Conservancy seeks feedback on future use of French Creek watershed

Residents of the French Creek watershed are invited to review and provide feedback on the French Creek Watershed Conservation Plan through Oct. 31.

The plan is a project of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, in partnership with the French Creek Valley Conservancy and other partners, and is based on input and voluntary interest from landowners throughout the region.

Residents are also invited to attend a public meeting Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at Saegertown American Legion Post 205, 755 South St.

Encompassing 1,250 square miles in Erie, Crawford, Mercer and Venango counties in Pennsylvania and Chautauqua County in New York, the French Creek watershed's tributaries provide habitat for numerous fish and aquatic species as well as recreational opportunities such as paddling and fishing. Much of the land in the watershed is forested, providing abundant habitat for birds, wildlife and plants.

French Creek, a tributary to the Allegheny River, is the most biologically diverse stream of its size in Pennsylvania or any state in the northeastern United States, containing about 86 species of fish and even more species of freshwater mussels.

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has permanently protected more than 4,500 acres in the French Creek watershed to date. Each of its 19 preserves in this area are open to the public for outdoor recreation that includes hiking, hunting, fishing, canoe and kayaking and bird and wildlife watching. The French Creek watershed also includes the Erie National Wildlife Refuge and four Audubon Society Important Bird Areas.

For about 50 years, the conservancy has partnered with conservation organizations, local government agencies and the public to improve water quality in the watershed. Projects have included planting riparian trees along streams to prevent erosion and decrease pollutant runoff, working with farmers to implement agricultural best management practices to manage nutrients, stabilizing eroding banks and removing stream barriers to encourage aquatic organism passage and support trout populations. The conservancy's land conservation work improves water quality by protecting the forests and wetlands that filter pollutants, reduce runoff and erosion, and more.

In the late 1990s, the conservancy partnered with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Allegheny College to form the French Creek Project to address the watershed's recreational and aesthetic values, and protect its many rare and important species and habitats. The project developed the first French Creek Watershed Conservation Plan, published in 2002, to address problems and identify opportunities to work collaboratively to solve conservation challenges using the methods and projects named above.

With feedback and suggestions from the community, the new French Creek Watershed Conservation Plan seeks to build on the 2002 plan. Funding for the project is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, through a grant from the Environmental Stewardship Fund.

"We want to understand what residents of communities within the French Creek watershed think of current conditions, and how they would like to see the watershed resources used in the future," said conservancy Watershed Manager Kylie Maland.

Residents may preview and provide input on the draft plan at waterLandLife.org/watershed-conservation/french-creek-watershed-plan/ through Oct. 31.