TU and Lafeyette's Skillman Library Present:

YE GODS AND LITTLE FISHES

Highlights from the Angling Collections

of Lafayette College’s Skillman Library

Friday, January 10, 2014

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

In honor of the upcoming 2014 trout season, Skillman Library is pleased to offer up a catch of fine biblio-fish to all members of the Lehigh Valley Chapters of

Trout Unlimited .

These tasteful delights come from Skillman’s three named angling collections—

the Conahay, Fox, and Tinsman Collections—as well as from recently acquired holdings. Please join us for a chance to see these exciting selections from our angling collections.

Highlights will include the magnificent etchings of D.R. Wakefield from his 1987 production, Some Trout , as well as examples of the most famous angling book of all time—Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler (first published in 1653), which is held by Skillman Library in more than 100 editions. Selections from the 500-volume Robert Tinsman Angling Collection will include classics of British and American angling and examples of some of the collection’s fine piscatorial bookbindings.

The Robert S. Conahay Jr. Collection (300 volumes) will be represented by notable works on Atlantic salmon, as well as examples of hand-tied salmon flies from Conahay’s collection of more than 700 flies tied in 470 different Atlantic salmon patterns. Titles from the collection of Lafayette alumnus and noted angler known as the “Dean of the Letort,” Charles K. Fox, Class of 1931, (200 volumes) will include his own works as well as others documenting the development of trout fly-fishing between 1930 and 1970. Other works will feature women anglers, angling literature, and fish-themed artists’ books.

A win for local Zoning and the environement in Supreme Court Decision

As reported in numerous news outlets today, the sweeping reform that was Act 13, which was a major win for Gov. Corbett in 2012, had some of its more controversial parts struck down today.  The Sate Supreme Court ruled that many portions of the Act were unconstitutional.   The full story can details can be found here:

Full Story

LV Chapters to work together

There are 4 Trout Unlimited Chapters in the Lehigh Valley, and up until now, we have done very little to work together.  Hopefully that is changing.  A "task force" of members from each Chapter have been meeting to discuss ways we can work together more effectively and more often.  The benefit to our members will be a greater chance to get involved, and for our chapters it will provide a larger audience for events and projects. We all hope you are able to take advantage of these opportunities.  In light of that, we have put together a "master" calendar of events through March 2014 of all the events for the 4 Chapters.  As you will see it is quite full.  Please take note of the times and locations, as they will vary based on which Chapter is hosting the event. 

Link to calendar:  Calendar

A permanent LINK can also be found on the "Publications" Page

Funding for Johnson Estate Conservancy needs support

From Vicky Bastidas, Monocacy TU Board member:

Hello All,

The Johnston Estate was the former country home of the first Mayor of Bethlehem and former Bethlehem Steel President, Archibald Johnston, and his descendants. This beautiful urban park contains not only a 23 room Mansion, but pathways connecting the nine different ecosystems and the Monocacy Creek. The Friends of Johnston have been providing free education for over 1000 students and environmental restoration with help from our friends in the community. After years of effort to protect the land from development, it is now on the verge of conservation! We need your help to secure the funding from Northampton County Council for acquisition of the Leckonby and Central Moravian Church lands to complete this iconic park for the benefit of our community. 

WHO IS INVOLVED? 

Natural Lands Trust, a highly skilled land conservation organization will own and manage the additional Leckonby and Central Moravian acreages.  NLT has applied to Northampton County Open Space Committee for funding for acquisition costs.

The Friends of Johnston is a group of citizens that have committed themselves to the preservation, restoration and sustainable reuse of this property for the good of all our community. 

WHAT IS THE VISION? The vision for the estate is that all of the parcels will function as one larger park even though they are under different ownership. That through collaboration with government agencies, businesses, schools and the community we will provide educational programming, stewardship, and fresh produce to the poor.

WHERE IS THE JOHNSTON ESTATE? The Johnston Estate is approximately 138 acres comprised of the 33 acre Archibald Johnston Conservation Area, the 55 acre Janet Johnston Housenick and William D. Housenick Memorial Park, the 26 acre Central Moravian Church Spiritual Center and the 18 acre Leckonby Farm. located between Christian Spring Road,Rte 191, Santee Mill, and Township line roads in Bethlehem.

WHY DOES THIS PARK BENEFIT OUR COMMUNITY? The additional acreage will complete the park area,  and provide

          buffer to the park for recreation and peace of mind

          greater area for wildlife and recreational trails, 

          community garden space 

          storm water management

          eliminate the risk of development on the parcel

          Education- for all ages from preschool through college

          Programming- bird walks, history walks, gardening native plant walks 

HOW WILL WE PAY FOR THE LAND?  Northampton County Open Space is dedicated to preserving environmentally sensitive lands. The NorCo Open Space Committee has approved the funding of the projects at $520,000.00.  Understanding that the land owners have been offered much more for their properties by developers, Natural Lands Trust has made offers above the current guidelines. Therefore the County Council will have to approve a resolution in the Open Space Ordinance for this project. to increase the allocation to a total of $657,500.00  There is enough in the 2013  budget for this year to fund these projects.

WHEN:                      NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

                                                6:00 pm,  THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2013

                                       NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COURT HOUSE

                                                                  EASTON, PA

HOW MUCH WILL THE PARK COST AFTER IT IS ACQUIRED? There will be no additional cost to the tax payers. Natural Lands Trust Preserves are free and open to the public and the Friends are committed to working diligently to raising funds

WE NEED YOUR HELP: 

           1) Get the word out- pass this email along 

           2) Write emails or call your council members and include the wording:

                     "I support the use of $657,500.00 of the Northampton County Open Space Funding for the 

                      acquisition of the Central Moravian Church and Leckonby Estate properties on the former 

                      Johnston Estate and request that the amendment to the Open Space Ordinance be passed at the 

                      December 5, 2013 Northampton County Council Meeting."

3) Come to the December 5, 2013 NorCo Council Meeting

4) COME OUT TO THE PARK!

4) Join the Friends of Johnston- share your time, talents or resources to help this worthy project!  

   Friendsofjohnston.org

I attended the NorCo budget hearings yesterday and the council is attempting to cut the Open Space funding for 2014 by approximately $750,000.00 given that the county now receives Act 319 Marcellus Shale monies. The Council does not understand that DCNR monies are being cut and that the matching grants will not be available for acquisitions, nor do they understand that the environmental impacts of fracking effect the entire commonwealth.

Scam invoices sent for TROUT magazine

There is word being circulated that some TU members recently received a renewal invoice for TROUT magazine for about $80.  THIS IS NOT A LEGITIMATE INVOICE.  Trout magazine continues to be included as part of your yearly membership dues.  If you have any questions you can contact Bryan Moore at TU National :  bmoore@tu.org .

Wet fly fishermen rejoice!

At our November meeting WCO Lee Creyer gave a detailed report on some of the changes in regulations for 2014, and one of the ones that stood out was the lifting of the restriction on the number hooks that can be used on one line.  Prior to 2014, the limit was 3 hooks per line, but now there is no limit.  That's right, you can now use as many hooks as you want, so all you wet fly traditionalist can tie as many droppers as you can handle. ( For the author that is about 1 fly total).