omg, they destroyed the little lehigh

[CodorusTUTom]

I was in Allentown yesterday and decided to take a look at what was done. The removal of the vegetation was done through the entire length of the parkway. It does look kinda stark right now because the trees are still bare. While a lot was removed, dozens of new trees have been planted as well. There's still plenty of mature trees left to provide shade. The cleared areas are bordered mostly by wide, flat lawns and not steep, unstable slopes, so the buffer probably wasn't filtering that much anyway. And maybe the extra sunlight reaching the water will help the weed beds come back and create better trico habitat.

To me, what the creek needs more than a buffer is better in-stream structure - remove the ugly wire gabions and other old-fashioned stream improvements - add some rock vanes that would use the energy from high water events to scour deeper holes in the center of the channel. Add some boulders and pin some big logs in there.

All in all, I would hardly call the creek "destroyed". It actually looked pretty good to me and I regretted not having a fly rod with me. and let's not forget its still a very urban stream in a busy public park with users with varied interests. I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude while Mother Nature responds to the intervention. I wouldn't be surprised if the work they've done ends up in the long run as an improvement.

 

[salmonoid]

Thanks for posting pictures for those of us who can't or won't end up there in the near future. One person's "destroyed" is another person's "opportunity".

 

[CLSports]

More good info from a previous discussion:

Little Lehigh

 

[TYoung]

I fished the Little Lehigh today. I didn't see any areas where all the trees and vegetation were removed. But I only fished from the top of the catch and release section, down to the deflectors near the police academy. In that section they did remove a lot of vegetation and some trees, but they also recently planted some new trees. In the section below Bogart's covered bridge, the grass along the bank that was left uncut in the past is slightly longer then area that is farther away from the water. They might allow that area to grow up again. I took some pictures.

The first two photos are from the lower end of the catch and release section. The next two photos are from the section near the police academy that has the deflectors. The final image is from the area they allowed to over grow a few years ago.

 

[troutbert]

Thanks TYoung for the photos.

What those photos show is very bad riparian vegetation management.

The reason many people don't recognize how bad it is because it is so common.

 

[Lining]

the trees were planted recently, they weren't there before. that makes sense, cut down the trees and brush that was there, and plant baby trees 20 feet away from the creek. herons are gonna get'em lol. o and the trees that weren't cut down to the ground, a lot of them they cut the lower branches off. ive never thought cutting brush and trees was good for trout cover. this forum thinks otherwise for some reason

 

[troutbert]

Lining wrote:
the trees were planted recently, they weren't there before. that makes sense, cut down the trees and brush that was there, and plant baby trees 20 feet away from the creek. herons are gonna get'em lol. o and the trees that weren't cut down to the ground, a lot of them they cut the lower branches off. ive never thought cutting brush and trees was good for trout cover. this forum thinks otherwise for some reason

You are right. It's a bad situation. Thanks for letting people know about it.

If the park managers hear from people that want good riparian vegetation, they may take steps in that direction, or not.

If they don't hear from anyone, then they definitely won't.

 

[Dave_W]

Thanks for posting the pics. This is helpful.

 

[TYoung]

Many of the trees that they cut down were dying. There are many mature trees that aren't doing well.

 

[sarce]

Never fished there, no dog in this fight. But when I look at that first pic I see a flat, uniform, silt stream bottom. There's your problem.

 

[CodorusTUTom]

To me, if I'm a heron my job just got a WHOLE lot harder. I can't blend in now and I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb. A lot of my good perches are gone. And all the trout will be moving to deeper water for their cover now, where I can't catch them.

The problem here isn't what is or isn't on the banks - it's the lack of in-stream structure. If they added a bunch of that and at least some of the weed beds would return things would be golden. I'm super-curious to see what's going to happen over the next couple of seasons. Fingers crossed!

 

[sandfly]

Along pine creek they are cutting down all the ash to stop the ash borer. all along the rail trail has been done and now they are cutting up to Colton point. sometimes its the only way to save an area.