C.5  Tributary Stream Reports and Recommendations

1(W)  Campbells Ledge Run

Campbells Ledge Run is a first order stream approximately one-mile long, rising in springs on the West Mountain ridge at Campbells Ledge adjacent to the confluence of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna rivers.  The headwaters of Campbells Ledge Run are encompassed in private property owned by Theta Corporation including the Campbells Ledge and Falling Spring Reservoirs.  The original confluence of Campbells Ledge Run with the river has been obliterated by extensive soil and gravel excavations along the flood plain.  These pits are flooded, with the Run providing the base hydrology maintaining the pool elevation.  The flooded pits are known as the Duryea Swamps.  Between the swamps and the ridge top reservoirs, the Run drops precipitously along the reservoir access road off Coxton Road.  The run looses flow to infiltration just prior to entering the swamps.

The ruins of some waterworks buildings are located about midway between the reservoirs and the flood plain.  The upland areas are characterized by successionally vegetated stripping pits and overburden piles.  The upland forest cover is degraded second growth with signs of high-grade timber harvest.

The reservoir access road also accesses the summit of Campbells Ledge, a significant natural feature and a landmark in the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley.  The ledge is a 300 to 400-foot high escarpment, which forms part of the water gap where the Susquehanna River enters the Lackawanna-Wyoming syncline.  Luzerne County EMA maintains a radio transmitter at the Ledge.

Recommendations:  

1.     The Duryea Swamps may provide the site for a large scale acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment program to treat flows from the Old Forge Bore Hole and the Duryea Outfall.  Some mine reclamation work to address flow loss and strip pits could enhance the stream corridor and upland habitat.  

2.     The swamps are also possible sites for a water fowl management program and a viable warm water fishery.  

3.     The upland terraces between the swamps and the reservoirs offer potential residential development sites.  

4.     The reservoir areas offer ridge-top reservoir conservation opportunities with a recreational use as appropriate.  There are public safety issues assorted with the escarpment and the present remoteness of the ridge top sites.  Several of the larger private parcels at the reservoirs are owned by Theta Corporation, a real estate holding business formerly associated with the PG Energy/PG&W gas and water utility.  

5.     This plan recommends that the future land uses in the upland/reservoir area be focused on recreation/conservation uses above the reservoirs with a transition into residential use between the upland sites and the flood plain at Coxton Road.  The Swamps need to be reserved for recreation/conservation uses and potential AMD mitigation.  

2(W) Red Springs Run

Red Spring Run is a small second order stream, with a one-mile long tributary, draining a 1.25 mi² watershed just north of Campbells Ledge Run.  Rising in springs on West Mountain, the stream and its tributary drop in a steep decline to the flood plain along the Lackawanna/Luzerne County line at Duryea and Old Forge.  The streams originate along the Llewellyn-Pocono boundary at the 1200 foot elevation and is quickly affected by abandoned mine impacts.

An active quarry permit #40900304, to Airport Sand and Gravel (3-007-1) is a major activity in this watershed.  Stream flow loss begins above the Airport Sand and Gravel operation.  Red Springs Run flows through a small remote residential cluster, part of the Connells Patch neighborhood, adjacent to the Popple Brothers Colliery.  This site was formerly the Babylon Breaker.  The Popple Colliery buildings and the nearby residential cluster, form a unique remnant of the colliery/patch community once common in the valley.

The lower portion of Red Springs Run’s stream channel is impacted by mining operations. It flows into the river through a concrete culvert at RM 2.0.  An abandoned Lehigh Valley rail corridor crosses the creek just above its confluence with the river.

Recommendations:  

1.     Effective regrading, revegetating and erosion control are needed at the Airport Sand and Gravel site.  

2.     Upland mine reclamation could promote residential reuses linked to similar uses at Campbells Ledge.  

3.     Portions of the Popple Colliery site may be appropriate for an AMD mitigation project for the Old Forge Bore Hole.  

4.     The colliery buildings and adjacent residential cluster offer historic preservation and interpretative opportunities.  

5.     The rail corridor can be developed for greenway-rail trail links from Connells Patch Park (softball complex) in Old Forge to Stevenson Street and Coxton Road sites in Duryea.  

6.     The Popple Colliery culm banks should be reclaimed and the site restored for flood plain habitat.  

3(W) St. Johns Creek

St. Johns Creek and its tributaries, Race Brook, Sawmill Creek and an unnamed tributary, form a 7.19 mi² watershed in Ranson Township, Taylor and Old Forge Boroughs, Lackawanna County.  Rising on West Mountain, the stream flows down steeply pitching terrain before encountering a broader, nearly level flood plain along Keyser Avenue near the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  From there it flows southerly and joins the river near Union Street in Old Forge, 500-feet upstream of the Luzerne/Lackawanna county line and 500-feet downstream of the Old Forge Bore Hole, one of the largest acid mine drainage points in the anthracite coal region.

The headwaters of the creek and its tributaries are springs along the upper reaches of the West Mountain ridge in Ranson Township. The upper watersheds are forested with diverse second and third growth native trees.  There are ruins of water works along Race Brook above the Austin Heights neighborhood.  Sawmill Creek has been relocated into an artificial channel, with splash pools, and some naturalistic structure, by the Alliance Landfill.  The main stem of St. Johns is partially channelized around the north side of the landfill, along and through the PA Turnpike/Keyser Avenue Exit complex.

