Trout group to study Westmoreland County's Linn Run

A fishing organization plans an extensive two-year study of the wild trout in Linn Run and the impacts on their habitat, from the stream’s headwaters atop Laurel Summit, down through Linn Run State Park in Cook Township to where it empties into Loyalhanna Creek in Rector.

The Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited wants to produce a study that will be the foundation for a “coldwater conservation plan for the entire Linn Run watershed,” said Larry D. Myers, president of the Forbes Trail Chapter.

While sections of Linn Run and its tributaries — Grove Run and Rock Run — support native brook trout, there are signs of habitat being destroyed, including acid rain, insects ruining the forest canopy and gill lice, Myers said. The study is designed to identify barriers to the trout’s survival, along with what might be done to improve the conditions for the trout, Myers said.

The first step in this long process will start next month, when Trout Unlimited members intend to walk the 6-mile length of the stream to assess the brook trout habitat and impairments to fish movements in the stream, Myers said.

In April, they will start collecting bugs the trout eat, sample the water in several places to determine which areas might benefit from remediation, and electro-shock the stream to bring brook trout to the surface. Once floating on the surface, they can be inspected for gill lice and released back into the creek, Myers said.

The direct impact of acid rain on Linn Run is no longer as severe as it has been in the past, since pollution control measures — “scrubbers” — were placed in the power plants, Myers said. The Forbes Trail Chapter has reduced the acidity of the Rock Run tributary the past decade by using crushed limestone piled near the headwaters, and alkalinity of the stream has improved to where it sustains a healthy population of wild brook trout, Myers said.

Gill lice are parasites that attach to the brook trout’s gills and damage them, said Andrea Kautz, a research entomologist with Carnegie Museum of Natural History at Powdermill Nature Reserve in Cook Township. The gill lice, however, do not seem to bother the rainbow trout as much as the brook trout, Myers said.

“This can lead to the replacement of wild brook trout populations with introduced rainbow and brown trout,” Myers said.

The question that Trout Unlimited wants to answer, Myers said, is “if we remediate some of the stressors, can the fish survive even if they have gill lice?”

The Foundation of Pennsylvania Watersheds, based near Huntingdon, will provide the Forbes Trail Chapter with two $2,000 grants to conduct the study. With additional funding from other state and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations, the study will cost about $8,000, Myers said. Taking into account the time of the volunteers, the study probably will be worth close to $17,000, Myers said.