Story and photo shared courtesy of Mountain Watershed Association and the author.
By: Colleen O’Neil | October 2, 2024
View of Indian Creek from the new trail easement.
In August, the Randell E. Nicholson Irrevocable Trust signed a trail easement agreement with Mountain Watershed Association (MWA). The easement allows the non-profit to build a 1.1- mile section of the Indian Creek Valley Trail. MWA is one step closer to completing the 19-mile rail-trail that runs from Jones Mills to the Youghiogheny River.
The Indian Creek Valley Trail is a crushed-limestone trail built on an abandoned rail corridor that is open to the public for hiking, skiing, running, and cycling. MWA began managing its first section of trail in 1999. The organization’s goal is to develop the entire former railroad into a non-motorized recreational trail, eventually crossing the Youghiogheny to join with the Great Allegheny Passage.
The newest 1.1-mile section starts at Whites Bridge along Route 653 in Springfield Township and follows Indian Creek to the south. Before opening this section to the public, MWA will raise funds to resurface the trail and make it safe for recreation.
“The Nicholson family has always been great to the community,” says Virgil Shaffer, a member of MWA’s Trail Committee. “This is just another opportunity for them to give back and make a place for people to get out to walk, bike and enjoy nature. They’re a great family.”
In 2023, MWA closed a pivotal half-mile trail gap in Mill Run, from Route 381 to the Steyer Bridge over Indian Creek. The organization is also looking to resurface an additional 3.5 miles in the near future. However, MWA is still seeking landowner permission to resurface and finish the final 1.5 miles of trail.
“We want to increase active transportation while promoting the beauty of the watershed,” says MWA’s Conservation and Recreation Manager, Taylor Robbins. “Once we close the last gaps, we’ll finally have a continuous trail where our community can safely walk or bike all the way from Donegal to Mill Run.”
The Mountain Watershed Association was founded in 1994 to oppose an underground coal mine proposal in the Indian Creek Watershed in the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania. MWA’s input and organized opposition resulted in the denial of the permit. MWA’s board of directors and dedicated community members realized that to restore the watershed to a viable community, they would have to address the legacy of more than 150 years of extraction and disinvestment in our rural Appalachian region. Since then, MWA has restored more than 70 percent of the Indian Creek Watershed and prevented countless sources of additional pollution in the broader Youghiogheny River Watershed.
