PA FISH and BOAT COMMISSION COMMENTS and RECOMMENDATIONS June 25, 2007
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PA FISH AND BOAT COMMISSION COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS June 25, 2007 WATER: Briar Creek Basin (405D) EXAMINED: June 2006 BY: Wnuk, G Bureau Director Action Date: 610a Division Chief Action: Date: WW Unit Leader Action: Date: CW Unit Leader Action: Date: AREA COMMENTS: The Briar Creek Basin was examined in June 2006 to update inventory information on previously surveyed waters and to conduct initial examinations of Cabin Run and Fester Hollow. Wild trout were present in most of the stream sections we electrofished. Glen Brook, Section 02, supported a Class A mixed wild brook/brown trout population. Briar Creek, Section 01, and Fester Hollow, Section 01, supported Class B wild trout densities. Wild trout abundance in the other stream sections was low. Physical habitat evaluations indicated that sedimentation was one factor limiting gamefish abundance and fish species diversity in the watershed. AREA RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Glen Brook (405D), Section 02, should be managed as a Class A wild trout water. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission should add Glen Brook Section 02 to the list of Class A wild trout waters. 2. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission should add the following sections to the list of streams that support trout reproduction: Briar Creek, Section 02; Fester Hollow, Section 01; Kashinka Hollow, Section 01; and Glen Brook, Section 02. Other sections in the basin that support trout reproduction are already on this list. 3. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection should upgrade the Chapter 93 water quality classification of Glen Brook, Sections 01 and 02, from coldwater fishery to high-quality coldwater fishery. 4. The Columbia County Conservation district should investigate sources of sedimentation in the Briar Creek Basin and take corrective actions. S. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission should continue to manage Briar Creek, Section 02, and the West Branch of Briar Creek, Section 02, with plantings of adult hatchery trout on a preseason only basis. Briar Creek Basin (405D) Page 2 6. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission should continue to manage all of the streams in the Briar Creek Basin with statewide angling regulations. This work made possible by funding from the Sport Fish Restoration Act Project F-57-R Fisheries Management. Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Bureau of Fisheries Division of Fisheries Management Briar Creek Basin (405D) Fisheries Management Report Prepared by: Robert Wnuk Date Sampled: June 2006 Date Prepared: November 2006 Fisheries Management Database Name: Briar Ck Lat/Lon: 410226761720 Introduction There is a substantial fishery resource in the 40,000+ miles of flowing water throughout Pennsylvania. To realize the potential of this resource the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has established a policy of resource examination and classification. The primary objectives of the examination are to document a stream's fish populations and to collect social, physical, and chemical data that influence the way we manage fish populations. Establishing relationships among these parameters allows each individual stream section to be placed into a resource category. Once assigned to a resource category, a management program that is consistent with statewide goals and objectives can be implemented. The Area 4 fisheries management office has been conducting stream examinations on a drainage basin level to facilitate management by resource classification. We selected the Briar Creek Basin for investigation in 2006 because two tributary streams had never been surveyed and the information we had on previously surveyed waters was dated. Thus, the objectives of our examination were: 1) to collect baseline data on the fish populations in unsurveyed waters so we could assign them to resource categories and 2) to evaluate past management practices in the watershed and implement new strategies where appropriate. Study Area Briar Creek is an 11.0 km long tributary to the North Branch Susquehanna River at River Mile (RM) 32.30. The 85 km 2 drainage contains six named tributaries (Table 1) and is located in Briar Creek Basin (405D) Page 2 Columbia and Luzerne Counties. Much of the basin is heavily developed. Berwick, the largest borough in the drainage, had a population of 10,774 individuals during the 2000 census. Because of this development, there are numerous National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) outfalls in the watershed. Most of these discharges originate from small, private sewage systems with design flows of 0.0004 mgd. Other land uses in the basin include agricultural areas, woodlots, and single-family rural residential developments. The only major piece of public land in the watershed is the PFBC's Briar Creek Lake, a 20.2 ha impoundment on the East Branch of Briar Creek. Additionally, State Game Lands (SGL) # 55 encloses a small