Due to infiltration into the underground mine pool, St. Johns and its tributaries loose their base flow to the mines; the main stem looses flow along the north side of the landfill,  Sawmill Creek looses flow between the landfill and Keyser Avenue and Race Brook looses flow where its channel was altered by the developer of homes in Austin Heights.

From the turnpike to the river, the creek has lost its channel integrity due to sediment transport, shallow gradients and channel braiding.   Significant amounts of sediments are generated from the reach of Sawmill Creek between the landfill and St. Johns, at the rear of JoJo’s Travelers Garage.  Other sediments are generated from mine waste deposited along the water course by historic mining operations. Some of this material has been graded into the flood plain and water course by developers and adjacent property owners. The St. Johns corridor between Sibley Avenue and Connells Patch also features an abandoned railroad right-of-way, the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s Sibley branch and the St. Johns Creek branch of the Lower Lackawanna Sanitary Sewer Authority interceptor line.  There are several borough, school district and fire company owned properties along the St. Johns corridor:  

     1.     Sibley Avenue recreation site under development (Borough)

     2.     Eagle McLure Fire Company grounds

     3.     Old Forge High School Campus

     4.     Connells Patch Softball Complex (Borough)

     5.     Milwaukee Avenue soccer field, under development (Borough)

Recommendations:  

1.     Perform a Growing Greener audit of zoning, land use and subdivision regulations to improve watershed and open space protection.  

2.     Promote the installation of natural stream channel restoration designs, to eliminate sediment transport and restore natural stream functions and habitat.  

3.     Facilitate upgrades to storm water systems to enhance water quality in watershed.  

4.     Facilitate improvements to sanitary interceptor system.  

5.     Acquire and develop a greenway for recreation and open space protection, utilize abandoned rail corridor and linkages to borough, school district and fire company properties.  Link greenway to Lackawanna River Heritage Trail.  

6.     Acquire protective easements along restored stream reaches.  

7.     Develop easements or acquisitions to conserve Race Brook water works and upper headwaters areas of Race Brook, Sawmill and St. Johns creeks.  

8.     Involve school district and watershed residents in educational and stewardship activities.  

9.     Link greenway to Luzerne County trails.  

10.     Facilitate development of Heritage Trailheads at rail station or historic site in Old Forge.  

11.  Develop interpretive site and trail link at, Old Forge Bore Hole and Moosic anticline ledges in riverbed.  

4(E)  Mill Creek

Mill Creek drains a 10.48 mi² watershed in the Southeast portion of the Lackawanna Watershed.  The 5.8 mile long stream and its tributaries rise along the flanks of Suscon Mountain in the Moosic Mountain range in Pittston Township, Luzerne County.

Mill Creek crosses into the Llewellyn coal formation at 1200’ in elevation.  It cuts down a steep ravine adjacent to Suscon Road.  A portion of the ravine is accessable along an abandoned Erie Rail Road grade.  There are several scenic cliff faces, waterfalls, splash pools within a canopy of hemlock and an understory of rhododendron.  Most of the ravine is in private property parcels.

Below this reach Mill Creek flows for approximately one mile through a 1200 acre plus tract of mixed oak forest, occupied by the Akzo Nobel Dupont Explosives Company.  LRCA secured special permission to survey Mill Creek through this property.

The stream channel, riparian and upland habitat of the Akzo Nobel tract are in fairly natural condition of successional forest cover.  There are two small impoundments related to the previous manufacturing uses of the site.  The small dams are breached and the impoundments have transitioned into wetlands.  There is no evidence of strip mining on this site.  Stream flow loss becomes evident about 500’ from the downstream end of the Azko Nobel property near O’Hara Road.  The Mill Creek channel was dry from 500’ above O’Hara Road to its confluence with the Lackawanna during the survey period.

From O’Hara Road to Interstate 81 the dry streambed exhibits evidence of past surface mining and contemporary urban storm water flows.  There is a concrete channel liner between Interstate 81 and the PA 315-Suscon Road intersection in Dupont.  This liner was ruptured in several places during the flood of 1996.  These ruptures provide direct access for stream flow infiltration into underground mine voids.  A maintenance road along this reach has greenway trail potential.

Mill Creek flows through central Dupont along PA 315.  The creek has been channelized throughout this reach.  The channel work is an eclectic mix of WPA era stone walls and concrete culverts and retaining walls, characteristic of 1960 and 1970’s state road and flood protection projects.  The Mill Creek channel work dissipates near the US Rte.11 overpass at the Avoca-Dupont Borough boundary.  The US Rte. 11 overpass location is a strategic point in the Mill Creek watershed.  As the creek cuts a deep channel through a ridge of Llewlyn sandstone.  The two main tributaries, Collins Creek and Lidy Creek enter Mill Creek above this point in Dupont which lies along a broad flood basin of Mill Creek.

Collins and Lidy Creek rise on the ridge line above the Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport and flow through the International Trade Zone Industrial Park, where both tributary streams begin to lose flows to the mine pool.  This survey indicates that Collins Creek is incorrectly located on USGS quadrangle maps.

The Rte. 11 overpass site features a concentration of road, rail and utility infrastructure.  The Canadian Pacific, St. Lawerence and Hudson Division main line passes through the creek’s gap in the sandstone ridge, as does the Reading and Northern line from Allentown to Pittston.  The track structure of the Reading and Northern crosses Mill Creek on a diagonal trestle set within the 100- year flood way of the creek at this strategic choke point.  This site was once featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” as a location where three railroad and one highway bridge cris-crossed over one another.

