Adaptively managing aquatic resources in French Creek, NW PA, and SW NY

In the mid-1980s mussel surveys in French Creek (northeastern portion of Ohio Basin) revealed an almost intact species assemblage compared with surveys conducted almost 100 years prior.  This was an unusual result relative to many other Ohio River streams which have lost species.  To protect mussels and other aquatic biota in French Creek, conservation strategies focused on restoration-type, best management practices (BMPs) for farmers.  By the late 1990s, TNC began to change strategies based on new information about the level of threats to, and the condition of, the biota in French Creek.  A study to determine what effects our investments in BMPs had on improving water quality pointed out a challenging but reassuring fact, that French Creek’s water and habitat quality were already quite high.  A mussel assessment creek-wide suggested that these key components of diversity were doing very well.  Based on these results, our focus has shifted away from restoration of French Creek and instead, with multiple partners, we are working to preserve key ecological processes necessary to maintain French Creek’s biodiversity.  We believe French Creek is, and should be considered, a reference system to help restore nearby rivers of the Ohio Basin that haven’t fared as well.