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Spring is a great time to vacation in Tioga County —
not only for the beautiful landscape, but also for the fishing! In
honor of the return of fishing season, we're revisiting a past Watersheds.tv
story about Babb Creek and the amazing transformation that has occurred
in this watershed.
The Wonders of Tioga County and the Struggles of Babb Creek
By Producer, Kelly Meinhart
 y
journey began with an early start, driving along the banks of the
Susquehanna River. My destination? The Babb Creek watershed in Tioga
County. As you can see by my wildlife list, it was a good morning
for a journey taking me to the 'Pennsylvania Grand Canyon' country.
And as much as I hate to admit this, it was my first adventure into
Tioga County, so I was even more excited to reach my destination.
 abb
Creek is a tributary of Pine Creek and drains an area of 130 square
miles. Much of this watershed is situated on State Forest Lands, and
is considered one of the state's premiere recreational areas for hunting,
fishing, canoeing, camping and just about any outdoor activity you
might enjoy. Pine Creek itself is well known for its wild and scenic
river designation, and if you follow Pine Creek downstream, it will
lead you to the west branch of the Susquehanna River.
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 hey
tell me that if you don't hunt or fish then you'd be an 'oddball'
in this part of the state. 'They' being Bob McCullough, President
of the Babb Creek Watershed Association, and long-time environmentalist.
Bob and Jim Barrs, formed the watershed association and remain the
driving forces behind returning a healthy watershed back to Pennsylvania.
I met up with Bob, and two other watershed members, Morgan and Stephen,
along with at least 30 other individuals, including Representative
Matthew Baker, DEP Secretary David Hess, and others, to tour the watershed.
As I later found out, the reason the tour was so large is because
there are so many different partners involved in the projects, at
least 28 different groups in all. Jim Barrs comments, "The great
thing about it is really the partnerships. We have never asked people
to commit to more time than they could afford, and people have always
been more than willing to help out."
 riving through this
unique glacial mountain area, it's hard to believe that the waters
and valleys which make it such a scenic Pennsylvania trademark are
affected by abandoned mine drainage (AMD), but it's true. For the
past 100 years the Babb Creek watershed has been plagued with acidic
seeps finding their way to the surface, dangerous mine shafts left
wide-open, and pristine trout streams unable to support their native
species. Bituminous coal abounds in this area, and back in the 1850's
mining was so extensive that there were often four levels of mine
tunnels running throughout the mountainside — one on top of another.
As technology improved, so did mining techniques, and in the 1970's
the watershed found itself being strip mined as well as deep mined.
The resulting mine drainage is attributed for polluting the nearby
streams, killing the fish, and for making the mayfly colonies die
out as well.
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 t
wasn't until 1990, after several unsuccessful attempts to stop mining
in the area, and a lawsuit against the Atrim Mining Company, that
the fate of Babb Creek began to turn around. What resulted from the
lawsuit was a trust fund set up to restore the watershed. The then
newly formed watershed association was put in charge of the trust
fund and has been monitoring and improving the waters of this area
ever since. They're involved in dozens of AMD projects including the
development of three limestone diversion wells, five vertical flow
wetlands, the operation of one treatment plant, and recently received
a Growing Greener grant to construct six new treatment ponds and wetlands
which, when finished, will be the largest passive treatment system
in Pennsylvania.
 ur
tour included three of these projects, the first of which is a rather
newly constructed passive treatment system at the Arnot #2 discharge.
Construction of the system began in May 2001, with the operation beginning
in December 2001. It consists of 4 cells — the first 2 are Vertical
Flow Wetland cells containing limestone and mushroom compost to raise
the water's pH — the third is an Oxidation/Precipitation cell for
precipitating metals — the fourth is a Manganese Oxidation Bed to
remove manganese. These cells treat 200 gallons of water per minute,
and were designed by Gannett Fleming Inc.
ur
next stop took us to the Atrim #1 discharge and the adjoining treatment
plant. This system was constructed by Atrim Mining to treat two discharges
that flow directly from the hillside and into the Lower Babb Creek.
When the mining company went out of business in 1997, the maintenance
of the facility was turned over to DEP with a trust fund to continue
the maintenance of the facility. The watershed association is now
in charge of its operation. The system treats 800 gallons per minute
and is capable of handling 2,000 - 4,000 gallons per minute during
high flow events, and is a key element to the improvement seen in
the Lower Babb Creek and to restoring Pine Creek, including removal
from the 303(d) list of impaired streams.
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he
final stop is the project I referred to earlier, being designed by
Hedin Environmental. The watershed association received a 2 million
dollar Growing Greener grant to construct a treatment system at the
Anna S Mine Complex, which when constructed this summer will be the
final step to restoring the watershed. This is by far the largest
of the projects, encompassing over eight acres when finished. Construction
on the project will begin in Summer 2002. Hedin Environmental is designing
the system and you can hear Bob Hedin's comments on the project by
viewing his video interview.
hanks
to these efforts and the continued persistence of volunteers, the
watershed association, and now to the Growing Greener grant funds,
this area is making an amazing comeback. The group plans to see a
full restoration of the watershed by late summer 2002, which is five
to six years sooner than they expected, thanks to the help of the
Growing Greener funding. Jim Barrs adds, "We knew that we were
eventually going to get the work done, but Growing Greener has really
escalated the time frame for us."
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 ou can read even more
detail about the history of the Babb Creek watershed Association by
linking to "The History of Babb Creek,"prepared by Jim Barrs,
along with Jim's recent update and project listing. You may also want
to read what others have to say about the Babb Creek watershed.
t's truly amazing what
people can accomplish when they've put their minds together and have
dedicated themselves to making it happen. The Babb Creek Watershed
Association is a 12-year testament to the importance of taking a stand
and accepting responsibility for making your community a better place
for all. Bob McCullough has promised to teach me how to fly fish,
so I'm hoping to make my way back to this beautiful area in the spring
to take him up on that. I'll be sure to share my future Tioga County
adventures with you again. Thanks for tuning in to Watershed Weekly,
and thank you to the folks of Babb Creek for being such an inspiration.
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Additional Resources (PDF files):
 Babb
Creek History
Project
Listing
Babb
Creek Quotes
Don't have Adobe Acrobat? Download it here
free.
Bob
Hedin is also featured in Watershed Minutes, click
here to check it out!
If you missed
it, be sure to check out Watersheds.tv's feature on Babb Creek Watershed
volunteer, Phil
Stillerman |
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