Norfolk Southern: Stream Recovered
Railroad Company Believes Stream Ready To Be Stocked

Norfolk Southern Corp. last week delivered an assessment of the environmental damage caused when its train derailed near Gardeau, spilling about 42,000 gallons of lye that found its way into an adjacent wetlands and ultimately about 50 miles of Cameron County sport fishing streams.

The company's summary, delivered to the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Friday, concludes that Sinnemahoning Portage Creek has recovered from the June 30 contamination so much that it could be stocked during the Fish & Boat Commission's next round of scheduled stockings next spring.

"It is anticipated that the majority of the creek -- perhaps in its entirety -- will support restocking efforts during the next available restocking season in spring 2007," the freight company said. "Based on the findings of the water quality and benthic (aquatic macroinvertebrate community) surveys, substantial recovery already has been documented in the affected portions of the creek."

The report makes no mention of damage to the Driftwood Branch. The company is required to have a similar report prepared for that stream before the end of November.

While stocking native fish in Pennsylvania waters is not illegal, it's expensive to do in any quantity. The Pa. Fish and Boat Commission is the state agency that purchases the fish, stocks them and manages sport fishing.

F&BC officials are not officially commenting about the railroad company's claim that the Portage Branch is ready to hold sport fish.

"Our position on stocking hasn't changed," local Waterways Conservation Officer Bill Crisp said. "We never ruled stocking (next spring) out and right now we are neither more nor less inclined to stock."

Crisp said while the small aquatic insects that make up the food chain of Pennsylvania sport fish are showing up in bigger numbers, it's too early to make a call on whether or not fish would hold in the waters. Small game fish, too, are being seen on the Portage Branch, but fish of legal size are still not being seen.

And while many casual observers are encouraged by the number of crayfish they are seeing on both he Portage and Driftwood branches, Crisp notes that is not necessarily a god sign. Crayfish can live on land and were able to escape the water by either burrowing under the stream bed or simply crawling onto shore. He added that their seemingly omnipresence now is a sign that their predators, mostly large game fish, are nonexistent.

Anglers are urging the F&BC to stock the waters and F&BC officials think that Norfolk Southern is playing that card to tip public sentiment in its favor.

F&BC biologists have said they will begin stocking the stream when the "bug" community is healthy enough to support legal-sized sport fish.

"We won't hold back the fish for (any other reason than the waters not being able to support them)," Crisp said, noting that stocked fish that can't find food will migrate until they find an adequate source of food.

Biologists from the state Dept. of Environmental Protection, F&BC and private firms hired by Norfolk Southern all agree that there's reason to be optimistic that many species of macroinvetebrates could rebound rather quickly, thanks to the high-quality streams that feed the Portage Branch.