The Game Commission recently received the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited’s "Coldwater Conservationist of the Year Award" at its annual banquet in Uniontown, Fayette County, in recognition of the agency's partnership in helping to address acid mine discharge in local watersheds.

As a result of the partnership, national Trout Unlimited honored the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of TU, headquartered in Uniontown, with the Silver Trout Award for 2006. The Silver Trout Award recognizes nationally significant efforts by local chapters in coldwater conservation. Only one other TU chapter in the United States achieved a higher rating than Chestnut Ridge during 2006.

"The cooperation of the Pennsylvania Game Commission is a big part of the reason that Chestnut Ridge has won national recognition," said Chestnut Ridge TU president Allen Tedrow. "Without the cooperation and direct assistance of the Pennsylvania Game Commission and its land management staff in southwestern Pennsylvania, it would not have been possible for Chestnut Ridge to achieve the watershed reclamation success it has documented on Glade Run and the Dunbar Creek watershed."

Cooperation of the Game Commission was critical because three of the best possible alkaline sand treatment sites (but not the abandoned mine lands) are located on State Game Land 51. Game Commission cooperation and assistance provided Chestnut Ridge with access to the treatment sites, and occasional use of equipment and manpower.

One of Chestnut Ridge TU's most successful projects is the reclamation of Glade Run, a tributary to Dunbar Creek and the Youghiogheny River. Glade Run is a beautiful headwater stream that was seriously degraded by coal mining in the 1950s and '60s.

Watershed monitoring done by the Environmental Studies program at California University of Pennsylvania identified no fish or insect life in Glade Run before Chestnut Ridge began its reclamation efforts in 1999.

With funds raised at its annual banquet, grants from the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and from Growing Greener, Chestnut Ridge TU has placed more than 2,000 tons of alkaline sand at three treatment sites on the Glade Run headwaters to neutralize acid mine drainage, and constructed a permanent $200,000 anoxic limestone drain treatment system.

California University documented spawning brook trout in Glade Run as a result of the Chestnut Ridge reclamation efforts.

Chestnut Ridge currently has other acid-mine drainage reclamation projects in progress on Morgan Run and Jonathan Run, both tributaries to the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County.

Scott Tomlinson, Game Commission Land Management Group Supervisor for Fayette and Somerset counties, accepted the award on behalf of the agency.

"Conservation starts with clean water," Tomlinson said. "It is an honor to be part of the efforts of the Chestnut Ridge Chapter. They are making a positive impact on the natural resources of their community and their state."

4/6/2007