Snyder County creek gets makeover

By Tricia Pursell
The Daily Item

July 02, 2009 05:03 am

— MOUNT PLEASANT MILLS — Officials and volunteers put the final touches on a stream restoration project in Mount Pleasant Mills on Wednesday.
The project, funded through a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection, is meant to prevent soil erosion into Mahantango Creek next to the fire company’s carnival grounds. It also will provide a more thriving habitat for trout.
The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy applied for a Growing Greener grant through DEP in hopes of completing a stream restoration project in each of the region’s 14 counties.
The projects have received money through several funding sources, according to Renee Carey, conservancy executive director. Combined, the funds total $600,000, which includes in-kind services provided by the state Fish & Boat Commission.
Carey said 20 projects have been scheduled. In addition, the grants have funded 15 workshops, which are meant to increase public awareness and generate interest in the effort.
The grant was received by the conservancy in 2008, but the group missed last year’s construction season, Carey said. Late June is usually when construction on such projects begins.
The Mahantango Creek project cost about $5,000, according to Jason Winey, watershed specialist for the Snyder County Conservation District. “We were counting heavily on donated materials,” he said, which include hemlock logs and sizable rocks to prevent soil erosion. “We did really well getting this project on the ground as cheap as possible.”
Last year, Winey proposed three Snyder County creeks for the project: Penns Creek, Middle Creek and Mahantango Creek.
Mahantango was chosen because of its high visibility and high use, Winey said. “It was really eroding and dumping a lot of sediment in the stream,” he added.
The conservation district and the Fish & Boat Commission, along with their hired excavating company, Locust Grove Excavating, provided erosion control along 450 feet of stream bank and created a more suitable fish habitat.
“The primary focus is for fish habitat enhancement,” said Tyler Neimond, habitat manager with the Fish & Boat Commission, who was overseeing the project along with fellow manager Keith Beamer. The secondary purpose is to provide streambank stabilization and to create a space where vegetation can grow. The log and rock structures provide a better slope for this to happen, he said.
The creek is primarily a stock trout stream, Neimond said. “This will hold them here and maybe longer throughout the summer, so it increases angler opportunity,” he said.
Two similar projects are slated in Northumberland County, beginning next week.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.