May 17 Public Forum Explores Threats to Little Mahoning Creek

(Pittsburgh and Blairsville, Pennsylvania.  April 18, 2007). The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), in cooperation with Indiana County Conservation District and a host of other local conservation partners will host a public meeting to discuss the Little Mahoning Creek Aquatic Habitat Restoration Initiative. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 17 from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at the Marion Center Community Park Hall – across from Marion Center High School and next to the baseball field in Marion Center. The meeting is designed to inform the public about the project and give local residents an opportunity to provide input.

Streams less than a few miles away were seriously impaired by nearby bituminous coal fields, but somehow the Little Mahoning Creek in Indiana County dodged that fossilized bullet and today is listed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as a “high-quality cold water fishery.” The stream is home to a number of mussel, fish, and aquatic insect species, and is also inhabited by the eastern hellbender salamander. Rare and threatened species have thrived in these waters. And while there is much to celebrate about how the Little Mahoning Creek weathered the past 200 years, recent developments are beginning to take a toll on this resilient waterway.

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 a visual assessment of the watershed in December 2006, and findings derived from that effort indicated significant impairments resulting from accelerated erosion and sediment deposition. WPC scientists will begin 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 important restoration projects.

Area residents are encouraged to attend the meeting and provide comments about the project. For more information, contact Nick Pinizzotto of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy at (724) 459-0953 ext. 100.

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About the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy:
Since its founding in 1932, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected more than 212,000 acres of natural lands in Pennsylvania, restored watersheds and saved natural habitats for a diversity of life and uses.  The Conservancy has been responsible for the founding of six state parks, including Ohiopyle, Laurel Ridge, McConnell’s Mill, Moraine, Oil Creek and Erie Bluffs.  In addition, WPC created the 300-acre Wildflower Reserve at Raccoon Creek State Park, and added land to Blue Knob State Park.

The WPC also preserves Fallingwater®, the masterpiece home designed in 1935 by Frank Lloyd Wright for Edgar J. Kaufmann in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.  In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann jr. (sic) entrusted Fallingwater to the Conservancy.  Today, WPC continues its award winning preservation efforts and offers a wide variety of educational programs to more than 135,000 annual visitors.  The preservation of Fallingwater is a symbol of living in harmony with nature. 

Each year, WPC also partners with 5,000 volunteers and dozens of community organizations and businesses to plant and maintain more than 135 gardens and greening projects in 20 western Pennsylvania counties.

High resolution photographs are available upon request.

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