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    Timelapse of Improved Stream Habitat on Mill Creek

    April 2024
    Westmoreland County

    Restoring Life to a Keystone Select Trout Fishery

    The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission partnered with the Loyalhanna Watershed Association and PennDot to complete a project on Mill Creek, located in Ligonier, PA near Pittsburgh. Mill creek is a stocked trout fishery that also supports natural reproduction in the headwaters.  Mill Creek is a cold-water tributary that enters the Loyalhanna Creek in the special regulation area of the “Keystone Select Trout.”  

    The project enhanced a section of Mill Creek in proximity to its mouth to the Loyalhanna. The project area includes two highway bridges that led to this section of the stream to be 2.5 times it’s natural stream width, which led to a void stream habitat and trout fishery.  The average stream depth was less than 6 inches deep and led to fish passage issues in the summer months. As a result, the stream would warm up too much to offer relief to fish found in these waters.  

    The PFBC stream habitat design and project included the installation of 3 rock cross vanes and established a vegetated buffer, which provides shade and a health riparian zone for other species.  Overall, the stream was able to maintain a clean healthy stream bottom and channel that remains cool.  Over time, t​he average depth deepened to more than 2 feet and the vegetated buffer was built at low bank height elevation, improving the flood capacity. There is now a viable trout fishery in this section that would support year-round fishing.  

    Photo of Mill Creek, Westmoreland County, before Habitat Improvement project was completed
    Photo of Mill Creek, Westmoreland County, right after Habitat Improvement project was completed
    Photo of Mill Creek, Westmoreland County, two years after Habitat Improvement
    Photo of Mill Creek, Westmoreland County, ten years after Habitat Improvement

    Photo Caption:  The below photos above show the progression from the previous poor conditions and the vast improvement over a ten year period.  ​