Pine Creek is about to get a long-overdue checkup. Dozens of volunteers will fan out this fall over the Pine Creek Watershed’s 67.3 square miles to help launch a two-year project to assess the stream’s banks and adjacent ground. The North Area Environmental Council is using a $19,000 state grant to fund the project. “It’s going to be dynamite to get face to face with the stream,” North Area President Bill Moul said. Volunteers will tread 360 segments of the creek, logging observations on such things as erosion, vegetation and land use. The council hopes to identify sections of the creek in need of repair in the wake of the Sept. 17, 2004, flood. It will be the first assessment of its kind done on Pine Creek since 1972. The council will use the information to compile a data base, produce a report for the state Department of Environmental Protection and plot future projects. “Keeping (the surrounding land) healthy is important for a couple reasons — really, more than a couple,” Moul said. “It is the beginning of the food chain (and) a buffer around the creek.” Pine Creek has been battered over the years by development and erosion, making it prone to flooding, especially in Shaler and Etna. Eight people were killed in 1986 when Little Pine Creek gushed over its banks. The Pine overflowed twice in just eight days in September 2004. Moul and others hope the assessment project will help spark future efforts to safeguard the stream, a key tributary to the lower Allegheny River. “This is one of the greatest opportunities for residents in the Pittsburgh area to be pro-active in the region they live in,” said Mary Wilson, the project’s volunteer coordinator. Moul hopes to join volunteers along the creek. “I’d love to get out there myself and get my feet wet on this project,” he said.

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