West Branch Fishing Creek
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West Branch Fishing Creek is one of the northernmost major tributaries of Fishing Creek in
Sullivan County, Pennsylvania Sullivan County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,840, making it the second-least populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Laporte ...
and
Columbia County, Pennsylvania Columbia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,727. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part ...
, in the United States. It is long and flows through Davidson Township, Sullivan County and Sugarloaf Township, Columbia County. The creek's watershed has an area of 33.5 square miles, nearly all of which is forested land. Rock formations in the watershed of West Branch Fishing Creek include the
Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire Form ...
, the Huntley Mountain Formation, and the
Burgoon Sandstone Burgoon is a village in Sandusky County, Ohio, United States. The population was 172 at the 2010 census. Geography Burgoon is located at (41.266832, -83.250024). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , ...
. North Mountain, Huckleberry Mountain, and Central Mountain are all in the creek's vicinity. The temperature of the creek's waters ranges from to and its pH ranges from approximately 5.5 to just under 7.0. The creek's discharge ranges from nearly 0 cubic meters per second to approximately 25 cubic meters per second. Communities in the watershed of West Branch Fishing Creek include Central and Elk Grove. Lumbering was an industry in the watershed in the late 1800s. Fish species living in West Branch Fishing Creek include brown trout, brook trout, and sculpin. The upper reaches of the creek are designated as Class A Wild Trout Waters by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. There is significant benthic algae coverage in the lower reaches of the creek.


Course

West Branch Fishing Creek begins in
Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 13 Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 13 are Pennsylvania State Game Lands in Columbia County and Sullivan County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. They have an area of 49,529 acres. The game lands are mountainous and contain streams such a ...
and southwestern Davidson Township, Sullivan County on
Huckleberry Mountain Huckleberry Mountain is a summit located in Adirondack Mountains of New York located in the Town of Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in ...
. It flows northeast, almost immediately entering a valley. It soon picks up the tributaries Swanks Run and Slip Run from the left and turns southeast, its valley becoming progressively deeper. The creek continues southeast, flowing between Huckleberry Mountain and North Mountain. It picks up two more tributaries from the left and then picks up its first tributary from the right, Shingle Mill Run. Shortly afterwards, the creek turns east and begins receiving unnamed tributaries from both sides. After a few miles, Painter Run flows into the creek. The creek exits Davidson Township and Sullivan County shortly downstream. Upon leaving Sullivan County, West Branch Fishing Creek enters Sugarloaf Township, Columbia County. Immediately after entering Columbia County, the creek flows through the community of Elk Grove. It flows east-southeast for a short distance before reaching the communities of Central and Jamison City. The creek then makes a sharp turn south and flows between Central Mountain and Huckleberry Mountain and into a
plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...
. After some distance, it turns southwest and crosses
Pennsylvania Route 118 Pennsylvania Route 118 (PA 118) is a state route located in northeastern Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at PA 405 in Hughesville. The eastern terminus is at PA 415 in Dallas. The road is known briefly as East Wa ...
. Several hundred feet downstream, it and East Branch Fishing Creek merge to form Fishing Creek.


