Glade Run Restoration Brings Brook Trout Back to Stream

By Ben Moyer

Brook trout will spawn again this fall in remote and beautiful Glade Run, a tributary to Dunbar Creek and the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County. That’s significant because, as recently as 1998, the stream was declared virtually dead after a baseline biological study by faculty and students from California University of Pennsylvania. Abandoned mine drainage had poisoned the otherwise pristine stream.

Glade Run’s rebirth is the payoff for a five-year restoration project spearheaded by the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) in Uniontown. Growing Greener grants, plus numerous in-kind contributions from diverse public and private sources, made the project possible.

WPC’s Watershed Assistance Center (WAC) has been a key partner in Glade Run’s recovery. WAC staff helped TU apply for grants, and offered technical assistance in the application of alkaline sand as a temporary treatment tactic, and with the design and installation of a permanent anoxic limestone drain treatment system.

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