Not long after, when the local chapter of the Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited was fishing around for a new stream-improvement project, treasurer Dee Lehman said she knew of a high-quality stream in the southern end that had wild trout.

Oh, the West Branch of Octoraro Creek, the members assumed because of previous work the group had done on the southern end fly-fishing stream.

No, Lehman corrected them, Conowingo Creek.

The stream had been “outed.”

There are only a handful of streams in Lancaster County with small stretches of wild trout, mostly native brook trout.

Now, TU, hopefully in partnership with caring landowners and a soon-to-be-formed grass-roots watershed group, wants to embark on a multiyear mission to correct Conowingo’s numerous but fixable trouble spots so wild trout can spread through its 34-square-mile drainage.

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From its headwaters behind a grocery store at the Buck to its mouth on the Susquehanna River in Maryland, the Conowingo is a stream of conflicting faces.

Because of sediment runoff and the nutrient phosphorus, mostly from farm fields, the state Department of Environmental Protection has placed 31 miles of the stream’s 108 miles on Pennsylvania’s list of impaired waters.

Generally, a stream is considered unimpaired if it is swimmable without posing any health threats or contains the fish that should be there.

Some 83 percent of the watershed is in agricultural use by English and Amish farmers. The stream also goes through the Tanglewood Manor Golf Course and development.

Sediment is an enemy of wild trout because it smothers eggs and robs them of crucial oxygen before they can hatch. Mark Metzler, a watershed specialist with Rettew, the consulting firm hired by TU to come up with solutions to Conowingo’s pollution ills, compares it to “putting a trash bag over your head.”

Phosphorus, contained in fertilizers and manure, can chemically stress fish, and goose an overabundance of underwater vegetation, which robs oxygen needed by fish and the aquatic insects they depend on for food.

Yet the main branch is fed with nearly two dozen tributaries, some of them spring-fed and pristine water. The result is pockets of Class A trout water where wild browns reproduce on gravel bottoms and feed on a rich variety of insect life.

Brown trout are the most wary of North American trout and are prized by anglers.

***

On a recent Saturday, Mark Metzler slowly plows through the center of the creek in East Drumore Township in waders and a portable power unit on his back.

While landowners and the curious peer from a nearby bridge and Trout Unlimited members follow along the bank, Metzler sticks an electric probe in fishy-looking spots.

Fish of all sizes and species, temporarily stunned, roll to the surface.

Metzler and Rettew biologist Joel Esh quickly net the fish and place them in a bucket of water lugged by a trailing Harold Alleman, a TU member.

Amid the minnows, hogsuckers, sunfish, a smallmouth and stocked trout, Metzler nets several wild browns.

A few minutes later, Metzler kneels in the grass beside the road while a small throng presses in with anticipation. As he prepares to flip the lid on a cooler containing the fish plucked from the stream, Metzler could have been a treasure hunter, about to reveal his great find.

“Ooh, look at that. Isn’t that gorgeous?” someone exclaims as Metzler holds up a bejeweled brown trout of about 13 inches.

“See those fins? Metzler points out. “They’re not short and chewed up like stocked trout.” And the black and reddish-orange spots are more pronounced than on stocked fish.

Metzler and his followers make five stops that morning. They find wild trout on four of them. Altogether, 15 species of fish are sampled.

A 15-inch brownie wows the crowd, but just as exciting are several fingerlings, hatched this past fall on gravel bottoms.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission currently lists 5.5 miles of the main stem of the Conowingo, from its headwaters downstream to Spring Valley Road, as well as 1.6 miles of an unnamed tributary, as wild trout water where no stocking takes place.

The electroshocking discoveries may expand the amount of wild trout water.

***

In 2001, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission came up with an estimate of how much nutrients Conowingo Creek could withstand without being impaired. The agency said sediment needed to be reduced by 18 percent and phosphorous by 59 percent.

This is where TU stepped in. The group offered to take charge of drawing up a restoration plan and to pave the way with landowners and spearhead restoration work.

To find those trouble spots, Metzler flew low in a helicopter over every inch of the stream and all its fingers with a high-definition videocamera linked to GPS technology. “You can see rocks in the stream,” Metzler marveled, reviewing the images.

Finding crumbling banks, livestock wallowing in the water and the like, Metzler identified 126 sites for possible work.

Much of the stream is bordered by pastureland where livestock is allowed to wade into the water and on streambanks.

The repair plan outlined by Metzler and TU, if fully realized, would cost several million dollars and take up to 16 years to finish.

Work would only be done with landowners’ permission.

The idea is to get state and federal funding for dozens of conservation practices along the stream and on fields and barnlots. Work would be done by TU members, landowners and volunteers with the watershed association group.

On the stream itself, the work could take the form of such “best-management practices” as streambank fencing to keep horses and cows out of the stream itself, bank stabilization, plantings of shade and stabilizing trees along the stream and fish-enhancement structures.

To keep nutrients and soil from reaching the stream, farmers might be persuaded not to till so close to the stream or to allow paid-for devices to control runoff from feedlots and barnyards.

TU, which received a federal $47,000 grant for the restoration plan, but paid for the electrofishing out of its own pocket, has worked its magic on such streams as Lititz Run, Donegal Creek and Shearers Creek. Can they do it again?

TU has already begun the effort to build crucial bridges of support for the project, giving presentations to supervisors and residents in the area. Another meeting for landowners will be scheduled soon.

An initial meeting with landowners this spring was lightly attended, but when Lehman and TU member Greg Wilson went door to door seeking permission from landowners for an electro-fishing survey, all 25 said sure.

One of them is Meredith Wilterdink, a retired DuPont engineer who owns a farmette with horses along Conowingo Creek in East Drumore Township. He and his family have been entertained by rising wild trout for years and they’re eager to help improve their stretch.

“I wouldn’t call myself an environmentalist, but I absolutely believe we need to take better care of our natural resources,” he says.

Establishment of a watershed group with a membership of landowners and area residents who care about the stream is seen as crucial to garnering grants and marshaling work parties.

Todd Simileri, who lives along the creek and is a teacher at Smith Middle School, says he’s ready to help form such a group.

“I care about all creeks being clean, but I have a special interest in that one because it runs through my property. The same aquifers that feed that creek also feed my aquifers and well,” says Simileri, who doesn’t mow close to the streambank.

Though the restoration of the Conowingo is a long-term endeavor, such simple steps as getting cows out of the stream could result in quick, dramatic results with wild trout moving in, Metzler notes.

“I think once we get a few projects on the ground, the ball will roll,” says Lehman.

Adds Donegal TU president Bob Kutz, “Wow, I think the potential is, very, very good. If we can start to improve the tributaries and go down the main stream, the fish will follow.”

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For more information on the new watershed group or the project, call Bob Kutz at 393-0478.