Four Mile Creek Ecosystem Gets Makeover
April 11th, 2008| By DAVE SKELLIEIt’s only eight miles long in a watershed that encompasses 11.93 square miles, yet its health is important for an entire ecosystem. Four Mile Creek, four miles east of the city of Erie, flows through the municipalities of Greene, Harborcreek and Lawrence Park townships and Wesleyville Borough. From its mouth about one-half mile north of Route 5 at Water Street, this stream runs through densely developed areas southward to 38th Street. From that point on, the Four Mile Creek watershed becomes much more rural in character.A study several years ago for Pennsylvania-Lake Erie Watershed Association (PLEWA) showed Four Mile Creek had the fourth-lowest water quality of 22 streams it monitors. This diagnosis prompted numerous projects to improve water quality and remove manmade impediments to water flow and fish passage.
PLEWA has other partners in the effort, including the Pennsylvania Sea Grant Program, which has taken a lead on several. Other partners include the Pennsylvania Coastal Zone Management program, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Wesleyville Conservation Club, Lawrence Park Township, Penn State-Behrend, and private property owners. The stream improvement projects should increase the stream’s quality. Gannon University biologist Greg Andraso monitored the creek in the summer of 2007. His findings will allow researchers to determine the overall success of the projects. Enhancements like these benefit everyone, including residents, tourists and fishing enthusiasts and, of course, such improvements increase the stream’s biodiversity. More importantly, this effort clearly illustrates that many people in the Erie area are willing to work together to improve our local quality of life by improving the quality of our water and our local environment. To return Four Mile Creek to a morenatural flow and to improve the ability of fish to more easily migrate upstream, two dams were demolished in August. The Station Road concrete dam protected an out-of-use sewer pipe that was replaced by a new connection to the city of Erie public sewer system. The other encased an old telephone cable on the Penn State-Behrend campus that had not been used since at least 1982. The Iroquois School District paid for the work to compensate for the environmental impact of building its new elementary school in Lawrence Park. |
Soil erosion/sedimentationFunding awards to correct a stormwater quantity and quality problem at Penn State-Behrend were received from the Great Lakes Commission, the Erie County’s Environmental Initiative (PADEP Growing Greener) program, and Penn State University. Construction of stormwater facilities will use best management practices to eliminate sources of erosion and sedimentation by dissipating the water’s energy. Sediment, a major source of nonpoint pollution, washes from the campus and into the Trout Run tributary of Four Mile Creek, and then into Lake Erie. The outlets from three stormwater pipes have carved gullies, exposing tree roots and washing an estimated 78 tons of sediment per year downstream.While the erosion began about 20 years ago, the rate at one location has recently accelerated. Once the stormwater slows, the badly eroded slopes can be restored and stabilized with matting and by planting native species of vegetation on these slopes.
Construction is scheduled for mid-2008. Fish ladder installation The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), Lawrence Park Township, and Pennsylvania Sea Grant have obtained funding for another Four Creek project from the state Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The funding will be used to design, buy and install fish ladders at the Lawrence Park Golf Club dam and at an up-stream waterfall on golf course property. These ladders will enable steelhead and native species of fish to migrate upstream as far as Penn State-Behrend. A number of issues that will require the agreement of the Golf Club must be addressed to allow the project to proceed in 2008. DAVE SKELLI E , a coastal land use and economic specialist for Pennsylvania Sea Grant, can be reached at 217-9014 or at dus18@psu.edu. Check out these Web sites to learn more: http://seagrant.psu.edu/ http://www.fish.state.pa.us/mpag1.htm |