The Heidleburg Colliery is the predominant land use in the next reach of Mill Creek as it passes into Avoca.  There is a complete degradation of stream channel and habitat due to mining, railroad and urban impacts.

There was a state funded channelization project under construction on the mile and a half reach of Mill Creek through Avoca during the survey period.  This project offered a sharp contrast between two types of habitat degradation as a concrete “U” channel is installed to replace the remnant natural stream channel filled with coal wastes, sediment and urban debris.  The channel project could have provided greenway or parkland opportunities; however its single purpose mission prevented the borough from taking advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to restore the stream corridor for multiple objectives.

The Avoca reach also hosts a 40-acre adjacent site, featuring a closed-down railroad tie preservative treatment facility, operated by the Kerr-McGee Corporation.  The Borough of Avoca with the assistance of PA DEP has recently engaged Kerr-McGee in a dialogue on an assessment and management program for this site.  LRCA staff has noted numerous anecdotal evidence of potential off-site migration of preservative materials during the Mill Creek survey.

The flood channel work terminates on the upstream side of a 100 plus year old Erie Railroad stone arch culvert.  This culvert crosses the creek near the Luzerne-Lackawanna county border.  The creek flows through a successional riparian corridor with numerous evidence of coal waste piles and sedimentation of coal waste in the streambed.

Mill Creek passes under Main Street in Moosic adjacent to its intersection with Lonesome Road in Old Forge.  Mill Creek flows into the Lackawanna River 1000 feet downstream of this intersection along Lonesome Road.  The Moosic Sewage Treatment Plant of the Lackawanna River Basin Sewer Authority formerly discharged into Mill Creek near its river confluence.  This plant was closed and its flow diverted to the Lower Lackawanna Valley system in 2000.

Recommendations:  

Due to the extent and scope of environmental destruction caused by mining, urban and transportation related impacts, lower Mill Creek is not a viable candidate for an ecological restoration in its entirety.  With the restoration of natural base flows, some of the remaining unchannelized reaches have some restoration and greenway potential.  The newly constructed flood culvertization and concrete channel system in Avoca has some recreational greenway potential, however, the extensive concrete system can never support a naturally analogous riparian corridor.  

The Kerr-McGee Corporation’s railroad tie treatment plant in Avoca may be a continuing source of both environmental quality and human health concerns.  The Schott Optical facility in Duryea may be a source of ground water contaminants from lagoons containing metallic glass wastes.  Soil assessments conducted for the Avoca flood control project also indicated the presence of coal tar residues in the streambed sediments.  LRCA suggests that soil, sediment and groundwater studies should be considered in the lower watershed to assess or discover the scope and sources of contamination.  

The following recommendations are included in this plan as projects eligible for River Conservation program implementation or as action by LRCA, private or municipal interests:  

1.     A clean up of coal waste sediments (possibly contaminated from industrial sources) is recommended in the confluence reach from Moosic, Old Forge through Duryea to the Erie railroad culvert and the Avoca flood works.  This reach is further recommended for installation of a naturally analogous restoration.  A riparian flood plain buffer presently exists and is in need of zoning protection and/or acquisition on the Old Forge/Duryea side of this reach.  An abandoned rail corridor lies along the Moosic side and is also recommended for acquisition and greenway development.

2.     With the abandonment of the Moosic sewer plant discharge by LRBSA, municipal officials are encouraged to work with property owners along Lonesome Road to clean up and enhance their properties.  Lonesome Road could be targeted for a community development initiative.

3.     The Borough of Avoca may wish to consider creation of a continous pedestrian-bicycle recreation greenway along the Mill Creek flood control works.  Construction and maintenance easements can form the basis for an acquisition and recreational greenway development project.  A pedestrian bridge or grade crossing will be required over the secondary, rail freight branch line.

4.     The Heidleburg reach contains challenges which need to be addressed by various agencies:  

·       a culm bank removal-abandoned mine land reclamation and an economic   redevelopment of the Heidleburg colliery site and adjacent lands is recommended. 

·       a regrading, realignment, reconstruction of portions of the Reading & Northern railroad is recommended at the US Rte. 11 overpass to remove the R & N railroad girder bridge from the Mill Creek flood way.  A culvertization or channelization of Mill Creek for several hundred feet through this portion of the Heidleburg reach may be useful in restoration of flow and improved flood passage.  

·       a flow loss assessment on the Dupont and Heidleburg reaches of Mill Creek is suggested.  The concrete flume reach between PA Rte. 315 and I-81 needs to be repaired and maintained.  The Heidleburg reach may then be a candidate for a riparian restoration, with some aspects of naturally analogous installations possible.

5.     The Borough of Dupont may consider creating a pedestrian walk way along portions of the Mill Creek alignment.  This reach could benefit from a more active management plan, which could include public access and ornamental landscape improvements.  

6.     The PA-DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation should consider extending flow loss assessment upstream, into the Akzo Nobel site, to begin flow restoration to the Dupont and Heidleburg reaches.

7.     The Akzo Nobel reach represents an important and predominately natural high quality habitat for Mill Creek and the entire lower Lackawanna watershed area.  This plan recommends that the Akzo Nobel site be considered for preservation through conservation easements or acquisition.  This action is recommended weather the site remains as a reserved proprietary business site or is developed for other business or residential purposes.  The entire site would provide a good regional park property or an addition to nearby State Game Lands.