Hydrology

During dry years, such as 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010, parts of West Branch Fishing Creek run dry for an average of 107 days in a year. During wet years, such as 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2009, the creek only runs dry for 5 days per year on average. In June 2010, of the stream bed were found to be completely dry. The discharge of the creek usually ranges from slightly above 0 to 5 cubic meters per second. However, it is sometimes between 5 and 10 cubic meters per second and occasionally is as high as 25 cubic meters per second. Between May 2010 and July 2011, the lowest water temperatures occurred in West Branch Fishing Creek in January and February 2011. The temperature was approximately or . The temperature was over in July 2010, with a maximum of or . The temperature was nearly in June 2010 and September 2010. From May 2010 to July 2011, the concentration of
dissolved oxygen Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...
ranged from slightly over 6 milligrams per liter to nearly 17 milligrams per liter. For comparison, the minimum threshold for optimal fish habitation is 5 milligrams per liter. In the aforementioned time period, the lowest concentration occurred in May 2010. The second-lowest concentration, approximately 7 milligrams per liter, occurred in June 2010. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in the creek was nearly 17 milligrams per liter in January 2011 and February 2011. The creek has the third-lowest minimum concentration of dissolved oxygen of all named streams in the upper Fishing Creek watershed, including Fishing Creek itself. West Branch Fishing Creek experiences more severe episodic acidification than any stream in the upper Fishing Creek watershed except for possibly East Branch Fishing Creek. The pH of West Branch Fishing Creek ranges from just over 5.5 to just under 7.0. The
alkalinity Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength ...
concentration of the creek in its upper reaches has been measured to be . The concentration of dissolved
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
in the creek is usually less than 40 milligrams per liter and is in some cases nearly 0 milligrams per liter. The maximum concentration of dissolved aluminum in the creek is 60 to 70 milligrams per liter, which is below the threshold for toxicity. The conductivity of West Branch Fishing Creek ranges from less than 20 to nearly 60 micro-siemens per centimeter.


Geology

Nearly all of the watershed of West Branch Fishing Creek is in the
Appalachian Plateau The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range that run down the Eastern United States. The Appalachian Plateau is the nor ...
physiographic province's Deep Valley Section. However, the lowest reaches of it, south of Pennsylvania Route 118, are in the Susquehanna Lowlands section of the ridge and valley physiographic province. The main rock formations in the area of West Branch Fishing Creek are the
Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire Form ...
, the Huntley Mountain Formation, and the
Burgoon Sandstone Burgoon is a village in Sandusky County, Ohio, United States. The population was 172 at the 2010 census. Geography Burgoon is located at (41.266832, -83.250024). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , ...
. These formations are all primarily made of
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
, but also contain conglomerate, shale, and siltstone. They were formed during the Devonian, Mississippian and Devonian, and the Mississippian, respectively. The Catskill Formation is mostly found in the lower and middle reaches of the watershed, along the creek and its tributaries. The Huntley Mountain Formation is found in the upper reaches of the watershed and on some of the streams in that part of the watershed. The Burgoon Sandstone is found in the watershed, but not on many of its streams. The soils in the watershed of West Branch Fishing Creek are
acidic In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...
because of a lack of
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
. The West Branch Fishing Creek watershed, along with the rest of the upper Fishing Creek watershed, experienced
glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...
during the
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
. There is a small moraine in the valley of Hemlock Run, a tributary of West Branch Fishing Creek. The valley of the creek is a gorge, which is one of the main features of the western part of Pennsylvania State Game Lands #13.


Watershed

The watershed of West Branch Fishing Creek has an area of 33.5 square miles. The watershed has a
drainage density Drainage density is a quantity used to describe physical parameters of a drainage basin. First described by Robert E. Horton, drainage density is defined as the total length of channel in a drainage basin divided by the total area, represented by ...
of 1.3 per mile. The entire watershed is long. The vast majority of the watershed is forested, with the only urban areas being the communities of Central and Elk Grove. There are a small number of residential areas and seasonal cabins in the watershed. The watershed of West Branch Fishing Creek contains a number of sub-watersheds. The largest of these is the watershed of Elk Run, which has an area of 7.49 square miles and joins the creek from its mouth. The second-largest sub-watershed is that of Painter Run. It has an area of 5.2 square miles and joins the creek upstream of its mouth. Both of these sub-watersheds are on the northern side of West Branch Fishing Creek's
main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...
.


History

The community of Emmons was founded on West Branch Fishing Creek west of Jamison City by George R. Baum, who constructed a
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
there. At the time, it was known as Baumstown. The mill was destroyed in a flood in 1850. The area remained uninhabited until industrial
lumbering Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
began in 1882. In September 1864, a thousand soldiers of the United States Army searched the valley of West Branch Fishing Creek as far as the Sullivan County line for an alleged fortress manned by 500 armed deserters and draft evaders. However, they were unable to find the fortress or any deserters. The community of Elk Grove is located on West Branch Fishing Creek approximately upstream of the community of Central. It was established sometime before 1915. In 1915 the community had twelve homes and a hotel known as the Elk Grove Hotel. Historically the Pentecost Lumber Company engaged in lumbering in the area of the creek and built a railroad line from the Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad at Central several miles upstream, to a point at Emmons. The Pentecost Lumber Company shipped both bark and timber to Jamison City.


