The state is putting $3 million toward a project to help clean up a source of acid mine drainage in the Lehigh River, and create a trail link between Weatherly and Jim Thorpe.

The Department of Environmental Protection recently awarded Weatherly borough a grant of $3 million, one of 12 grants for abandoned mine land reclamation around the state.

The borough will work with DEP and the nonprofit Wildlands Conservancy to build an active treatment system to clean up approximately 8 miles of the Quakake Creek and Black Creek in the Lehigh River watershed.

At the same time, Weatherly will construct a trail along the Black Creek that will connect the town to the Delaware and Lehigh Trail, giving cyclists more options.

Mining scars

State Sen. John Yudichak announced the grant on Friday. He said he worked with state Rep. Doyle Heffley to secure the funding.

Weatherly borough manager Harold Pudliner Jr. said the borough has been working with DEP, Wildlands, Trout Unlimited and other groups for years to address acid mine drainage. DEP says acid mine drainage is the largest non-point water pollutant in the state, affecting 2,500 miles of streams.

This project is the result of extensive testing and sampling along the Black and Quakake creeks over a period of years.

“You’re bringing two streams that have been acid mined for decades to life. They’re now coldwater fisheries,” Pudliner said.

“The coldwater fisheries will be located along where this trail is going. They go hand in hand.”

While the grant is given to Weatherly borough, DEP will be in charge of engineering the active treatment system.

The Quakake Creek has acid mine drainage from the Quakake Tunnel, which was constructed in the heyday of the Anthracite Region as a way to drain water from underground mine shafts.

It’s one of eight mine tunnels in the upper Lehigh Watershed which have caused acid mine drainage.

At over 3,000 feet long, the tunnel was an engineering marvel for its time, but it has left a legacy of negatively affecting water quality in the Lehigh Watershed.

“I think the way Wildlands Conservancy looks at it, and also DEP, these were primary creeks that need to be cleaned up — they would certainly contribute to the better water quality of the Lehigh,” Pudliner said.

Wildlands Conservancy has been working since 2000 to remediate the eight abandoned mine drainage discharges in the Lehigh watershed.

In 2004, they opened a treatment system for the Lausanne Tunnel, which enters the Nesquehoning Creek.

Trail talk

The state has given Weatherly three years to utilize the grant. The borough already started planning work on the trail section.

There is an active rail line located on one side of the Black Creek, so they can’t rely on an abandoned rail bed like the D&L has.

In January, the borough awarded a bid for a feasibility study on the trail. That is expected to take up to a year.

Borough officials are hopeful that the 5-mile trail will make Weatherly attractive to tourists who are exploring the Lehigh Gorge and Jim Thorpe.

The proposed trail should present more of a challenge for cyclists because Weatherly is several hundred feet higher in elevation than the existing D&L Trail.