'Shocking' study at Linn Run to help pave way to healthier habitat for trout to thrive
It was a stunning scene this week in a section of Linn Run in eastern Westmoreland County.
Volunteers with the Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited sent 300 volts into the stream, stunning fish in the high-quality coldwater fishery to study the trout habitat.
A few wild brook trout, some small sculpins — better known as bait fish — and crayfish whose habitat was temporarily shocked were found in Linn Run State Park in Cook Township. The stunned fish were collected into buckets and counted before being released unharmed.
“We can see what species are holding through different reaches of the stream, in different parts of the year. It gives us a snapshot look at the habitat,” Josh Penatzer, project manager for the Loyalhanna Watershed Association, said Tuesday as he stood in the shallow stream and operated a battery-powered device that sent an electric charge into the water.
High heat and a low water level nearly canceled the exercise. But they found a pool near the Grove Run picnic area that was sufficiently deep and cool so the fish would not be endangered by the voltage, said Larry Myers, president of the local Trout Unlimited chapter.
Along with shocking the fish, Andrea Kautz, a research entomologist at nearby Powdermill Nature Reserve, looked for aquatic bugs trout eat. Using a long pole and special net, she captured mayflies, caddis flies and stoneflies.
Their efforts were part of an 18-month study Trout Unlimited, Powdermill Nature Reserve, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and six other partners are conducting on Linn Run and its tributaries to develop a coldwater conservation plan next year. The study, funded through a grant from the Foundation of PA Watersheds and should be completed in June 2022, Myers said.
Volunteers with the Forbes Trail chapter have been testing water quality, assessing the habitat and collecting microinvertebrates — trout bugs — to help determine stressors on the wild brook trout and other aquatic life in the stream, which flows about 6 miles from the top of the mountains in the state park to Loyalhanna Creek, west of Rector.
“We are working to identify the general health of the stream and the coldwater fishery,” Myers said.
Trout Unlimited wants to use the comprehensive study to get state funding or apply for grants to alleviate trout stressors — such as barriers to their movement to spawning grounds, increasing the forested canopy to keep the water cool and reducing erosion, Myers said. Improving those factors will create an environment where wild brook trout can thrive, Myers said.
A future phase of the study will involve more electroshocking in various spots of Linn Run in the fall, when temperatures are cooler and water levels may be higher, Myers said.
They will look for lice in the stunned trout, which are the little rice-sized parasites that attach to the gills and impair growth, behavior and survival, Myers said.
“They (brown trout) can come up from the Loyalhanna and have a feast,” on the smaller trout, Myers said.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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