Restoring Habitat for Eastern
                           	Brook Trout‑
                                                      	Whitethorn Creek, West Virginia

For more information contact:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Appalachian Partnership Coordination Office 

UVA-Wise Science Center 213B 1 College Ave
Wise, VA 24293
276-376-4597, fax 276-376-4603 
maureen_gallageher@fws.gov

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Whitethorn Creek project is part of Trout Unlimited’s Home Rivers Initiative Potomac Headwaters Restoration Project in partnership with the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture.  Whitethorn Creek is the most significant tributary in the Thorn Creek drainage of the South Branch Potomac River.  Thorn Creek is historically recognized as having supported one of the best brook trout populations in West Virginia.  The population has been significantly reduced in recent years because of land use impacts and two major flood events.  Flooding severely altered instream habitat and scoured away a large portion of the riparian cover in the watershed.  Unrestricted livestock grazing has prevented the re-growth of riparian cover and increased streambank and channel instability.  Trout Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others have teamed up with landowners in the Whitethorn Creek basin to install livestock exclusion fencing and related infrastructure, install Natural Stream Design features, plant trees, and control invasive species to restore more than one mile of stream habitat and 16 acres of riparian vegetation in the first phase of this project. 

Whitethorn Creek near Moyers, Pendleton County, WV.
(Courtesy Bryan Moore, Trout Unlimited)

PROJECT STATISTICS
Location: Pendleton County, WV Initiated: 2006
Estimated Year of Completion: 2007 Congressional District: WV02 Watershed Status: Reduced
Landownership Status: Private

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
•	Restore 16 acres of riparian vegetation
•	Restore 1+ mile of streambank habitat via livestock exclusion fencing
•	Install Natural Stream Design features

Whitethorn Creek near Moyers, Pendleton County, WV 
(Courtesy Bryan Moore, Trout Unlimited)                                              

PARTNERS
•	Trout Unlimited-Home Rivers Initiative
•	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
•	West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
•	West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
•	U.S.D.A-Natural Resources Conservation Service
•	U.S.D.A-Farm Service Agency
•	Dominion Power
•	West Virginia Conservation Agency
•	West Virginia Division of Forestry
•	Landowners