Survey nets fish that are reproducing in once-polluted Stonycreek River

Parts of the Stonycreek River that were dead to aquatic life about 20 years ago are now supporting and regenerating fish in Cambria and Somerset counties.

Eric Null, adjunct professor at Garrett College, and his fisheries class students surveyed portions of the stream Friday in partnership with the Somerset Conservation District. They used electrofishing equipment that temporarily stuns the fish to allow the volunteers to net the fish for documentation.

They found an assortment of species including smallmouth bass, catfish, suckers, darters, chubs and stocked brown trout. Null was pleased to find northern hog suckers. “People don’t typically associate suckers with good, (but) it’s a great sign to find them. It’s rare to find them this big,” he said about some being over a foot long and being hatched in the stream. “It’s remarkable.”

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Fish have been discovered in the area in recent years, but the survey work shows that fish are surviving and are naturally reproducing.

Null was impressed to see little smallmouth bass ending up in their nets. “Young of the year is a good sign. They show there is viable reproduction of that species here.”

The fish are a reflection of the restoration efforts that have been underway.

“Everything you see here is less than 20 years old,” Null said about the stream that was polluted with abandoned mine drainage for decades. However, restoration efforts in the past two decades have made the water livable for a variety of fish and aquatic life like crayfish.

Greg Shustrick, watershed specialist with the Somerset Conservation District, said the survey is helpful in evaluating the five abandoned mine treatment facilities along Stonycreek.

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“We’re gathering some baseline fish data,” he said about looking at the abundance and diversity of fish. “What we found today is a good indicator of not a thriving fishery, but a budding fishery that has a lot of potential in the next three to five years.”

He said the water temperature is low enough to support everything from smallmouth bass to trout if the water quality stays where it’s at or improves.

He credits the Stonycreek Conemaugh River Improvement Project volunteers for getting the projects underway more than three decades ago.

Len Lichvar, manager of the Somerset Conservation District and vice chairman of SCRIP, said the goal is to continue what has been started.

He said the abandoned mine drainage isn’t being removed but treated, and that process will need to be continued for decades in the future.

SCRIP has been coordinating efforts of local, state and federal agencies to create the passive treatment systems that have “enabled the Stonycreek River to resurge back from a basically lifeless waterway from 100 years into a waterway that has aquatic life,” Lichvar said.

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It was honored as Pennsylvania's River of the Year in 2012. “There’s still much work to be done,” Lichvar said about pollution still entering parts of the stream.

It will take ongoing funding and efforts to maintain the current treatment systems as the pollution continues to flow from the mountainside. “It’s a challenge on both of those fronts,” Lichvar said. “We run the risk of losing everything we gained over the years,” he said about maintaining the treatment processes.

He said the stream has increased ecotourism in the  area with fishing, whitewater opportunities and trails. “They are all built on the foundation of clean water.”

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Paul Stetz of Johnstown has fished parts of the region for 25 years and is excited to see the Stonycreek being able to support fish again. “When I grew up this was all yellow,” he said about the abundant pollution. “It was a dead river.”

Thanks to groups like Trout Unlimited and the Stonycreek Conemaugh River Improvement Project, there are fish swimming again.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on your website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on social media @whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Conservation groups find wild fish in once polluted Stonycreek River