8.     The Suscon Road reach of Mill Creek contains a ravine with numerous water falls and splash pools at the Llewlyn-Pocono formation boundary.  The reach is included on the LRCA’s List of Special Places and Natural Areas.  Most of this site is on private property.  The LRCA recommends that the Lackawanna Valley Conservancy develop contacts with property owners to inform them about voluntary conservation actions.  A rail grade at this site has rail to trail potential.

9.     The Suscon Road reach of Mill Creek and the headwater reaches of Lidy and Collins Creeks all drain high quality mountainous watershed habitats.  These reaches of streams and their watersheds should be protected from sprawl development.  Conservation easements and management plans on private properties and acquisition by state conservation agencies are both recommended actions supported in this plan.

10.  The Boroughs of Old Forge, Moosic, Duryea, Dupont, Avoca and Pittston Township should include the protection of Mill Creek, and technical requirements for that protection, in their zoning, land use, subdivision ordinances and comprehensive plans.

5 (E)  Spring Brook  

Spring Brook, the second largest tributary to the Lackawanna River after Roaring Brook, flows west from the Pocono Plateau for 16.0 miles to confluence with the Lackawanna in the Borough of Moosic, at RM 3.8.  Spring Brook, a third order tributary, drains a large and diverse 54.24 mi² watershed.  It enters the Lackawanna Valley through Spring Brook Gap in the Moosic Mountains, near Nesbitt Reservoir.  

Spring Brook’s tributary streams rise in Pocono Plateau wetland complexes and from springs along the western flank of the Moosic Mountain range.  A majority of Spring Brook tributaries are heavily forested.  A significant portion, upwards of 60%, is owned by Theta Company, which had formerly been associated with the Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company (PG&W).  The Theta lands are no longer protected watershed lands and are presently subject to an extensive timber harvest program.  The Pennsylvania American Water Company (PAWC) acquired PG&W reservoirs and several hundred acres of buffer lands adjacent to the reservoirs.  There are some road-side residential and small suburban residential subdivision land uses along Spring Brook at Yostville, Maple Lake, and Spring Brook Village.  

Watres, Nesbitt and Maple Lake Reservoirs and the Spring Brook Intake Reservoir and water treatment plant are significant PAWC installations in the watershed.  The Spring Brook Township sewer treatment plant discharges into Green Spring Run near PA Rte. 307.  The balance of water and habitat quality in the upper watershed is excellent.  

As Spring Brook exits the west end of Spring Brook Gap, it enters the Lackawanna Valley and the Llewlyn geologic formation.  The upland flanks of the ridge on either side of the stream show some evidence of coal mining, however, residential encroachment on the narrow flood plain along PA Rte. 502 at Belin Village and Spike Island provide the more significant environmental impacts.  Response to numerous flood events in this reach has resulted in a variety of rip rap bank stabilization projects.  

In its final reach through Moosic Borough, Spring Brook has been channelized in a large trapezoidal and “U” shaped open concrete channel.  The stream confluences with the river through this concrete channel, flanked by rip rapped berms.  Covey Swamp Creek, which drains Covey Swamp and Rocky Glen, is the only major tributary to Spring Brook from the main valley.  There are remnant culm dumps along the concrete channel between Rtes. 502 and 11.  These dumps and some stream flow loss in the Belin Village and Spike Island reaches are the only significant anthracite mine impacts to Spring Brook. 

Recommendations:

1.     Due to the value of Spring Brook and its tributaries as a water supply resource, the LRCA recommends that municipalities in the Spring Brook watershed, particularly Spring Brook Township, review their zoning, land use and subdivision ordinances and comprehensive plans, to insure that state of the art ordinances and planning goals are included to provide the highest level of protection to the stream and reservoir areas.

2.     This plan recommends that acquisition of a majority of Theta Company properties, or the development of a conservation easement program to insure the maintenance of these lands as watershed, open space, natural resource, and timber lands, continue into the future.  These lands should be included in the review and policy outcomes of the Lackawanna County Open Space Study.

3.     Municipalities should consider updating subdivision and land use ordinances to insure that state of the art Best Management Practices and design standards are required of any development in forested watershed areas.

4.     Recreational trail developments offer a potential to provide passive recreational access in the Spring Brook watershed to link the Lackawanna Valley to the Lackawanna State Forest, State Game Lands and other resources in the upper Lehigh River watershed.  This plan recommends a trail program be developed along the former Wilkes-Barre and Eastern railroad alignment which parallels Spring Brook.  Other trail links on township roads and fire management roads should be included.

5.     The lower reaches of Spring Brook in Moosic, Spike Island and Belin Village offer \opportunities for educational interpretation of the various types of structural and non structural responses to issues related to bank stabilization, flood control and mine water infiltration.

6.     The Borough of Moosic may consider the development of a local pedestrian trail on the flood levees at the Spring Brook-Lackawanna River confluence.

6(E)   Greenwood Creek   

Greenwood Creek is a 2.0 mile long first order tributary, draining an approximate 2.0 mi² watershed in the Borough of Moosic.  It originated in springs and wetlands near the Davis Street / Montage Mountain Exit of Interstate 81.  It flows through the Booth & Sons scrap yard, the Railroad Avenue residential neighborhood, the Birney Avenue Shopping Center and an abandoned coal mine property before reaching its confluence with the Lackawanna River at RM 6.5, just upstream of the Canadian Pacific Rail Bridge between Taylor and Moosic.

