Today, Valley Forge TU Chapter members took Congressman Jim
Gerlach (6th District, Pennsylvania) to visit two sites on Crabby Creek—a
tributary to Valley Creek—where the chapter has worked with countless partners
over the past five years to restore the stream channel for trout habitat and
address stormwater runoff downstream.
Just northwest of Philadelphia, the Crabby Creek watershed
is a major tributary to the 23-square mile Valley Creek watershed which is
designated as an Exceptional Value and Class A Wild Trout watershed, the two
highest water quality and biological designations that a stream can receive in
Pennsylvania. Yet, despite its high quality, the Valley Creek watershed has
been plagued with excess stormwater runoff and sedimentation, flooding, stream
bank erosion, and channel scour, affecting the hydrology of the stream as well
as its naturally reproducing population of wild trout. Crabby Creek has been one of the main
stormwater-contributing culprits and more work is needed to restore the
watershed.
The Crabby Creek project, like hundreds of other projects
currently underway or being planned in the Delaware River watershed, could
benefit greatly from passage of the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act
(DRBCA). The DRBCA, co-sponsored by
Congressman Gerlach, would create a voluntary, non-regulatory program in the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to coordinate conservation and restoration activities
in the Delaware River watershed and provide for a competitive grant program to
help fund on-the-ground projects like the Crabby Creek project. We thank Congressman Gerlach for recognizing
the importance of the Delaware River watershed and urge Congress to support the
DRBCA and related restoration efforts.
