To the Editor:

On the morning of Sept. 22, while driving on Spruce Hollow Road in Lower Towamensing Township, I observed a truck sprayer emitting large volumes of some unknown substance at high pressure into the trees and shrubs along the west side of the road, within the vegetated buffer that separates Hunter Creek from Spruce Hollow Road.

Hunter Creek is a wild trout stream (natural reproduction). The roadside vegetation along Spruce Hollow Road helps to protect the waters of the creek from road and vehicle pollutants. This buffer should be kept in its natural state, free from chemical or biological agents that could threaten the riparian ecology of the creek.

Herbicides and pesticides, whether sprayed or otherwise applied, are potentially dangerous to native plants, invertebrates, frogs, fish and insects, and can also impact reproductive success in fish. Hunter Creek is a tributary to the Aquashicola Creek, which is currently under consideration for re-designation as an exceptional value waterway, which would give it added protection under Pennsylvania law.

Chemical spraying near tributaries endangers aquatic insects that are major indicators of stream health used by DEP when considering requests for EV designation. I do not know what substance was sprayed into the trees along Spruce Hollow Road on Sept. 22, but I am fairly certain it was not something beneficial to the trout population in Hunter Creek or to the health of the watershed as a whole.

Juliet Perrin

Albrightsville