Little Lehigh

[TYoung]

I was fishing Below the covered bridge today and noticed that they cut back all the vegetation they allowed to grow up this summer. they cut it back all the way to the bank. They left all the cut wild flowers on the bank. Some people mentioned that they thought the long grass looked bad. Well it looks really bad now.

 

[troutbert]

This is why we can't have nice streams.

 

[CLSports]

At least you can see the stream through all those unsightly weeds now!

They do something good there by changing regs on a lot of the water and then do something like this to appease the locals that jog in the park on weekends and don't like all of those weeds. Unreal.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

The locals pay the taxes that operate the park.And I like to be able to see the stream when I walk there.6' high weeds don't do much to improve the stream,might harbor a few bugs but that's about it.

 

[TYoung]

What upsets me about people complaining is that there is a paved path that runs right next to the creek on the opposite side. If you like looking at the creek, then walk along the other bank. People with dogs can stop and have their dogs drink water from that side.

 

[CLSports]

Don't get me wrong. The Allentown Park system has done a fantastic job in protecting a good portion of the Little Lehigh for public use, but there are times when doing nothing and just leaving things in their natural state is the best answer.

 

[outsider]

troutwilleatflies wrote:
The locals pay the taxes that operate the park.And I like to be able to see the stream when I walk there.6' high weeds don't do much to improve the stream,might harbor a few bugs but that's about it.

clueless.

 

[outsider]

Streamside vegetation is a buffer for erosion and sedimentation. It also provides shade for the stream and refuge for stream-born insects as well as terrestrial insects.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Grass is streamsde vegatation and did the job of erosion control for many years.The sedimentation on the LL is from the development in Western Lehigh county,it had nothing to do with-in the park boundaries.Over 65 yrs I watched the change happen as more and more houses,warehouses,shopping centers,etc. got built.More trees would be good as the mature trees present die off.

 

[mikesl]

troutwilleatflies speaks wisely...

of course streamside vegtation buffers are good, but in the park itself is not the main problem.
look at a map.
there are new housing developments farther upstream... and what do you want to bet there are lawn chemicals in use, construction erosion, more intense rainwater surges, etc etc.
controlling harmful runoff upstream might do a much better job

 

[afishinado]

Here is an interesting read from a LL thread from nearly 10 years ago.

The thread is like "Groundhog Day".

Here's quote from a post I made in the thread from 2008:

afishinado wrote:
The stream now seems to rise quickly and become muddy even during a moderate rainstorm. I would also guess that to be due to excessive storm drain runoff from development and lack of proper riparian vegetation. Many sections of the stream are choked with silt. The very worst I have witnessed on the LL is on the Wild Cherry Lane section of the stream off Lower Macungie Road. You’ll find yourself knee deep in muck throughout most of that section.

I believe that the metamorphosis is nearly complete. The LL has evolved from an historic wild trout stream teaming with hatches, to yet another marginal stockie stream ruined by development and neglect. IMHO.

Also, if anyone has fished recently the upper section (Class A?!) in the area where Rt 100 crosses the LL, you will witness an unbelievable amount of siltation. The stream in many sections of that area is like a shallow wasteland and looks like it was paved over with silt.

 

[troutbert]

The development in the headwaters makes in MORE important that you have good vegetated buffers, not less.

 

[outsider]

I would expect that to happen more frequently as more of the drainage basin above that point becomes covered with roof-tops, macadam, and concrete.

Posted on: 2016/11/10 20:10







Re: Little Lehigh drying up!
#3



Joined:
2010/5/28 0:25
Posts: 280

Mike, you are so right about your statement. Most forum members weren't around when I fished the Little Lehigh starting in the early to mid sixties. The stream was so different then. And it had a heckuva caddis hatch in May. I always heard they were a hardy species, but they are gone (unless someone else can me they do exist today). There used to be a large spring aside of the stream where a few trout took up residence and I remember dappling flies, trying to catch them. That is long gone.

My mentor was much older than me, and he told me there were grass beds and green drakes before my time. The Little Lehigh will someday become nothing more than a drainage ditch. How sad."

Above was posted last year; there is no doubt in my mind that continuing urbanization is causing the demise of the LL. Entirely different subject than streamside vegetation loss.

 

[Jaybird]

I agree with everything said here . But what an amazing opportunity to try and return it to it some form of its old status .They dont make new spring creeks .
And its not a TU thing , if every flyfisherman within a 2 hour radius or who attended the flyfishing show contributed to it , who knows how quickly it could turn around

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Jaybird,that would be great but I doubt that anything significant will happen to "turn" it around.It would take a lot of time and money to bring the LL back to close to what it was.Meanwhile pick up litter and plant a tree,that would be a start.

 

[Troutmeister]

Saw this old thread and just thought I would add a comment. While fishing this spring I saw that the park service cut down tons of trees through the parkway all along the stream. So in addition to the silting problems the stream will have lost a lot of shade and will warm much quicker.

 

[KeithS]

Local government needs property tax money and the developers upstream don't care about a stream. There's the problem.
Other than strict code enforcement during construction, an constant policing of code for the homeowners after, what else could be done?

 

[troutwilleatflies]

I took a walk the other day from the parking lot at the walking bridge by the police mans home up stream to the covered bridge and back and was encouraged at what I saw.Due to all the rock divertors that were installed in that section the stream has good flow and depth and there is now a LOT of grasses and other weeds growing there on the stream bed,the silt is gone.That is what is needed in much of the LL,stream narrowing devices to increase flow and depth.It would take a lot of BIG rocks and heavy equipment and manpower,but that is the solution to the silt problem.I'm not holding my breath!

 

[CodorusTUTom]

I agree with you, troutwilleatflies. I also walked that same section during a recent visit to Allentown and a lot of the water looked pretty darn good, especially for a stream in a heavily utilized city park. I've certainly seen and caught trout in worse looking water than that. Hoping to get back up there to see what remains of the trico hatch. Having grown up just outside the parkway and fishing that hatch religiously, that's always been my yardstick for measuring how things are going. Despite its decline, it will always be a sentimental favorite of mine.

 

[Chaz]

Grass was never erosion control on the LL. Allentown Parks does a poor job of land management. I saw it and it looked like tish.