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Chautauqua Creek Restoration Offers Trout Run

The Chautauqua Creek is listed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation as a prime trout stream, the lower section has long been a steelhead hot spot. Submitted photo

Each October through April, Chautauqua Creek offers one of the top Lake Erie trout runs in Western New York.

The creek is listed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation as a prime trout stream, the lower section has long been a steelhead hot spot. The Westfield Water Works Lower Dam was identified as the first significant barrier blocking fish passage upstream, which winds through the deep, forested Chautauqua Gorge.

Starting in 2007, the state DEC and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified the Westfield Water Works Dams as a site for rehabilitation due to its impact to Lake Erie and the surrounding communities. The two structures at the Water Works Dam site effectively block the upstream migration of most fish species, except for limited steelhead trout. That’s important because the roughly 10 miles of Chautauqua Creek upstream of the dams is high spawning and water quality, higher than the area of the creek below the dams. Because the upper section of Chautauqua Creek produces good numbers of wild, naturally reproduced resident rainbow and brown trout, it is likely that sustainable populations of wild steelhead would develop in the areas after access is gained.

Cooperation between several local stakeholder groups has allowed the effort to take place. The Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District partnered with the village of Westfield, state Department of Environmental Conservation, Trout Unlimited, Chautauqua County Department of Public Facilities, Lake Erie Watershed Protection Alliance and U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Each entity brought in monetary and in-kind services which, when added together, allowed for a greater leverage of state and federal funding to install the project.

“The Soil and Water Conservation District utilized and coordinated multiple stakeholders to accomplish this project,” said David Spann, Soil and Water Conservation District field manager. “It is through these relationship with local and county highway staff that we can do the most cost-effective projects, and make sure to leverage these efforts to get outside grant funding. While the District does smaller scale projects such as this throughout the construction season, it is rewarding to see this project come together and the direct results of restoring passage to the upper reaches of the stream.”

Over the past three construction seasons, heavy rock-rip rap was imported to the site and, once placed, was “pinned” to the rock substrate. A hole was drilled through the center of the limestone rip-rap and utilizing iron rods, the rocks were effectively attached to the shale of the stream bed. Repeated throughout the project, this allows the structure to be able to withstand flashy storm events, like what the Northern Chautauqua County region experienced in 2015.

“Typically the Soil and Water Conservation District is known for working with agricultural producers, but this highlights the diversity of our staff and the resource we can be to county taxpayers,” said Fred Croscut, chairman of the Soil and Water Conservation District board. “The district board continues to encourage partnerships with local stakeholder groups and offer the technical support of our staff to accomplish these community-based projects.”

Upstream of the Waterworks Dam site, the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy has the Chautauqua Creek Oxbow Forest Preserve on Lyons Road in Sherman. Recently, steelhead have been caught at or around the preserve, which is roughly nine miles upstream of the Water Works Dam site. If the populations are able to reach the high-quality spawning habitat, it could potentially lead to increased production of wild steelhead populations.

“Thanks to the years of efforts on the part of SWCD/USACE to install fish ladders in Chautauqua Creek we have had great success in enabling steelhead and other fish to travel further up the waterway,” said Jonathan Townsend, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy lands manager. “This not only makes for better fishing, it restores biological connectivity and functional ecological relationships. Generous donations of land and money to the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy aided in creating the 21-acre Chautauqua Creek Oxbow Forest Preserve on Lyons Road — which is open to the public and part of the state DEC public fishing rights program. This preserve was established in 2014 and added an additional 2,200 feet of public fishing opportunities to the existing public fishing areas in that reach of Chautauqua Creek.”

The Chautauqua County Board of Supervisors declared Chautauqua County a Soil Conservation District in 1944 by determining that “conservation of soil resources and control and prevention of soil erosion are problems of public concern in the county.” Conservation districts are a local governmental subdivision established under state law, and adopted by the county, to carry out a program for the conservation, use and development of soil, water and related resources. The Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District continues to provide a variety of services to county landowners and producers through conservation planning, technical assistance, conservation education and outreach, inventory and monitoring, grant writing assistance, as well as teaming with other county agencies and stakeholder organizations.

For more information, call 664-2351, ext 5, visit www.soilwater.org or find the district on Facebook.

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