Greenwood Creek is one of the most severely degraded sub-watersheds in the Lackawanna Basin. It is primarily a storm sewer shed with natural hydrological capacity having been destroyed by coal mining and urban development activities.

The water course has been severely altered in its entire length.  The headwaters are a storm sewer shed receiving runoff from Interstate 81, the scrap yard and the Railroad Avenue residential area.  The obliterated watercourse is supplanted by gutters, catch basins, and storm culverts.  

From Pittston and Birney Avenues the water course is culvertized under the parking lot of the Birney Plaza.  It discharges from a disintegrating 4' diameter galvanized metal culvert 200 feet southwest of the rear corner of the K Mart Store.

After a 20 foot plunge from the culvert, the water course meanders through a 1,000-foot reach of strip mine overburden before plunging another 1,000-feet reach down a steeply pitching sinuous cataract with high wall cuts through conglomerated layers of overburden soils and rock, coal and shale waste and culm.

Portions of the high wall cuts reveal a stratigraphy of burnt culm and shale with large clinkers and slabs of oxidized shale and sandstone.  Large quantities of these materials are mobilized by storm events and outwash into the Lackawanna at the confluence forming a large delta fan.  

Immediately prior to the confluence the Creek passes under several culvert pipes in the embankment of the Lackawanna County Rail Authority=s rail line, one-quarter mile north of its Minooka junction with the Canadian Pacific.  These culverts have experienced several washouts.  There is a combined sewer outfall on the LRBSA Moosic collector system at this point as well.  

Persistent flooding problems in the Railroad Avenue neighborhood have been the subject of discussion by residents, developers, Moosic Borough and state officials during 2000.  Lackawanna Watershed 2000 has proposed a CSO upgrade at the confluence and has also recommended, with the LRCA and Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, that a restoration program be developed for the watershed.

Recommendations

1.     Coordinate infrastructure upgrades with restoration of lower reaches of open channel to maximize comprehensive nature of work to approach some restoration thresholds.  

2.     Utilize new storm water management systems to sustain a more natural flow regime.  

3.     Divert Interstate flows out of watershed with redesign of Davis Street interchange.  

4.     Retrofit retention basin at culvert discharge site at rear of K Mart to maintain longer discharge hydrographs to enhance natural flows through cataract area.  

5.     Reclaim and restore as much as possible the water course through cataract area.  Regrade coal waste and overburden as part of large site mine reclamation.  

6.     Use municipal ordinance and/or easements to maintain natural habitat corridor along reclaimed stream reach from Shopping Center to river.  

7(W) Keyser Creek  

Keyser Creek is an important second order tributary which drains a 8.58 mi² watershed along the base of West or Bald Mountain in the Borough of Taylor and the City of Scranton.  The Creek and two of its three tributaries, Lucky Run and Lindy Creek, rise in springs and wetlands along Bald Mountain in Ransom and Newton Townships.  

Keyser Creek is nearly a mirror image of its immediate neighbor to the south, St. Johns Creek.  Its headwater streams flow quickly eastward from the mountain ridge down steeply graded courses, form small cataracts at the Llewellyn/Pocono boundary and then turn to the southeast across a shallow gradient flood plain for a 2.5 mile run to the river.  

            Some salient features of Keyser Creek are:  

1.     a delta fan of eroded red ash sediments at its confluence with the Lackawanna  

2.     three steel girder bridges which carry the Central New Jersey Railroad (now Lackawanna River Heritage Trail for 20' across the mouth of Keyser Creek)  

3.     a 250' stone arch culvert under the Canadian Pacific rail yard at Taylor, sanitary sewer overflow evident along culvert  

4.     stone and concrete culverts under Main Avenue  

5.     no regular flow in lower watershed  

6.     erosional morphology along previous bond forfeiture reclamation at Moffat Colliery, source of red ash in delta at confluence  

7.     ruins of Moffat Colliery buildings, red ash and culm dumps  

8.     remnants of semicircular barrel staved wooden flume are evident from Oak Street upstream through the former Hampton Rail Yards/Hampton Colliery area now Stauffer Industrial Park.  Ruins of flume work extend over two miles into the Keyser Avenue car shops area.  

9.     pyroclastic materials in foundry slag and coal mine waste evident through colliery sites particularly at former site of Hampton Roundhouse  

10.     various culverts remnant of rail yard operations are evident along water course

11.  stream channel is choked with sediments; braided flows evident and loss of defined channel encountered in numerous reaches.  

12.     flood control channelization in progress at Lindy Creek confluence and up Lindy Creek  

13.  old ice pond dams and other historic stone and concrete structures located on Lindy Creek adjacent to Frink Street  

14.     sanitary sewage discharges evident at culverts adjacent to Luzerne Street pumping station  

15.      remnants of water works evident on main stem of Keyser Creek 2000' west of Keyser Avenue below Fawnwood development  

16.     Keyser Creek looses flow between water works and Keyser Avenue  

Recommendations:  

1.     Major stream channel restoration project on main stem from confluence to Fawnwood.  

2.     Complete restoration of Lucky Run channel from McDade Park through Keyser Terrace to confluence with Keyser Creek adjacent to Kane Truck yard in Stauffer Park.  

3.     Excavate and conserve a portion of flume structure for historical interpretation.  

4.     Develop a trailhead on the LRHT at the confluence. 

5.     Develop a trailhead or Heritage Landing at the Moffat Breaker site.  

6.     Develop a trail and greenway link along the Keyser-Lucky Run corridor to join the LRHT with McDade Park.

7.     Conserve and reconstruct Lindy Creek and the ice pond dam site on it, along Frink Street, and the water works at Fawnwood Estates for public access, if appropriate.  

