potter run/sinking creek fish kill to affect Penns?

[nymphingmaniac]

see article. Fish and possible macro kill. I saw this yesterday and feared this might happen depending on the amount of pesticide.
This will make it into Penns as sinking creek enters Penns.
At least water is very high. It could be worse if levels were low


Dan Spadoni, a DEP community relations coordinator, said dead and distressed fish were found Monday night as far away as Sinking Creek, into which Potter Run flows. The total area affected stretched 5.8 miles.

Neither stream is a source of public drinking water.


Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/05/20/4186200/dep-herbicide-spill-more-damaging.html?sp=/99/264/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

 

[pcray1231]

Well, that's awfully close to the jam. Less than a week ago I was sitting at that intersections thinking "they oughta do something about this intersection", as well as fishing Potter Run AND Sinking Creek last week.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

FYI: there are plans to reconfigure that intersection, among other things. Money has been secured and final planning is ongoing.
This section on 322 is a deathtrap. Travel to centre county from the south will be disrupted during construction.
That section of the road needs redesign badly. It was not designed for the type of traffic it now sees, but I fear what this will do to a number of Class A/wild trout streams that cross under 322. Potters run, Galbraith gap (I think bear meadow) etc.

"The project will address the especially dangerous Potters Mills intersection with state Route 144, widen a 3.75-mile stretch from Seven Mountains into four lanes, and create western and eastern interchanges for local traffic."

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/03/11/4078136/harris-township-residents-raise.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Fishidiot]

No doubt - some bad driving in those spots.

Thanks for the heads-up on this. Please keep us informed.

 

[pcray1231]

Eh, Galbraith is pretty far away from that intersection, and it's "seriously" posted in the area it crosses 322 anyway.

Sinking and Potter, though, yeah. I've never focused on Sinking Creek down that far, only above the lake. It's stocked down there, but I'm sure it has it's share of wild fish, and I think it becomes class A below there. Potter isn't very good to begin with, but it does have some.

 

[sarce]

Thinking you might have them mixed up Pat? Potter is (or was) class A above and below the res, although I've never really done that well there. I've never heard of wild trout in sinking creek below the lake, though I agree there are probably a few in there. Its warm with a thick mud bottom down near the mouth on Penn's.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

point about galbraith gap and bear meadow is that they could be impacted by the impending road work on 322. Not the recent spill

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, I had em backwards sarce. I've never found Potter to be that good either.

nymphing, I got that. Still, 322 crosses Galbraith right down by it's mouth, and that area is posted. Anything that happens from 322 is not going to affect Galbraith, but could affect downstream areas, namely, Spring Creek.

The intersection which is discussed as needing heavy work is like 10 miles away from Galbraith and in the Penns Creek, not Spring Creek, drainage.

 

[troutbert]

The spill on Potter Run is a temporary impact.

More important is the long term impact of the impoundment on Potter Run you see from Route 322. This causes serious thermal pollution of Potter Run, and should be removed.

 

[sarce]

I agree about the thermal pollution Troutbert. Last summer i caught a decent wild brown below it before stepping into the creek and realizing how unbelievably warm it was. No doubt the brookies could reclaim some of that water downstream of the reservoir if the stream stayed colder. There are some in a tiny tributary in that area.

Do you know what that reservoir is used for?

 

[troutbert]

The reservoir is used for storage of water used for watering the trees of the PGC tree nursery there.

An alternative might be to use a well. Or build a pond elsewhere on the property that is not an impoundment of the stream.

 

[troutbert]

Correction:

The tree nursery is owned and run by DCNR Bureau of Forestry. (Not the PGC.)