Bad News for Beaver Creek (Md.)

What a shame! I hate hearing things like that. Hopefully, whatever it was is flushed out by now.
 
If whatever killed that many fish in that amount of time, it's likely that all aquatic insects and invertebrates were also killed. That's going to be a dead section of creek for a long time.
 
Wow. That isn't good.
 
Many years ago, my father-in-law waded into a SC PA stream, flyrod in hand, and was told by a bystander, "That creek is dead." Apparently, there had been a pesticide spill at a watercress farm. Witnesses said that fish were jumping out of the water and onto the banks to get away from whatever it was.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
Many years ago, my father-in-law waded into a SC PA stream, flyrod in hand, and was told by a bystander, "That creek is dead." Apparently, there had been a pesticide spill at a watercress farm. Witnesses said that fish were jumping out of the water and onto the banks to get away from whatever it was.
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That's terrible.
 
Ryno17 said:
If anyone has ever fished Beaver Creek in Md you know what a great little fishery this is. Sad news. Hopefully it can bounce back.

Maryland natural resources and environment officials are investigating a fish kill at Beaver Creek, a premiere spot for fly fishing brown trout.
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/sto...gating-fish-kill-at-beaver-creek/70552945007/
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I used to fish this in the 90s and early 2000s. There were wild rainbows there as well at that time. I don't know if they are still there, but back in the day it was a pretty robust population. They may have initially originated at the Albert Powell Hatchery...don't know, don't care. I'm sick of hearing stories like this. I remember when Tea Creek had a massive fish kill in 1997. At the time, I thought it was dead and would stay that way for a long time. It eventually bounced back. Hopefully the same will happen here.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
Many years ago, my father-in-law waded into a SC PA stream, flyrod in hand, and was told by a bystander, "That creek is dead." Apparently, there had been a pesticide spill at a watercress farm. Witnesses said that fish were jumping out of the water and onto the banks to get away from whatever it was.
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Sounds like the Letort kill
 
Wild_Trouter said:
I used to fish this in the 90s and early 2000s. There were wild rainbows there as well at that time. I don't know if they are still there, but back in the day it was a pretty robust population. They may have initially originated at the Albert Powell Hatchery...don't know, don't care. I'm sick of hearing stories like this. I remember when Tea Creek had a massive fish kill in 1997. At the time, I thought it was dead and would stay that way for a long time. It eventually bounced back. Hopefully the same will happen here.
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I remember the Tea Creek kill from the construction/cement and I would have only been 11 at that time.

Thank goodness that duck pond is gone, but that's a separate issue .
 
Wild_Trouter said:
I remember when Tea Creek had a massive fish kill in 1997. At the time, I thought it was dead and would stay that way for a long time. It eventually bounced back. Hopefully the same will happen here.
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It bounced back in about 3-4 years.
 
Immediately upstream are two possible sources of potential fish killing materials, a limestone quarry (silt, warm water, or water devoid of oxygen all possible culprits), and an asphalt operation (I believe owned by the same folks as the quarry). They're both on the tiny eastern branch of Beaver Creek, while the Powell hatchery is on the western branch at the main spring.

There's also plenty of farmland along the eastern branch.

An accidental spill like the one on the Letort back in the 1980s (mentioned previously in this thread) can really do a lot of damage, but the potential for a revival is strong. It took many years, but Letort recovered. It's a damn shame. Beaver Creek is a wonderful little stream and the restoration effort put forth over the past few decades had turned a coldwater swamp into a premier fishing destination.

Doug Hutzell, a fly guy who moved to live along the stream, was one of many dedicated folks who spent a lot of time, effort and money transforming the stream into a top-notch wild trout fishery. It is absolutely terrible that something like this could wipe out so much good work in a matter of a few minutes.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
If whatever killed that many fish in that amount of time, it's likely that all aquatic insects and invertebrates were also killed. That's going to be a dead section of creek for a long time.
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I couldn’t open the article so I don’t know what you meant by “in that amount of time.”

Encouraging generalities about spills: Each spill and the conditions under which each occurs may be different, but I would be encouraged if the time period was short, as in a slug of pollutant passing down through a segment of stream at a good pace, because fish are sometimes killed without any or with very little damage to the macroinvertebrates. Even if macros at the surface of the substrate are killed, there are plenty below that may be untouched. As for the fish, again depending upon the stream and the situation , a few may survive in spring seeps or at the mouths of tiny tribs. Likewise, some pollutants dissipate as they move downstream or become diluted to the extent that some fish may survive for that reason as well. These become feed-stock for population revitalization. Also, there may be movement from untouched upstream or downstream segments of the stream or from tribs or receiving streams. Given a choice, I’d take an acute pollution event and kill over chronic pollution any day, and I had dealt with or been exposed to both, as you might imagine, in SE Pa.
 
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It's awful news but I am in agreement with Mike's views above.
It would not surprise me if Beaver bounces back pretty quickly as other streams do from these types of events.

I remember the Letort kill in 1981.
Warriors' Mark Run had a fish kill due to an acute manure spill back in the late 80s that seemed to wipe out Spruce Creek; Bennet's Branch had a train derailment, etc. . .

I'd give Beaver Creek some time to recover but I'm optimistic it will recover well.
Also, we should be mindful of accounts on this forum about fish kills before we have solid information about population data, polluting agent, etc. We've had some false alarms and panicked reactions to the sight of dead fish on this forum in the past (not saying that's the case here).
 
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The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is scoping possible regulatory changes on the following topic:​
During the scoping process, the department gathers suggestions and ideas from stakeholders and others about how to solve a fishery problem or address a need.
The goal of scoping is to identify issues, potential impacts, and reasonable alternatives associated with the issues so that management actions can be developed.
Please visit our Changes to Fishing Regulations page for more information about what the department is considering and how to submit comments.
All comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on September 4, 2023.​
 
Kudos to Maryland DNR for taking some pretty swift measures to rebuild from whatever is left. Hopefully the recovery will be sucessful and within a normal time span.
 
This reminds me of a large fish kill on the Donegal back in 2019. It happened after a very localized heavy rain event in the headwaters. Although the exact cause was never determined, it is suspected that silage leechate from a farm made its way into the creek from the rain event. It moved its way downstream killing hundreds of fish along the way. The "slug" moved through pretty quickly and wiped out a large amount of fish, but the creek did bounce back. As Mike mentioned, many of these events are short in duration, which bodes well for the macro life of the creek and its long-term prognosis. If there are farms along Beaver Creek with stored silage (I've never been to Beaver Creek), I'd look at the rainfall maps and see if those dots can be connected. Silage leechate is VERY potent at displacing oxygen in water and will kill all species of fish in a short time. Here's a few pics from the Donegal fish kill in 2019:

IMG 4627


IMG 4632


IMG 4651


IMG 4650


It's heartbreaking to see fish kills, but it's generally not a death sentence for the stream.
 
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One of my favorite local creeks to fish. My personal experience tells me this creek has been losing numbers of trout for years. 10 years ago I had absolute legendary days on this creek. The past few years, my luck has run out. Even place that I could sight fish in the past, seemed void. My opinion is the quarry and asphalt operation upstream is the culprit. It's directly above the affected area and it's unique to this creek. The massive dumping of rain we got that day just caused a giant spike in whatever has been slowly leaching in to the creek for a while now. Again, just my opinion.
 
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