8.     Develop conservation easements, acquisition or other protection for headwaters of Keyser Creek.  

9.     Monitor operations at Scranton Materials Quarry to define impacts and protect Keyser Creek from impacts.

10.    Locate, assess and manage farm dumps and similar sites in the sub-watershed.  

8(E)  Stafford Meadow Brook

Stafford Meadow Brook (SMB) is a larger, second order tributary which rises on the Pocono Plateau in Roaring Brook Township and flows west-southwest through a 14.11 mi² watershed for 12.0 miles to confluence with the Lackawanna River at RM 9.2 in South Scranton.  

The SMB watershed is closely associated with the development of the Lackawanna Coal and Iron Company in the 1840’s.  Several iron ore quarries were operated along the stream through the 1880’s.  SMB later became, and remains today, a significant water supply resource.  

Stafford Meadow Brook rises in Bear Swamp, a Pocono wetland bog adjacent to I-380 in Roaring Brook Township.  It hosts significant wetland complexes as it flows through Simersons Gap, in the Moosic Mountain range, between Coon Hill and Scrub Oak Mountain along PA Rte. 307.  A tributary stream from Long Swamp, a wetland in a saddle of Scrub Oak Mountain, flows into SMB at the Williams Bridge Dam.  

The Williams Bridge Reservoir, Lake Scranton, and the Lake Scranton Water Filtration Plant are major water supply facilities for the Scranton metropolitan area, located along SMB on the western flanks of the Moosic Mountain range.  Below Lake Scranton, the No. 5 Reservoir supplies water for snow making at the Montage Mountain Ski Resort.  The reach between Lake Scranton and the No. 5 reservoir holds the remains of the iron ore quarries.  Below the No. 5 Reservoir, SMB flows northward for a mile before turning west through the older residential neighborhoods of South Scranton.  

The reach between the No. 5 Reservoir and South Scranton lies in a glacially deformed drainage.  At a saddle in this drainage, high flows from SMB could at one time flow through Rocky Glen and into Spring Brook.  There are extensive wetlands and beaver ponds along the SMB watercourse in this reach, providing excellent habitat for a diverse community of plants and animals.  The former Erie and Wyoming Valley rail corridor and remnants of the Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad, the Lackawanna Coal & Iron Company gravity railroad and the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad (Laurel Line) all pass through this reach of the SMB watershed, as does I-81.  The Laurel Line is presently (2001) being restored for freight and tourist excursion service. The water and habitat quality of SMB is very high quality from its headwaters down through the reservoir reaches and the Laurel Line reach.  As SMB passes under I-81, it transitions from undeveloped, forested, mountainous, wetland dominated land uses, to urban, residential, commercial and industrial land uses.  

The reach through South Scranton is extensively culvertized with a mixture of stone retaining walls and culverts over 100 years old, to areas of gabion baskets and concrete bridge piers and wing walls. SMB flows through a 25-30 foot deep ravine where remnants of open channel still exist through back yards and alleys of the residential neighborhood east of Pittston Avenue, along Elm Street.  Yard waste and other urban debris is common along the steep banks leading down to the channel.  From Pittston Avenue to its confluence, SMB flows through an open, concrete box culvert system built as part of the Scranton flood control projects in 1960.  Commercial, industrial and residential development lies adjacent to the culvert system, restricting the development of any overhanging vegetative cover.  

Recommendations:

Most of the land in the upper three-fourths of the Stafford Meadow Brook watershed was, until recently, owned and managed by the Pennsylvania Gas & Water Company as protected watershed and reservoir recharge lands.  Sale of the reservoir filtration plant’s buffer zones and the water supply business by PG&W to the Pennsylvania American Water Company in 1996 resulted in the gas utility merging with another gas utility, Southern Union, based in Austin, Texas, in 2000.  Southern Union then sold the stock in the PG&W/PG Energy subsidiary Theta Land Company, to an unnamed purchaser.  The Theta lands in the Stafford Meadow Brook watershed and other Theta lands in the Lackawanna River watershed provide important open space, water supply, timber, recreational and aesthetic resources to the Northeast Pennsylvania region.  Therefore, LRCA recommends through this plan that:  

1.     Significant large tracts of these properties should be conveyed to public and private conservation agencies, to protect water resources and to insure long term natural resource protection.  

2.     These lands and similar holdings need to be included for assessment and management recommendations in the pending Lackawanna County Open Space Study.  

3.     Funding from state, federal and private resources for the acquisition and protection of these lands is recommended as an action of the highest priority.

4.     If any development does occur on former PG&W watershed lands, the recommendations in the PG Energy Land Use Plan for limited, conservation type subdivisions, state of the art storm water management systems, limited impervious surfaces and substantial buffer zones along water courses should be considered as requirements by township and county agencies.  

5.     This plan recommends that the Bear Swamp wetlands along Simerson Road and the SMB corridor be protected with 1000 foot buffers, to be acquired and managed as part of the open space and natural areas included in the pending Lackawanna County Open Space Plan.  

6.     The SMB corridor between Lake Scranton, No. 5 Reservoir, Little Virginia and the McNichols School in South Scranton has potential for a recreational, cultural and educational interpretive trail.  The LRCA recommends development of a trail program along SMB, to ingrate with Scranton urban neighborhoods, the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, Montage and Glen Maura, the Lackawanna Trolley Tour and the Lackawanna County Open Space Plan.  

