By Tarki
Tully resident and Working Group Member

The headwaters of Onondaga Creek are located in a lovely highland forest region, difficult to access, on the southern upland area of Bare Mountain. The stream begins slowly, picking up speed and water as it falls over a series of waterfalls and gains fresh water from several tributaries that flow north from the Tully Moraine. Numerous springs, well known for their brook trout populations, add to the creek's flow as it crosses over the east side of the valley floor. Forest land gives way to farm land as the creek flows north, parallel to route 11 A. The creek continues its journey north, flowing though sparsely populated areas and picking up water from Rattlesnake Gulf and Rainbow Creek.

Creek degradation begins as it flows north along the valley floor where mud boil tributaries add brackish water and fine grained sediments. According to the USGS, remedial efforts in the mud boil area have decreased sediment loading to the creek from 30 tons/ day in 1992, to less than 1 ton/ day in 1998 1. Even with remediation efforts, the effects of the sedimentation are easily seen in the muddy, brown water. No longer can brook trout survive, and the populations of brown trout struggle in warmer, turbid waters.

The Tully Valley has an industrial past and present that pose risks to remediation efforts. Close to a century of brine mining has caused subsidence and contributed to the mud boil activity despoiling the Creek. Currently, gravel mining along the 400 feet of glacial deposits (moraine) have negatively impacted, and continue to pose a threat to the small, healthy tributaries feeding the creek.

Mudslides along the Tully Valley have also had a degrading effect on the creek. These slides, just south of Route 20, have been dated by the USGS to have occurred as far back as 6,100 years ago and as recently as 1993, when a mud slide at the base of Bare Mountain crossed Tully Valley Road.

By John
Tully resident and Working Group Member

The creek is fast flowing and meandering. It is mostly tree lined. Brown trout have been stocked and fishing is quite good. Beaver have moved in recently. In the 60?s and 70?s Allied Chemical routinely had brine leaks, which killed all the fish in small sections. Considerable subsidence has occurred in the whole valley, especially in the mud boil area.

By Knowlton
LaFayette resident and Working Group Member

One of the streams flowing into Onondaga Creek in the LaFayette area is Kennedy Creek. Kennedy Creek flows through Optimist Park in LaFayette on U.S. 11N about 2 miles north of the center of town. The stream has been damned up creating a nice size pond with a very nice pavilion for picnics. This area, known as Optimist Park, has become a first rate recreational area for LaFayette. The pond is used in the winter for skating and in the summer for fishing. The Optimists (of which I am one) stock this pond each spring in anticipation of their annual fishing derby in May. I would guess 100 to 200 youngsters along with their parents show up on fishing derby day for a chance to catch some pretty big fish. The park also contains tennis and basketball courts. Once water leaves Optimist Park, it flows under US 81 down a steep gradient towards the Onondaga Nation. The fishing of the stream in this area used to be (and may still be) very good for trout. Thus we see another tributary to Onondaga Creek in addition to the stream flowing through Elmwood Park in the city being put to very good recreational use.

Headwaters

Mudboil retention pond