Photo provided to the Times Observer A project to fell trees in several streams on the ANF is intended to both “improve aquatic habitat and slow flood flows.”

The federal Inflation Reduction Act is funding stream improvements on the Allegheny National Forest.

The Forest Service has partnered with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and Trout Unlimited for stream improvements to Bear Creek in Elk County as well as the Farnsworth Branch of Tionesta Creek, Little Hickory Run, Lamentation Run and Irwin Run.

Work has included “directionally felling carefully selected trees into the stream to improve aquatic habitat and slow flood flows,” according to a statement.

“Present-day streams look very different today than what they looked like before the logging era in the late 1700s to the early 1900s,” they explain. “Historic logging practices prevented large wood from accumulating in streams and rivers. Rocks and debris were cleared from streams to make it easier to transport logs to market.

The result over time was the degradation of stream health.

The Forest Service says that these “large wood additions will help return the streams to a more natural state by slowing stream flows, aerating the water, and providing habitat for aquatic organisms like native brook trout.

“Additional benefits include increased storage of water on the floodplain and increased groundwater recharge that makes the watershed more resilient during high-flow events and hotter summer temperatures.”