Cascade Creek Restoration Results in Improved Water Quality

Presque Isle Bay is a 3,655-acre embayment located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, in Pennsylvania. The Cascade Creek watershed represents a large portion of Presque Isle Bay’s overall drainage area and the creek itself has a significant impact on the Bay’s water quality.

Cascade Creek is just under five miles long and flows through the city of Erie and Millcreek Township. Flowing through the city of Erie has its challenges, one being the impact of urban living. The impervious surfaces of the urban environment prevent infiltration and lead to large volumes of stormwater runoff. When this runoff reaches the stream, the increased water volume and velocity causes erosion of the streambanks and adjacent land, sending sediment downstream.

Restoring the West Branch of Cascade Creek

Pennsylvania Sea Grant, the Erie County Conservation District, and the Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park embarked on an effort to restore the Main Stem and West Branch of Cascade Creek. This would be a long-term commitment and significant undertaking; so much so, that the work was parceled into six phases that spanned a decade. The initial work began in 2006 at Frontier Park, on the West Branch of Cascade Creek.

Stormwater runoff had severely eroded the streambanks, sending sediment downstream into Presque Isle Bay. These unstable streambanks were not only unsightly, but they were also unsafe.

The goals for the early phases of restoration included re-establishing the riparian zone, reducing erosion and sediment, and improving habitat for wildlife. Stream restoration techniques included the use of log vanes to deflect water from eroding the banks, rock weirs to slow and focus the stream flow, and live branch layering to stabilize the stream banks and reduce erosion.

Momentum for the restoration efforts grew, and commitment from additional partners including S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie, and the City of Erie, helped get the work over the finish line.

Today, the view at Frontier Park is strikingly different from 2006 when the work began.

“One of the many challenges to restoration efforts in the urban environment is the restrictions posed by existing infrastructure. Roadways, bridges, and sewers, as examples, limit the space available for establishing sizable riparian buffers and other best management practices.”  

Tom Cermak, Coastal Outreach Specialist

Moving on to Main Stem Cascade Creek

In 2012, Pennsylvania Sea Grant and the Erie-Western PA Port Authority embarked on an effort to restore 450-linear feet of the Main Stem of Cascade Creek. The location had served as overflow parking for Presque Isle ferry tours. The goal of the effort was to restore and secure the streambank and reduce the impervious surfaces by establishing a forested buffer.

The completed restoration reduced sediment loading by 98 tons/yr.; improved water quality and habitat for fish and wildlife; restored the channel width; removed shoreline hardening of the streambank; naturalized the streambank gradient; restored the riparian buffer; removed an obstructive building from the floodplain; reduced and greened a parking lot; and provided educational signage that describes project benefits.

A second location, in the City of Erie, also addressed Main Stem sediment loading and erosion. This restoration project improved 700 ft. of stream and reduced sediment loading by 61.25 tons/yr.

Results included improved water quality and fish and wildlife habitat; restored channel width; removal of shoreline hardening of the streambank; a naturalized the streambank gradient; a riparian buffer; the removal of an obstructive, unnecessary bridge and abutment from the floodplain; reconstruction of a popular bike/pedestrian trail further away from the stream corridor; and provided an educational effort that describes project benefits to the general public. This phase of the work largely completed the restoration efforts on Cascade Creek in the City of Erie.

“Each phase of the Cascade Creek restoration effort was complex and had slightly different site conditions, restoration goals, project partners, and funding mechanisms. Working collectively to have all these factors align during a narrow in-stream construction window can often be one of the greatest challenges to completing the project on schedule.”

Tom Cermak, Coastal Outreach Specialist

Success Achieved, but the Work Continues

The continued improvement of Cascade Creek and Presque Isle Bay depends on focused and coordinated efforts to reduce pollution, protect and restore habitat and natural resources, and monitor the results.

Project partners continue to monitor, track the succession of the completed projects, and identify other potential restoration sites within the watershed.

Pennsylvania Sea Grant is currently working with partnering organizations on the next phase of restoration, and recently applied for funding to continue the efforts. Funds will be utilized to complete the stream restoration design, engineering, and permitting for a severely degraded portion of the stream that is located south of West 6^th Street.

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Over a decade, project partners successfully restored 3,900 linear feet along Cascade Creek’s Main Stem and West Branch. Today, approximately 464 tons of sediment is no longer being transported to Presque Isle Bay.

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Project update written October 2026.