Editing Boswell, Pennsylvania (section)

==Environmental impact of mining==
Drainage from the Boswell mine was a primary source of [[pollution]] into Quemahoning Creek, which flows just north of Boswell.<ref>SCRIP website. http://www.scrip.pa-conservation.org/stquepr.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804015155/http://www.scrip.pa-conservation.org/stquepr.htm |date=2007-08-04 }} "The discharge, which is a large flow, [is] net [[alkaline]], and high iron loading problem...." Quemahoning Creek is a tributary of the [[Stonycreek River]].</ref> A [[environmental remediation|remediation]] project was completed in 2005, spearheaded by SCRIP (Stonycreek-Conemaugh River Improvement Project), a non-governmental organization, in collaboration with OSM, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the [[Southern Alleghenies Conservancy]], Somerset County Conservation District and [[Reliant Energy]]. In addition, the Jenner Rod & Gun Club, a local sportsmen's club, provided significant funds to purchase property for the remediation site.

The discovery of the purple fringeless [[orchid]], an [[endangered species]], within the remediation site complicated the project. The plants were relocated successfully to unimpacted [[wetlands]] immediately adjacent to the remediation site in 2004.<ref>SCRIP website http://www.scrip.pa-conservation.org/stquepr.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804015155/http://www.scrip.pa-conservation.org/stquepr.htm |date=2007-08-04 }}</ref>

The most recent information showed the system is treating between 1,600 and 2,000 gallons of water per minute, removing approximately 80 tons of [[iron]] a day from the water.<ref name="scrip.pa-conservation.org">SCRIP website. http://www.scrip.pa-conservation.org/stquepr.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804015155/http://www.scrip.pa-conservation.org/stquepr.htm |date=2007-08-04 }}</ref> About 3,000 trout were stocked successfully into a four-mile (6&nbsp;km) section of the Creek downstream from Boswell in 2005, the first time the creek supported a fishery along this stretch in almost 100 years.<ref name="scrip.pa-conservation.org" />