portion of the Briar Creek headwaters. The underlying geology f the Briar Creek Basin is a complex mixture of Mississippian, Devonian, and Silurian Aged sandstones, siltstones, claystones, hales, and conglomerates. The Devonian and Silurian members c )ntribute small amounts of dolomite, calcareous shale, and s Laly and argillaceous limestone. Major road access to the basin is via State Routes 11 and 93 (Figure 1) . Topographic coverage is provided by the Berwick, Bloomsburg, and Mifflinville United States Geologic Survey's 7.5 minute quadrangles. Historic Perspective Early surveys in the Briar Creek Basin were cursory examinations to determine suitability for trout stocking (Shoemaker 1931a; 1931b; 1931c) . At this time, Briar Creek and its East and West Branches were thought to be too open and warm for trout and too small for warmwater fish. The reports also noted that these streams were usually muddy. Nevertheless, Litwhiler (1945) recommended that the Berwick Hunting and Fishing Club stock adult brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis in the East Branch of Briar Creek. The PFBC next focused its attention on the Briar Creek Basin in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Much of this work was associated with a proposal to build a flood control dam in the eastern portion of the watershed (Anonymous 1978) . Streams examined at this time included Briar Creek (Daniels et al. 1980a), the East Branch of Briar Creek (Daniels et al. 1980b), the West Branch of Briar Creek (Moase 1980), Kashinka Hollow (Daniels 1981), and Glen Brook (Daniels et al. 1975; Daniels and Moase 1981; Daniels et al. 1982) . Trout reproduction was noted in all streams except Kashinka Hollow. The PFBC initiated adult trout stocking programs in Briar Creek and the West Branch of Briar Creek following these surveys. The proposed flood control dam was not constructed. Moase (unpublished) conducted the most recent PFBC survey in the Briar Creek Basin. This work was done in 2005 at the request of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (IJEP) Briar Creek Basin (405D) Page 3 DEP wanted to verify trout reproduction in the upper reaches of the West Branch of Briar Creek. Moase captured 32 wild brown trout Salmo trutta ranging from 125 to 374 mm in 300 meters (m) of electrofishing at a single station. Current Management Strategies DEP classifies the entire Briar Creek Basin as a coidwater fishery (CWF) in its Chapter 93 Water Quality Standards. There are no exceptions to specific criteria. The PFBC manages Briar Creek, the West Branch of Briar Creek, and the East Branch of Briar Creek as two sections, and Glen Brook as three sections. The other basin streams are managed as a single section extending from the headwaters downstream to the mouth. Statewide angling regulations apply to the entire watershed. PFBC adult trout stocking programs exist on Briar Creek, Section 02, and the West Branch of Briar Creek, Section 02. Both of these sections are stocked preseason only. Additionally, the Fishing Creek Sportsman's Club, a PFBC Cooperative Nursery, stocks adult trout in the drainage. Methods We examined the Briar Creek Basin between June 5 and 14, 2006. All procedures of the survey followed Marcinko et al. (1986) . We surveyed all of the named streams in the basin and collected physical and some social data for all stream sections. We did not evaluate parking. This survey assessed physical habitat, chemical parameters, and fish communities at 18 sampling stations (Table 2) . Physical habitat evaluations followed the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (Barbour et al. 1999) . All chemical parameters were measured in the field using a colorimetric method for pH, a mixed indicator for total alkalinity, and EDTA titration for total hardness. We used backpack electrofishing gear to assess fish populations. Backpack setups included a Coffelt unit (Model BP 1C, alternating current) and a Smith-Root unit (Model 12-A POW, pulsed direct current) with a single anode and a rat-tail cathode. The choice of backpack electrofishing gear depended on station width. The Coffelt unit was employed at the wider stations because the Smith-Root unit was generally ineffective when stream width exceeded 4 m. In this work, we used the Coffelt unit at three sites and the Smith-Root unit at nine sites. Low stream flows prevented electrofishing at six sites. We identified the fish captured at each site to species with the exception of sculpins Cottus sp. Sculpins were only identified to genus because it was difficult to accurately separate mottled sculpins Cottus bairdi from slimy sculpins Cottus cognatus in the field. Briar Creek Basin (405D) Page 4 We classified all of the trout we captured as being of wild or hatchery origin based on species, coloration, size, and fin wear. We measured the wild trout to 25 mm length groups and gave them an upper caudal fin clip while we noted the hatchery trout but excluded them from further analyses. When we captured at least 30 wild trout at an individual site we made a second electrofishing pass to obtain a Chapman modified Petersen population estimate (Ricker 1975) .