7.     The culvert system through South Scranton may soon require significant reconstruction.  City and state agencies should consider designs for culvert replacement which utilize naturally analogous designs.  A capital funding program will also need to be developed.  

8.     The LRCA and PG&W had once considered development of a nature center in the caretaker’s house at Williams Bridge Dam, near Lake Scranton.  LRCA recommends that the Pennsylvania American Water Company develop a watershed resource educational and research station at this site.

9(E)  Roaring Brook

Roaring Brook, third order stream, is the largest tributary to the Lackawanna River.  It flows for 18.0 miles off the Pocono Plateau to the east of the Moosic Mountain range, in a 53.68 mi² watershed.  Roaring Brook flows west cutting through the Moosic range at Cobbs Gap.  After flowing through the Nay Aug Gorge, it flows into the river in South Scranton.  Roaring Brook has 19 tributaries, all originating outside the coal measures.

The headwater reaches of Roaring Brook, in the North Pocono townships of eastern Lackawanna County, are all high quality, cold water fisheries.  The headwaters also feature once protected watershed lands owned by the Theta Corporation, formerly associated with the Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company.  The Hollister, Elmhurst, and Curtis Reservoirs are now operated by the Pennsylvania American Water Company.  Seventy percent of the land cover in the upper Roaring Brook watershed is forested, twenty percent is agricultural or successional field and ten percent is developed with villages, shopping plazas and residential uses.  

Extensive use of the Roaring Brook corridor for water supply and water supply protection has provided a vital open space, habitat and recreational resource.  The Lackawanna Rail Corridor follows Roaring Brook between Scranton, the Pocono Plateau and points east.  

Roaring Brook maintains high water quality and habitat values through Cobbs Gap and into the Llewelyn formation boundary at the Dunmore No. 7 Reservoir.  Urban storm impacts and abandoned mine land impacts begin to affect Roaring Brook between Dunmore No. 7 and the Bunker Hill Bridge.  The DeNaples Auto Parts property contains several AML sites, notably the remnants of the Coons Pile, a silt basin deposit associated with a coal washery operation.  This silt washed into Roaring Brook due to a failure of erosion control at a permitted remining operation in 1991.  

Between Bunker Hill Bridge and Nay Aug Park, urban and industrial impacts consist of storm water flows at the DeNaples junk yard and CSO’s along the Roaring Brook interceptor line of the Scranton sewer system.  

Nay Aug Gorge and Nay Aug Falls in the park are listed on the National Register of Geologic Landmarks.  Roaring Brook cuts a deep gorge through Pocono conglomerate and underlying Llewelyn sandstones.  The Gorge continues downstream from Myrtle St. Bridge to the Harrison Ave. Bridge.  The Step Falls, an abandoned water power dam associated with the Lackawanna Iron Works, is located in the gorge immediately upstream of the Harrison Ave. Bridge.  At this point the stream corridor is flanked by the Lackawanna Railroad and the Central Scranton Expressway exit off Interstate 81.  

Below Harrison Ave. the gorge widens.  There are extensive remnants of foundations of rolling mills and other structures associated with the Lackawanna Iron Works between Harrison Ave., the Spruce St. expressway bridge and Cedar Avenue.  The impact of channelization for industrial, and later flood control purposes is more evident in this reach of stream.  

At Cedar Ave., Roaring Brook passes the Scranton Iron Furnaces, a State Historic Site. For its last reach from Cedar Ave. to its confluence with the river, Roaring Brook has been channelized into a large concrete “U” channel.  

The Roaring Brook corridor contains significant natural and cultural resources.  The Roaring Brook watershed continues to provide strategic environmental and economic inputs to the Lackawanna watershed.  Roaring Brook provides major transportation corridors, local and interstate highways and railroad’s follow its course.  It serves as the eastern gateway to the Lackawanna Valley, the major regional link between the Lackawanna/Wyoming Valley metropolitan region, the Pocono region, and the New York-New Jersey metropolitan areas.  

The historic, cultural and recreational resources of Roaring Brook present important opportunities for both cultural tourism and local recreation.  Presently the Iron Furnaces, the Steamtown excursion line and the Lackawanna Trolley line are the only important tourism uses in the corridor.  The Nay Aug Gorge access and management issues are an impediment to the safe public use of this resource.  Limitations and public access to Theta properties are another obstacle, which needs to be addressed.  

Recommendations:  

1.     The Nay Aug Gorge and Falls of Roaring Brook is an extremely important natural resource feature recognized as a National Geological Landmark.  The approaches to the site through Nay Aug Park and along the Lackawanna Railroad offer many opportunities for public access, natural and cultural interpretation, education, and ecoturism development.  The Nay Aug Gorge contains significant old-growth forest with a mixture of oaks, pine and hemlock.  Remnant access pathways dating from the development of Nay Aug Park can be restored to provide access to The Gorge area.  This plan recommends development of public access, public safety improvements, interpretive and educational programs and facilities in Nay Aug Park to focus on the Gorge Area and the examples of Natural History and native ecosystems still present at the site.  More immediate action is recommended to control an infestation of Hemlock wooly adelgid (HWD).  The loss of these 100+ year-old hemlocks can be prevented with concerted action by the City.  LRCA recommends treatment of the entire grove by an arborist skilled in the control of HWD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Other actions are required to control invasive exotic vegetation such as Japanese Knotweed and green briar.  The hillslopes along Lynnwood Park from Hannon Grove to Myrtle Street are remnants of the City dump from circa 1930.  The toe of this dump slope is mobilized by high storm flows in Roaring Brook.  The dump slope is completely covered by invasive vegetation.  Many of these recommendations could be implemented through a Master Plan for restoration of Nay Aug Park.  