Biology

The drainage basin of West Branch Fishing Creek is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery, except for the drainage basins of the tributaries Shingle Mill Run and Elk Run, which are designated as Exceptional Value waters and Migratory Fisheries. Wild
trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...
naturally reproduce in the creek. However, dry stream beds often prevent wild brook trout from migrating up the creek. Nevertheless, the creek has the highest population of wild brook trout of any major stream in the upper Fishing Creek watershed. In an
electrofishing Electrofishing is a fishing technique that uses direct current electricity flowing between a submerged cathode and anode. This affects the movements of nearby fish so that they swim toward the anode, where they can be caught or stunned.
survey done by the Fishing Creek Sportsman Association, 17 sculpin, 11 wild brook trout, 7 escaped (and unidentified) trout, 6 hatchery brown trout, and 1 hatchery brook trout were observed on the creek. The creek is designated by the
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a sepa ...
as Class A Wild Trout Waters from its source to the tributary Hemlock Run, a distance of . A location on West Branch Fishing Creek downstream of the community of Elk Grove is one of two places in the watershed of upper Fishing Creek where the stream bed is more than 60% covered by benthic algae. The high population of algae here is possibly due to leaking
septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater ( sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatm ...
s in the area. In Elk Grove, there are between 100 and 200 aquatic
macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s per square meter in the creek. Further upstream, there are nearly 300 aquatic macroinvertebrates per square meter. At the headwaters of the creek, approximately 25% of the macroinvertebrate taxa belong to the order '' Plecoptera'', about 25% belong to the order '' Ephemeroptera'', approximately 25% belong to the order ''
Trichoptera The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the b ...
'', about 20% belong to the order ''
Chironomidae The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many specie ...
'', and roughly 5% belong to other orders. At the creek's mouth, approximately 20% of the macroinvertebrate taxa are in the order ''Plecoptera'', approximately 55% belong to the order ''Ephemeroptera'', roughly 20% are in the orders ''Trichoptera'' and ''Chironomidae''. Approximately 5% are in other orders. Woody detritus can be found on West Branch Fishing Creek. The creek's
riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a " buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality i ...
is unfragmented. In 2011, the habitat quality of upper Fishing Creek and its tributaries were rated on a scale of 1 to 200 (with a higher rating indicating better habitability) by Point Park University and the Fishing Creek Sportsmans' Association. The headwaters of West Branch Fishing Creek had a score of 191, tying West Creek for the highest-rated site in the upper Fishing Creek watershed. Most of West Branch Fishing Creek received a rating between 166 and 200, indicating optimal habitat quality. The lower reaches of the creek, however, received a rating of 113 to 165, indicating suboptimal habitat quality. The Shannon Diversity Index of West Branch Fishing Creek is between 2.0 and 2.5 at Elk Grove. Further upstream, the Shannon Diversity Index of the creek is approximately 2.8. In the lower reaches of the creek, downstream of Painter Run, its
Hilsenhoff Biotic Index The Hilsenhoff Biotic Index (HBI) is a quantitative method of evaluating the abundance of arthropod fauna in stream ecosystems as a measurement of estimating water quality based on the predetermined pollution tolerances of the observed taxa. This bi ...
is between 2.6 and 3.5. Between Shingle Mill Run and Painter Run, West Branch Fishing Creek's Hilsenhoff Biotic Index is between 1.6 and 2.5.


See also

* East Branch Fishing Creek * Coles Creek (Pennsylvania), next tributary of Fishing Creek going downstream *
List of tributaries of Fishing Creek (North Branch Susquehanna River) There are 17 named tributaries of the main stem of Fishing Creek, a stream in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States and a tributary of the Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located ...


References

{{authority control Rivers of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of Fishing Creek (North Branch Susquehanna River)