This map shows restoration project locations for the Fish Creek Watershed - courtesy of The Nature Conservancy

In the 8 years since the Fish Creek Council and The Nature Conservancy reached a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) agreement, 702.1-acres have been reforested within the Fish Creek watershed, with a great majority of these acres being riparian.  By utilizing this unique partnership, TNC and the FCC have been able to plant close to 400,000 trees. 

TNC worked with willing landowners to make this program a success; each landowner signed 20-year agreements to keep their properties forested.  Additional 2-year herbicide treatments were provided at each property at no cost to the landowner.

The Bloomington Indiana Field Office, Indiana, serves as a natural resource trustee on behalf of the Department of the Interior for the Fish Creek NRDA settlement. 

Other natural resource trustees include: Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 

Collectively, the trustees are recognized as the Fish Creek Council.  The council was established to manage and allocate settlement money derived from an NRDA.  The NRDA fund was created to compensate for lost resources due to a diesel fuel spill and subsequent contamination in 1993.  The five agencies appoint trustees to oversee the funds and make collective decisions based on what is best for the watershed and its subsequent wildlife.

The Fish Creek watershed is mostly contained within Steuben County and Dekalb County in northeast Indiana, although it drains into the St. Joseph River in Williams County, Ohio.  This area, in general, is very important ecologically because of the rare and endangered species found within its boundaries.  Such species include the Copperbelly water snake (Nerodia erythrogaster neglecta), the Clubshell mussel (Pleurobema clava), the northern riffleshell mussel (Epioblasma torulosa rangiana), and the White Cat’s-paw Pearly mussel (Epioblasma obliquata perobliqua).

The council has worked very closely with private landowners, including non-profit organizations, to implement terrestrial and aquatic habitat restoration efforts within the generally affected area.  In 1998, an agreement was reached between the Bloomington Field Office and the Nature Conservancy to work together in order to reforest tracts of land within the Fish Creek watershed.  Funding was provided though grants from the council.

Some predictable benefits from the Fish Creek watershed reforestation include:

• Increased flood storage due to the increased capacity to hold water that a restored forested matrix offers in comparison to a vacant lot, corn field, or urban area.

• Increased filtration for water as it passes through the buffer zones back into the river, or down into the groundwater.

• Increased water quality for a variety of aquatic indicator species, such as smallmouth bass, greenside darters, and freshwater mussels.

• Increased habitat for forest bird and wildlife species, including breeding habitat.

• Decreased levels of soil run-off and potential contaminant loading into riverine system.