Black Creek (Nescopeck Creek tributary)
It is also the second[1] & longer stream of the same name recognized by the USGS GNIS system in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania,[1] in the United States—compared to the Black Creek beyond the ridgeline of the drainage divide, so in the Lehigh River valley and Carbon County.
The J-on-its-long-side-shaped brook is approximately 22.6 miles (36.4 km) long,[2] and in the early 1800s the sides of its valley became the path of the Lausanne-Nescopeck Turnpike (Lehigh-Susquehanna Turnpike)— connecting Philadelphia and the Delaware basin communities to the new settlements in the mid-Susquehanna and Wyoming valleys via paths along the banks of the Lehigh and the Susquehanna Rivers.
Black Creek begins in Foster Township and flows southwest for less than a mile, passing through the community of Jeddo.
The creek then enters Hazle Township, where it turns west and flows between two mountains, along the way passing through the community of South Ebervale.
At Gowen it turns north and flows through a water gap, with Buck Mountain to the west.
On the other side of the water gap, the creek flows through Rock Glen and picks up the tributary Falls Run.
[3] The entire length of Black Creek is considered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be impaired by acid mine drainage, the main sources of which are the Gowen and Derringer deep mine discharges; a number of smaller sources of abandoned mine drainage also contribute to impairment of the Black Creek watershed.
[4] Just downstream of the State Route 3020 bridge near Derringer, the load of aluminum in Black Creek is 66.88 pounds (30.34 kg) per day.
[4] At the Hazleton Wastewater Treatment Plant, the daily aluminum load of Black Creek is 1.73 pounds (0.78 kg).
Behind the Hazleton High School, the daily aluminum load of the creek is 12.88 pounds (5.84 kg).
The channel is sinuous, flowing through rock formations of sandstone and shale which include coal.
The creek is contaminated with runoff from Hazleton and coal mines, as well as with sewage and bacteria in its upper reaches.
[8] It is possible to canoe on 14.6 miles (23.5 km) of Black Creek during the spring within one day of heavy rain.
Edward Gertler describes the scenery along the creek as "very good to poor" in his book Keystone Canoeing.
Other communities in the watershed include Drifton, Jeddo, Rock Glen and Gowen, with 1921 populations of 2129, 377, 317 and 306 respectively.
[8] Additionally, a number of species inhabit the Black Creek Flats, which are listed on the Luzerne County Natural Areas Inventory.
These include the common roadside skipper, the seepage dancer, the bog copper, the Hartford fern, the elfin skimmer, the long dash, the eyed brown, and the Aphrodite fritillary.
