Watershed alliance helps Butler County streams stay healthy
The Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance turned its sights on Thorn Creek in 2004 after a fire at Friedman’s in Saxonburg caused the stream to become polluted with residue from the burned grocery store.
Twenty years later, the creek has been restored to become habitable by wildlife once again, with the stream “teeming again” with insects and fish.
Ryan Harr, watershed resource specialist with the Butler County Conservation District, said the alliance helped clear the stream of pollution by stabilizing the stream bank and planting trees to restore shade and food to the creek’s animal species.
“Because the detergents and chemicals all went into the storm drains, it all went into Thorn Creek, and that’s what put it on the watershed’s target area,” Harr said of the 2004 fire. “Crayfish, stoneflies have all come back, and they’re just waiting for the smallmouth to return.”
The Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance was incorporated in October 1999 and has completed multiple projects, including a rainfall mitigation system at Alameda Park. It continues to perform maintenance on streams in Butler County, namely Thorn Hill Creek, Sullivan Run and the alliance’s namesake, Connoquenessing Creek.
In late June, the alliance planted more trees in Sullivan Run to continue enhancing the stream’s habitat.
Dave Andrews, president and one of the alliance’s founders, said enhancing a stream environment has the additional benefit of mitigating flooding downstream. By stabilizing the stream bank of Sullivan Run in Alameda Park, its water that flows through Butler is less likely to build up and spill onto the streets, Andrews said.
“We’ve done the in-stream habitat. It’s fisheries habitat, but it’s helping to alleviate the flooding in the city,” Andrews said. “It’s further up in the headwaters, the further up the better.”
Sullivan Run goes through Alameda Park, runs through Pullman Park and dumps into Connoquenessing Creek near Route 8 in Butler Township. Connoquenessing Creek splits, with one leg feeding into Thorn Creek, before it exits Butler County and flows into the Beaver River in Beaver County.
According to Andrews, improving habitats around the streams in Butler County is the main goal of the watershed alliance, but it has other effects, like flood mitigation.
In 2023, Penn Township approached the group to help with improvement work on Thorn Creek.
The project involved a habitat improvement project, implementing a five-section modified mud sill with extended sill logs for increased fish habitat. The alliance also installed cross logs on a tributary to provide grade control and thermal refuge for cold water species during the summer months, according to its website.
Andrews said the goal of that project was not necessarily flood mitigation.
“When we designed that project, it was to increase fish habitat. Maybe if everything goes well we could have fishing,” Andrews said. “If we could help mitigate flooding, if there’s something we could do with our devices, alleviate some of the flooding concerns, even better.”
Andrews said planting trees along a stream bank is one of the best ways people can improve a stream, because plant life helps sustain animal life in that type of habitat.
According to Harr, high temperatures can pollute streams and bodies of water in a way — wildlife tend to avoid areas that are too hot.
“The warmer the water is, the less oxygen it can have. For instance, trout prefer cooler streams,” Harr said. “The trees provide shading and stabilization. Bugs also put food into the stream as well. That whole ecosystem, or food web, all that goes hand in hand.”
Andrews said studies conducted by the alliance have found that the number of animal species in Sullivan Run has increased over the past few years after extensive work on the section of the stream in Alameda Park.
“I think those projects have helped tremendously,” Andrews said.
Andrews said the addition of more paved surfaces has led to increased possibility of flooding. When there is less greenery to absorb water, buildup has nowhere else to go.
Harr said mitigating flooding is yet another measure that helps water-bound species thrive.
“The main goal is to provide habitat for fish but it also stabilizes a bank,” Harr said. “Depending on how its oriented, it can slow the water down. It can help get the water into the flood plain and protect downstream.”
While planting trees along stream banks in Butler County has been one of the main methods of improvement from the watershed alliance, Andrews said the group is looking to install monitors in Thorn Creek, to further keep track of flooding. That project is still in its planning stages, however, Andrews said, and the group may not take on it for some time.
“We are taking a year to go back and assess,” Andrews said.
Harr also said, although there is always work to be done on local streams and waterways, the alliance’s work has tangibly affected the environments of the streams it has worked on. Studies of the trout in Connoquenessing Creek have found that they have been living longer compared to a few years before.
“Our stream health has improved greatly in this area,” Harr said. “Because of the structures, trout are holding over for years.”
For more information about the Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance, visit its website at connoqwatershed.org.
