LIMESTONE TWP — A fifteen-year program to improve a stream in Montour County came to fruition Friday. A collaboration between U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the PA Fish and Boat Commission, and Montour County Conservation District improved the habitat of Limestone Run and the stream is now home to native brook trout.
John Arway, executive director of the Fish and Boat Commission said Limestone Run is the first “Save Our Susquehanna” project, “It is. It’s the first project for SOS, Save Our Susquehanna. We originated a couple years ago to keep awareness to the river and to the streams that drain into the river because of the concerns that’s going on with the disease in smallmouth bass in the river.”
Improving tributaries, like Limestone Run, can improve the overall health of the Susquehanna River, “The purpose of the SOS program is to look at it one farm at a time. That’s really how you have to approach this problem. It’s a large landscape problem. Farmers didn’t create it. We were all part of it. Projects like SOS help work with farmers and landowners who really see the benefit. You talk to the landowner, you’ll hear his story about how this root knowledge is beneficial to the fish and the stream. But also, his use of the land and how he can keep the land productive for growing crops.”
Jeff Smith and his wife BJ put the first of 140 brook trout into Limestone Run at their farm in Montour County. Sean Levan of Montour County Conservation District says stocking the creek with brook trout is the culmination of years of work, “With all the involvement of everybody, I just want to say thank you. It’s a great day for the watershed and for Montour County.”
DEP currently lists Limestone Run as an impaired stream. The goal of the improvements is to remove sediment from the creek bed and allow the ecosystem to support both insect and fish life which would allow DEP to remove it from the list of impaired waterways.