With the assistance and support from the Hedin Environmental group and the sponsorship of the Indiana County Conservation District, we have received a Growing Greener Grant from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to do an assessment of the Yellow Creek sub-watershed of the Blacklick Creek Watershed.  The Yellow Creek flows southwest from its headwaters near Heilwood to its confluence with Two Lick Creek in Homer City.

This project will support improving water quality and remediating environmental degradation by providing an updated, inclusive analysis of the AMD impacts in the watershed.  The focus of this project is to expand on the existing watershed plan and work closely with DEP staff to collect data, develop goals, and conduct cost/benefit analyses.  The goal of the project is to assess what the current conditions are and prioritize which discharges are having the most impact on the stream.  We will use that information to seek funding to remediate those discharges.

Partners for the project include Indiana County Conservation District (ICCD), Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team, Saint Frances University CWRS, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) students, GES and Hedin Environmental.  ICCD will administer the grant and provide overall project oversight which includes organizing meetings, preparing quarterly reports, reimbursement request and etc.  Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team, Saint Frances University CWRS, and IUP students will help BCWA and the other partners conduct site reconnaissance and sampling.  Hedin Environmental will be the technical lead on the project, organizing sampling events and compiling the data for plan writing.  They will be preparing an assessment report.