Published: August 15, 2009 12:23 am      

DEP project may restore trout to Little Conemaugh

LLOYDELL — The second phase of a project to protect and restore native brook trout habitat in the South Fork headwaters of the Little Conemaugh River is on target for a fall start.

That was the word Friday morning from Malcolm Crittenden, the state Department of Environmental Protection’s watershed manager for Cambria County, during a tour of the headwaters site.

Crittenden said the project began in the fall of 2008 when a limestone pond was created to neutralize acid mine drainage.

The brook trout are imperiled by acid mine drainage and sedimentation, he explained.

The pond was constructed under auspices of the Little Conemaugh Watershed Association, Crittenden said.

This fall, members of Dunlo Rod & Gun Club will apply limestone sand to acidified tributaries of the headwaters, further neutralizing acid mine drainage.

The third and final phase of the project will occur when the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission installs fish habitat structures along the stream banks where erosion poses threats. The structures reduce sedimentation and provide cover for the brook trout, Crittenden said. This phase will take place in 2010.

The total project covers four miles of the South Fork headwaters.

Total cost is about $250,000, said Ryan Roberts, communications coordinator for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Habitat Conservation, who was among those at the site Friday.

Scott Alexander, aquatic biologist with the Department of Environmental Protection, said the purpose of the entire venture is to restore the Little Conemaugh from its headwaters to Johnstown.

The project is being carried out through a grant from the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan.