Quality In Allegheny National Forest

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[Posted: March 22, 2024]

3/25/2024