2.     The Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, LRCA and appropriate partners should develop the Roaring Brook Greenway Trail as a link from the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, Steamtown and the Iron Furnaces through Nay Aug Gorge and continue up corridor to access the 12-mile, county owned Erie and Wyoming Valley rail corridor.  

3.     County, state and federal agencies should consider the scenic, recreational and cultural importance of the Cobbs Gap reach of Roaring Brook.  This area between Dunmore and Elmhurst includes the Pennsylvania Gravity Railroad Inclines, Moosic Mountain natural areas, the Moosic Lake Trolley corridor, early historic settlement Roads, and Scrub Oak Mountain.  The pending Lackawanna County Open Space Plan presents an opportunity to focus on these resources.  This area should be prioritized for acquisition of property, public use easements, public access sites for fishing and trail use and a public use and natural resource management plan .  

4.     The Roaring Brook Greenway can continue with trail development on the 12 mile reach of the Erie and Wyoming Valley Rail Corridor.  A link to Jefferson Twp. and the Mt. Cobb-Moosic Lake area from the rail corridor at Wimmers, can connect to the Trolley corridor and PA Gravity Railroad corridor for a loop trail system over Moosic Mountain.  An additional link trail to Moscow and Covington can be developed by rebuilding the Elmhurst Reservoir Bridge and using a forestry road and pipe line corridor to Kellum Creek and Roaring Brook to Moscow.  Therefore, this plan recommends development of a North Pocono Rail-Trail and Community Trail feasibility study to further this potential.  

5.     Roaring Brook contains vital drinking water resources for the Lackawanna Valley. The protection and conservation of Roaring Brook’s forested watersheds and source water areas is a strategic public interest.  This plan recommends state, county, and local governments prioritize the acquisition, protection and appropriate management of real estate associated with the source waters of the drinking water supply reservoirs.  A management program for these properties should be a key element in the Lackawanna County Open Space Study.  This plan recommends that acquisition of these and related watershed resource lands is an outcome eligible for implementation funds under this River Conservation Plan.  

6.     The development of a watershed coalition among citizens, business interests and municipalities in the North Pocono area is presently under discussion by LRCA and local watershed stake holders.  LRCA recommends that support for this initiative is an outcome for implementation under this plan.   

7.     The Lackawanna Valley Conservancy (LVC), a land trust affiliate of the LRCA, works with public and private interests throughout the Lackawanna Watershed.  The LVC has prioritized the acquisition and protection of cultural and natural resources.  A long term LRCA/LVC goal is the creation of a Lackawanna Watershed  Nature Center.  The Roaring Brook watershed offers several opportunities for a nature center.  The LRCA recommends development of a nature center as an outcome of this plan eligible for implementation funds.  

8.     Community links along the Roaring Brook Greenway include links to educational facilities, residential, commercial and cultural sites and existing or proposed municipal parks and trails.  LRCA recommends that the following community links are eligible for funding, in addition to the previously mentioned North Pocono Rail-Trail and Roaring Brook Greenway.  

     In Dunmore:  

·       a link from Roaring Brook to Mill and Chestnut Streets.  

·       a link from the E & WV Rail Corridor to Drinker St., the PA Gravity Trail  at Dunmore No. 1 Reservoir.

·       an urban trail link through Dunmore to the school campuses, the Dunmore cemeteries, Marywood  University  campus and the I-81 drainage access road to link with the Heritage Trail at Boulevard Avenue.  

·       a link to the St. Anthonys Park recreation site.   

·       a link to Scrub Oak Mountain, Long Swamp Road, Mt. Margaret, Lake  Scranton and East Mountain.  

·        Little Roaring Brook between Dunmore Reservoir, Drinker St., and the confluence below Dunmore No. 7 Reservoir is recommended as a greenway/natural area restoration and park development project with Borough and property owner cooperation.  

In Roaring Brook Township:  

·       links and access areas are recommended in the Cobbs Gap area for trails and fishing access  

·       links in the Elmhurst and Curtis Reservoirs area are recommended for fishingand trail access.  

In Elmhurst:  

·       a trail head link along PA Rte. 590 near Elmhurst Reservoir  

·       a bridge over PA Rte. 435

·       a link along Main Street to the Community Park  

·       a bridge reconstruction at the Elmhurst Reservoir  

  In Jefferson:  

·       a trail head link at Wimmers Road  

·       other links to be identified in a feasibility study  

  In Madison:  

·       a link at Curtis Reservoir  

·       a community trail system to be developed with a feasibility study  

·       a link on the Elmhurst Reservoir Trail along Kellum Creek to Aberdeen Corners  

   In Moscow:  

·       development of the Greenway Trail along the Roaring Brook and the Hollister/Elmhurst water pipeline right-of-way, with a trail head link Near the Moscow Sewage Treatment Plant.  

·       development of links to North Pocono school campus, from the Moscowcommercial and residential districts  

·       development of Greenway and Community Trail links along local roadwaysto Covington Township  

   In Covington:  

·       continuation of Greenway Trail along Roaring Brook and/or Lackawanna Rail Corridor where feasible  

·       links to Covington regional park  

·