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Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Begins
Erosion Repair Work Along Little Mahoning Creek
(Pittsburgh and Blairsville, Pennsylvania. ) On Monday, August 27, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) began restoration work on two eroding streambanks along the Little Mahoning Creek in Indiana County. In partnership with Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, WPC identified the stream impairment found near Nashville, Pa, performed outreach and design work, and is now ready to implement this much-needed erosion repair work.
Both projects are within 500 yards of each other. The first requires strengthening 150-feet of streambank that rises 10 feet from the creek; the second is 200-feet in length with a three-foot high streambank. The project is funded my money raised by WPC.
“We’re excited about this project because it’s the first of many to come for the Little Mahoning Creek watershed,” said Ben Wright, assistant director of WPC’s Freshwater Conservation Program. A contractor has been hired to implement techniques WPC and the PA Fish and Boat staff designed for stream stabilization that protects fish habitat. The contractor will bring in backhoes and install 64 log pieces and more than 200 tons of rock to anchor the log devices. WPC staff will oversee and, when needed, will assist in the work. “I can pretty much guarantee that our staff will be swinging sledgehammers to pound rebar and will be moving and placing large rocks,” Wright noted.
Concurrently, WPC staff are in the process of removing Autumn Olive, an invasive plant found in the headwaters of Little Mahoning Creek, in partnership with PA Game Commission. WPC staff members estimate they will have cleared ten to fifteen acres along the stream by August 30.
WPC received a major grant from the Pittsburgh-based Colcom Foundation and additional funding from the Mellon Family Foundation to conduct a watershed assessment and begin restoration activities to repair damaged stream segments within the Little Mahoning Creek watershed. WPC completed an assessment of the watershed in December 2006, and findings derived from that effort indicated significant impairments resulting from accelerated erosion and the sediment it deposited in the creek. WPC scientists have already begun collecting mussel, fish, aquatic insect and water chemistry data throughout the watershed beginning this spring.
The primary goal of the long-term initiative is to protect this unique watershed from the impacts of erosion and sedimentation, which result from a variety of sources such as agriculture, dirt and gravel roads, and gas well drilling sites. WPC and other project partners plan to work with landowners and municipalities to address sources of pollution to Little Mahoning Creek, which will include providing funding to complete other important restoration projects.
For more information, contact Nick Pinizzotto of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy at (724) 459-0953 ext. 100.
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WPC Media Contacts
Jack Rowley
Communications Specialist
209 Fourth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
Phone: 412.586.2372
Fax: 412.281.1792
jrowley@paconserve.org
Jean DiTullio
Administrative Assistant
209 Fourth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
Phone: 412.586.2328
Fax: 412.281.1792
jditullio@paconserve.org
Toll Free Number:
866-564-6972 |
