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htps://wow.bayjournal.cou/news/ isherics/Lrout-ualimited-group-keeps-lish-habitat-going-for- 36 years/article cd094252 7266 11ec ae6t ebadtdh2acbt htm! Trout Unlimited group keeps fish habitat going for 36 years Ad Crable Jens 2002 Sr oe a eae Pate SS th the Wo ey Caspr of eo Unis ave estone no doses thao ca sen abou 20 ma Str sansa’ designate cx Every week for almost 36 years, a group of mostly older adults with a Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited chapter have performed an unheralded bnt vital task: keeping Stony Creek, the state's first designated scenic river, vale tor fis. ‘They drive, bicycle, cross-couutry ski or suowshoc — whichever is necessary — 4 miles into Pennsylvania's second-largest roadless area, where they take turns hurling 160 shovelfuls of| limestone gravel into two round, grate-covered holes in the gromnd. From there, gravity and phiysies lake over and doa remarkable Lhing, Waler tainted with acid mine drainage from adjacent Rausch Creek, Stony Creek's primary tributary in northeast Lebanon County, is diverted by pipe into the limestone-filled wells, The churning limestone rocks both remove the acidity and send a phume of dissolved limestone downstream, raising the pl im Stony Creek: The now-alkaline waler counteracts Une lingering mine pollution and enables trout and other aquatic Tifeta survive in the gorgeous wild strearn For about 20 ies, until it joins He Susquclanna River above Harrisburg, Without the regular dose of limestone, trout stocked in the stream — and now sometimes reprodncing, would die within weeks. en Cairn Uh Dc Fichty Cape Tol Onde nes ov he ke fp, po ean der cage out te ven Sousa st stats oa noe the Swedish-aesign (realment system, originally installed hy the Harrisburg arca trout Unlimited Doc Fritchey Chapter volunteers in 1986 and expanded in 2000, is believed to be the first limestone diversion well built in the US. Several generations of volunteers with the conservation group have doggedly kept the effort going, all Luese years, Some are gone, and many ue longer even fish but do the work to give something back to their cherished pastime, “sm thankful that we can do something that makes a difference in the world,” said George Dobson, who showed up on a chilly December Sunday along wilh nine others and a black Labrador retriever for the maintenance ritual. “‘And this makes a difference, even if isa small difference, You don't do it because you have to, you do it because you should doit. Andy Link, a relative youngster at 39, isa graphic designer who cut his flyfishing teeth on Stony Creek. About fonr years ago he came across the limestone crews, learned of their mission and was rocked “The fact that there is no electricity or automation involved and everything works off of Mother Nature and gravity and human engineering is ust kind of mind-blowing.” he sai. “you have Labeliewe in whal you're doing,” said 78 year old Rick Haver, a reliree like most of the fis helps all wildlife, not just trout.” others in the group. ‘hi namily opera nsson ase on Raich cock a Penns ata a tac devastate Ue abit iy ht ages om past coal lang would Lamy Herr.a Farmer and octogenarian, is known as “the ald man ofthe woods" to the others because he still roams these mountains daily. He describes himself as “redneck environmentalist” His great-grandmother nsed to be the postmaster of Cold Springs, long-vanished mining boom town not far from the limastone wells sere has helped with the weelly tending of the limestone "doser” for two decades "because it's the right thingto do.” Stomy Creek is an extremely popular put-and-take trout stream in neighboring Dauphin County, where i exis Saint Anthony's Wilderness on Stale Game Lands 277, Buin the 1980s, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission noticed something disturbing in their stacking cffart there: ‘Trout were going belly-up within weeks of being stocked. An analysis showed that Ransch Crock, teso branches of which come together ta hecome Stony Crock north of Fort Lndiautown Gap, was carrying acid mine drainage, making it too acidic to support trout The yellow-colored pollution emanated from long-abandoned deep coal mines of the early 1800s, as ‘well as from waste coal piles on the surface and strip mines on a nearby ridge. Acid rain was once a factor, tao, though federal air pollution laws have largely ended it, A fish and wildlife rescarch unit thal included Penn State University, Pennsylvania's game and fish commissions and the U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a possible solution, The Doc Fritchey Chapter eagerly signed on, obtaining all of the needed materials and providing free labor and equipment for the experimental limestone diversion well, And they volunteered to keep the closer running, onan ofits Raub Fhnier“rau Teds al erupt atin rs el Bros drs seers on slvanlese ee ar sha 38 yes ‘rhe eesulls have been nothing short of amacing, they say. Not only do stocked trout survive waless hooked by an angler, but the improved water quality has allowed trout to hold over from one season to the next and reproduce in the wild. The first stop for the Doc Fritchey vohmteers when they get to the diversion wells isto climb a narrow bridge over Rausch Crecleand look for small, wild brook trout, “when you look down off the bridge and see the brookies it's like, whoa, we're doing something here,” #4 year old Joe Notarangelo sai. “stony Crock was dead, Nothing, was alive int. And we brought itlback,” noted Bab Bauer, 69, “When Uhcard about it | said, "ee got to kop that stream alive.” ‘They have kept the dosers working through thick and thin, Last fll, a huge oak tree toppled in a ‘windstorm, rupturing the cast ion diversion pipe and sending.a geyser into the forest. twas quickly repaired ‘The chapter persuaded lennsy Supply to donate the limestone racks from its quarry and Sensenig Masonry to deliver itto the wells. But everything else feeding the limestone into the wells, clearing leaves from the diversion pipe intake and other tinkering — the yoluntuers da without Fal 1s. social event as well as a work detail, Donuts and coffee served from the bed of a pickup or SLY are the reward after scooping, limestone, Somehow, word of the weekly open air coffee klatsch made il loa website used hy through hikers on the Appalachian Trail, which crosses the creek nearby sikers began showing up cach week for the "Dunkia’ Donuts stop on the AT.” Architect Joseph Comnor, 82, one of the younger members of the crew, is focused on keeping the Stony Creek revival going. “We joke about it being a science fair projec, and ik vas,” he said, “AL some point all of us won't be here, but the wells probably will be. We have to get another generation involved. There are no manuals t's all shared knowledge.” Ad Crable ‘Ad Crablois a Bay Journal staff writer hased in Pennsyivania, Contact him at 717 341 7270 or [email protected],