Drought takes toll on Lehigh Valley streams. Is emergency pending?
Two puddles of water were all that remained last week in an
area of the Little Lehigh Creek designated for fly
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Drought takes toll on Lehigh Valley streams. Is emergency pending?
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Congress should fund Delaware River program
This year, Congress has a chance to take a major step in protecting one of the most important ecological resources on the East Coast. Lawmakers from both parties have long supported a new Delaware River Basin Restoration Program to coordinate conservation efforts in the watershed and set aside $5 million in competitive matching grants.
I greatly appreciate recent efforts by U.S. Rep. Dent, Sen. Casey and their congressional colleagues to advocate for this watershed, and I urge them to push for inclusion of this important program in the final version of the Water Resources Development Act. It's an opportunity not to be missed.
The basin provides drinking water for 5 percent of the American population. This legislation would support the sort of work Trout Unlimited volunteers do to protect, reconnect and restore cold-water streams. This work does not just improve fish habitat; it also promotes clean water, improves flood resiliency and strengthens local economies supported by millions of sportsmen's dollars.
This program would prioritize and help fund a multitude of programs like these. Now is the time to put the Delaware on par with other major U.S. watersheds receiving dedicated federal support, from the Great Lakes to the Chesapeake.
Erik Broesicke
Bethlehem
The writer is president of the Monocacy Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
LINK to original printed in the Morning Call.
Friday, November 18, 2016
November Meeting Reminder
| Chapter Members: The next Monocacy Chapter monthly meeting with be on Tuesday Nov. 22nd. The meeting will begin at 7pm at ILLICK'S MILL. Please note this is not our normal meeting location. This months meeting will be an inter- active discussion with Bighorn Angler Owner Steve Galletta (www.bighornangler.com). Steve has been a supporter of our fly fishing film tour event for the past 2 years, generously donating a guided float trip. If you are thinking about traveling out West to trout fish, this program is not to be missed. Hope to see you there. |
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| © 2011 Trout Unlimited | Monocacy Chapter www.monocacytu.org | http://www.tu.org | www.bighornangler.com | ||
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Note to the TU family...by Chris Wood
A Bristol Bay rainbow trout.
by Chris Wood
This was an uncommon and rancorous election, but the outcome is not. As is the case every four years, many are excited about the prospects for the new administration, and many are afraid of what it means for things they care about. I want to take a moment to discuss what it means for our work at Trout Unlimited.
The change in Administration may make some campaigns, such as the effort to protect Bristol Bay, more challenging. The good news is that our campaigns are place-based and emanate from a strong need by local people to protect places they live and love. For example, the desire to protect Bristol Bay begins in dozens of small Alaska native villages in southwest Alaska, the spokes of which extend outward to the commercial fishing industry and to the state capital. It is a made-in-Alaska campaign that will be hard for any Administration to resist.
Policies such as the Clean Water rule will face increased scrutiny. It will be more vital than ever before that we engage our members and other anglers to help explain that protecting clean water is not a partisan issue.
Funding for restoration work could come under threat. And this is why it is so vital to help policymakers, legislators, state and federal agency partners, and private corporations understand the alchemic nature of our work. For every $1 of corporate or state/federal money invested in a TU project, we turn it into $10, and in the process provide high-paying, family wage jobs in communities all across the country.
We have always prided ourselves on our ability to work in a bipartisan manner. Since Trout Unlimited was founded in Michigan in 1959, the organization has existed—and grown—through 11 different presidential administrations (29 years Republican, and 28 years Democrat). For example, several clear opportunities exist for us in the new Congress and with the new Trump Administration; these include Good Samaritan legislation to help clean up abandoned mines, a higher priority on water infrastructure improvements, and public land renewable energy legislation.
Angling is a cultural, not a political issue. Whether it involves securing in- stream flow legislation in Montana or Utah or passing laws such as the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, we know how to get people from across the political spectrum to work side-by-side toward common goals. This is who we are; it is what we do. The fact that we can cross political boundaries is what makes us so effective. It’s what makes us welcome at the negotiating table.
In the wake of a rancorous debate, many will want to walk around the battle-field and bayonet the wounded. Others will howl in the wind and talk of moving to Canada. Resist both urges. Our work, our entire approach to collaborative stewardship—is more vital—more needed in this country than ever before. The voices of sportsmen and women will be ever more central in the coming years. So few issues bring the country together today. Conservation—the notion that we can take specific actions today, to make the world a better place for our kids tomorrow—may be the one issue that can help to unite an otherwise divided nation.
Challenges lay ahead, but I also see great opportunity to play an even more prominent role in ensuring the future of trout and salmon in North America. Let’s get to work.
Chris Wood is the president and CEO of Trout Unlimited. He works from TU's headquarters in Arlington, Va.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
TU team keeps finding wild trout in Pennsylvania
Trout Unlimited science staff member Shawn Rummel uses electrofishing gear to search for trout in a small Pennsylvania creek. TU is among the groups assisting with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Unassessed Waters Initiative. (Trout Unlimited photos.)
By Mark Taylor
A TU team has been busy once again in the wilds of Pennsylvania, using electroshocking gear to search for wild trout in waters where the presence of trout hasn’t been formally documented.
As the crew works, their previous efforts continue to pay off.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recently voted to add 99 streams to its formal Wild Trout Waters list as a result of the agency's ongoing Unassessed Waters Initiative.
Many of these streams were identified as holding wild trout by TU’s field crew, headed by Kathleen Lavelle, field coordinator for TU’s Pennsylvania Coldwater Habitat Restoration Initiative based in Lock Haven, Pa.
Since 2011, TU specially trained field crews have sampled roughly 600 streams. In most years, approximately 40 percent of streams have held wild trout, with a predominance of brook trout (below).
TU and other field teams, such as crews from universities, pass the information along to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which then considers the streams for formal listing.
While the listing of a stream section as a wild trout water does not determine how the water is managed, the biological designation is among the factors that the commission relies on for management decisions. Often times, listed wild trout streams and their adjacent wetlands will be afforded special protection by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Some streams are identified as Class A Wild Trout Streams, a designation for the best of the best. Those streams, which must meet strict biomass and trout population criteria, usually are specially managed.
“With rare exceptions, the Commission manages these stream sections solely for the perpetuation of the wild trout fishery, with no stocking,” according to the Commission.
This summer, Lavelle and her crew have been concentrating efforts on streams in the headwaters of the West Branch Susquehanna River watershed, as well is in the Delaware River watershed. The team has been finding trout in many of the sampled waters.
Not long after the field work ends, the Fish and Boat Commission at a meeting in late September will vote on another block of proposed additions to the Wild Trout Stream listing.
Another 99 streams will be voted on for inclusion on the Wild Trout Streams list, with four streams to be considered for Class A designation.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Taking Down Dams and Letting the Fish Flow
BANGOR,
Me. — Joseph Zydlewski, a research biologist with the Maine Cooperative
Fish and Wildlife Research Unit of the United States Geological Survey,
drifted in a boat on the Penobscot River, listening to a crackling
radio receiver. The staccato clicks told him that one of the shad that
his team had outfitted with a transmitter was swimming somewhere below.
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