INDIAN CREEK 



Description 



Indian Creek was selected on the basis 

 of its size and its management history as nearly 

 ideal for the experiment in stream reclamation . 

 It is a small and unspoiled stream . The falls 

 (frontispiece) near the mouth is a barrier to the 

 brown trout, suckers, carp, various cyprinids, 

 smallmouth bass and rock bass which occur 

 below . The fact that only rainbow trout, a few 

 brook trout, and a small number of longnose 

 dace inhabited the stream above the falls was 

 considered an advantage to the experiment. 

 Furthermore, easy access was provided by a 

 truck road which parallels the stream for 3 . 5 

 miles and by foot-trails to the upper waters. 



Indian Creek arises at 3, 900 feet eleva- 

 tion and flows 6.5 miles to join Deep Creek, one 

 of the major trout streams on the eastern slopes 

 of the park, at 1,900 feet elevation. Its dis- 

 charge ranges from 8 to 44 cfs . The average 

 width at 8 cfs of discharge is 14 feet (84 mea- 

 surements) and the average depth is 5 inches 

 (481 measurements). The water is clear, 

 colorless, very soft, and slightly acid (pH 6.5). 

 Its resistivity is 112,000 ohms (corrected to 77° 

 F.) and its estimated content of total dissolved 

 solids is 13 ppm . 



There are 7.5 miles of fishable water in 

 Indian Creek and its principal tributary, Georges 

 Branch. Both streams are characterized by 

 relatively strai^t courses, swift flow, and 

 dense overstories of rhododendron and hard- 

 woods. Burrows (1935) listed the pool grade in 

 Indian Creek as B, riffle grade as B, and food 

 grade as A . Parts of the lower watershed were 

 mountain farms in the pre -park days but they 

 have reverted to forest. 



Eastern brook trout were native to 

 Indian Creek and Georges Branch, but since 

 1920 they have been restricted to the headwaters. 

 Rainbow trout were stocked about 40 years ago 

 and they quickly became dominant . In sharp 

 contrast with most streams in the park, the 

 rainbow trout here have never afforded good 

 fishing because of their poor growth . A survey 

 in the fall of 1956 showed 601 rainbow trout, or 

 25.4 pounds per acre. Of these 580 (97 percent) 



or 22 .1 pounds (87 percent) of fish were under 

 the minimum legal length of 7 inches . 



King (1942) reported that an effort had 

 had been made to supplant the rainbow trout and 

 restore brook trout in Indian Creek through 

 stocking. Nearly 30,000 brook trout, 3 to 6 

 inches long, were stocked in 5 miles of the 

 stream from 1936 to 1939 but a survey in 1940 

 indicated that the species persisted only in the 

 headwaters . This failure to restore brook trout 

 may have been due to competition from the es- 

 tablished rainbow trout or to the unsuitability of 

 the northern strain of brook trout used. Smith 

 (1947) recommended that catchable-size rainbow 

 trout be stocked in the stream whenever an in- 

 crease in fishing pressure warranted stocking. 

 The reclamation experiment afforded an oppor- 

 tunity, however, to remove the rainbow trout 

 and to attempt the restoration of brook trout 

 with a southern strain of fish. 



Toxicant application 



The reclamation of Indian Creek was 

 begun during the week of April 22, 1957, when 

 sections of the headwaters, Georges Branch 

 and seasonal tributaries were treated with Pro- 

 noxfish at 1 ppm for 1 hour . Use was made of 

 namral barriers during the interrupted process 

 to preclude the escapement of fish. The lower 

 4.5 miles of mainstream were treated on May 1. 

 The temperature was 59° F . and the discharge 

 was 22 cfs - more than double the normal rate. 

 Eighteen pounds of toxicant were dripped into 

 the stream at the top of the section at 9:00 AM 

 to provide a concentration of 4 ppm for 1 hour. 

 Since the upper mile is moderately steep, with 

 numerous falls and cascades to contribute to the 

 rapid oxidation of the rotenone, the bolt of toxi- 

 cant was strengthened at a point 0.5 mile down- 

 stream at a rate of 1 ppm for 1 hour . It was 

 strengthened again at 1 ppm for 1 hour as it 

 passed a checkpoint 1 mile below the initial site . 

 Beyond this point, the stream is less rough and 

 the bolt was not strengthened further until it 

 reached the 3.5-mile checkpoint. 



Men equipped with backpack pumps which 

 contained undiluted toxicant accompanied the 

 bolt downstream and sprayed all seeps and 

 trickles that could be found. The lower one- 

 quarter mile of Georges Branch was retreated 



