Local Stream Guardians Protect Bobs Creek In Bedford, Blair Counties

The following article appeared in the Fall Conserve Magazine published by the Western PA Conservancy--

For Jim Davis, chairman of the Bobs Creek Stream Guardians, any landowners within the Bobs Creek Watershed is considered a guardian of the stream.

“It’s important to communicate to landowners within the watershed the importance of protecting the stream and its aquatic life,” said Jim, a former park manager at Blue Knob State Park.  “Bobs Creek is a special place.”

Bobs Creek is located in the Juniata River watershed, which is a tributary to the Susquehanna River.  The high-quality watershed stretches through Bedford and Blair counties with its headwaters in Blue Knob State Park, and is known for superb trout fishing.

Jim joins other members of the Bobs Creek Stream Guardians in leading annual stream cleanups and habitat restoration projects to help steward the watershed he calls home.

The Steam Guardians first launched in 1999 as a subcommittee of the Pavia Sportsmen, responding to a growing need to remove litter and illegal dumps in the watershed.

The Stream Guardians has since grown to tackle other projects in the watershed, such as stream monitoring, road improvement projects to limit sediment pollution, and streambank stabilization and aquatic habitat improvement projects.

WPC’s Juniata and Potomac Region Watershed Manager Jen Farabaugh began working closely with Jim and the Bobs Creek Stream Guardians in 2005.

Since then, the partnership has resulted in 10 stream bank restoration projects, stabilizing more than 2,275 fee of stream in the Bobs Creek watershed.

“We increased each other’s capacity to do good work; it’s a good partnership,” said Jen., who has worked out of our Hollidaysburg, Pa. field office since it first opened in 2008. “The Stream Guardiana bring their knowledge of the local area and manual labor for project implementation, while we’re able to fill in holes and coordinate design, logistics and permitting.”

Jen joined Jim and other Stream Guardians in implementing the beginning stages of a three-year streambank restoration project on Bobs Creek earlier this summer.  The project is funded by a Growing Greener grant from the PA Department of Environmental Protection.

Along with the PA Fish and Boat Commission, the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Bedford County Conservation District, WPC and the Stream Guardians will install special structures to help keep the streambank in place.

During the current project, the group will ultimately stabilize 815 feet of streambank atfour sites along Bobs Creek,

“Our partnership with the Conservancy has really expanded our capacity in a lot of ways,” explained Jim. “Without Jen and Greg Schaetzie at the Conservancy and the folks at the PA Fish and Boat Commission, the Babs Creek Watershed would be on its own.”

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(Photo: Bobs Creek Stream Guardians.)

(Reprinted from the Fall Conserve Magazine published by the Western PA Conservancy.)