Abram Creek's pulse isn't strong yet, but at least there's a heartbeat.

The stream - which drains the high ridges of Grant and Mineral counties - had been dead for decades, rendered lifeless by acid mine drainage. But last week, the turning of a knob and the raising of a dump-truck bed poured fresh life into it.

"As water quality improves, Abram Creek is expected to provide a diverse trout fishery, with opportunities for native brook-trout expansion in the headwaters," said Gov. Joe Manchin as he dedicated a series of limestone-treatment sites designed to neutralize mine acid and make the stream fishable again.

Biologists believe the stream might be ready for stocked trout as early as next year, and expect native brook trout to repopulate parts of the watershed within two to five years.

"In all, we expect to restore 18 1/2 miles of fishing on Abram's main stem, and 61/2 miles of fishing on its tributaries," predicted Steve Brown, a senior planner for the state Division of Natural Resources.

The project uses two different types of acid-treatment technology, both of which have been proven effective at sites throughout the Mountain State.

Low-gradient areas of the stream, where the water flows slowly, will be treated with calcium oxide pellets distributed by machines called "dosers." The dosers - built by Kingwood-based Aqua-fix Systems Inc. - will use water wheels to distribute the pellets, which dissolve and neutralize the acid.

Abram's swifter high-gradient areas will be treated with limestone sand dumped directly into the stream. High water flows will tumble the sand grains and release the calcium they contain. The calcium, in turn, neutralizes acid.

The federal Abandoned Mine Lands Program will pay most of the $460,000 estimated start-up cost. Some funding will come from money earmarked to mitigate environmental damage caused by construction of Appalachian Highway Corridor H.

Abram Creek's pulse isn't strong yet, but at least there's a heartbeat.

The stream - which drains the high ridges of Grant and Mineral counties - had been dead for decades, rendered lifeless by acid mine drainage. But last week, the turning of a knob and the raising of a dump-truck bed poured fresh life into it.

"As water quality improves, Abram Creek is expected to provide a diverse trout fishery, with opportunities for native brook-trout expansion in the headwaters," said Gov. Joe Manchin as he dedicated a series of limestone-treatment sites designed to neutralize mine acid and make the stream fishable again.

Biologists believe the stream might be ready for stocked trout as early as next year, and expect native brook trout to repopulate parts of the watershed within two to five years.

"In all, we expect to restore 18 1/2 miles of fishing on Abram's main stem, and 61/2 miles of fishing on its tributaries," predicted Steve Brown, a senior planner for the state Division of Natural Resources.

The project uses two different types of acid-treatment technology, both of which have been proven effective at sites throughout the Mountain State.

Low-gradient areas of the stream, where the water flows slowly, will be treated with calcium oxide pellets distributed by machines called "dosers." The dosers - built by Kingwood-based Aqua-fix Systems Inc. - will use water wheels to distribute the pellets, which dissolve and neutralize the acid.

Abram's swifter high-gradient areas will be treated with limestone sand dumped directly into the stream. High water flows will tumble the sand grains and release the calcium they contain. The calcium, in turn, neutralizes acid.

The federal Abandoned Mine Lands Program will pay most of the $460,000 estimated start-up cost. Some funding will come from money earmarked to mitigate environmental damage caused by construction of Appalachian Highway Corridor H.

Recharging the dosers and the limestone-sand dumping sites will cost an additional $57,000 a year.

DNR Director Frank Jezioro said the project would be especially meaningful to him because he can remember fishing Abram Creek before it became polluted.

"In 1960, when I was in high school, a friend and I would go with his dad to Abram Creek for the opening day of trout season," Jezioro said. "This project will restore Abram Creek to where it will again be a destination for trout fishermen."

An alphabet soup of federal and state agencies worked together to get the project off the ground. The DNR's Brown said the idea had been kicking around since 1992, when a multi-state study group identified Abram as the most significant contributor of acid drainage on the West Virginia side of the North Branch of the Potomac watershed.

"This was a high-priority project," Brown said. "It just took a lot of work by a lot of people to make it happen - the DNR, of course; the Division of Environmental Protection; the Abandoned Mine Lands Program; the Mid-Atlantic Highlands Action Program; the Water Research Institute at West Virginia University; and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources."

Brown singled out former DNR Director Ed Hamrick, who now coordinates the Highlands Action Program, for "getting all the players together and keeping this project on the radar screen."

"There's a reason that this project finally got done after 15 years' worth of deliberation, and Ed should get some of the credit for that," Brown said.

The Abram project is one of three pilot fishery-restoration projects undertaken by the DNR and the DEP. The others are on Three Forks in Taylor County and Paint Creek in Fayette County.

To contact staff writer John McCoy, use e-mail or call 348-1231.