The effort to look for and find wild trout across Pennsylvania is the subject of a new movie.
It’s been a theme for years: wild trout keep showing up in unexpected places in Pennsylvania.
Over the past seven years, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Trout Unlimited, and colleges and universities have been sampling never-before-examined streams around the state. The goal of the unassessed trout waters initiative is to document where wild trout exist.
The answer is in more places than likely anyone imagined.
The commission has been adding close to 100 stream sections to its wild trout waters list every quarter.
Some of those are in places like the Laurel Highlands and northcentral Pennsylvania. That was expected.
But wild trout are also turning up in places like Chester and Erie counties, too.
That most definitely was not expected.
And now, all of that work is being celebrated.
Trout Unlimited has put together a 6.5-minute film about its work on the unassessed waters initiative.
Titled “86,000 Miles of Streams,” the video was made by award-winning photojournalist Sam Dean. It takes its name from the fact that Pennsylvania boasts more than 86,000 miles of rivers, streams and creeks.
That’s second in the United States only to Alaska.
The movie tells several stories.
One features Joe Baylog, president of Trout Unlimited’s Forks of the Delaware chapter. Baylog is working to ensure protections for his favorite waters so his young daughter will be able to enjoy fishing for wild trout like he does.
“What’s the old saying? You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?” Baylog asks in the film. “I think the reality is we don’t necessarily know what we have, and only thru exploration and research will we understand what we have.”
Legislation
Legislation that would effectively limit John Arway’s days as executive director of the Fish and Boat Commission passed the Senate this week.
Senate Bill 935 passed the full Senate by a vote of 34-16, just six days after being introduced. That’s unheard of.
Introduced by Sen. Joe Scarnati, a Potter County Republican, the bill limits the commission’s executive director to no more than eight years in that job.
The bill would impact all future directors. But it’s clearly aimed at Arway, insiders say.
Arway will hit the eight-year mark in March.
Scarnati introduced the bill in response to a plan by the commission to cut $2 million from its budget by July 1 if lawmakers don’t increase fishing license prices by then.
No decisions on how and where to trim the money have been finalized. But the commission said it would likely close its Oswayo hatchery and cut 240,000 adult trout from the annual stocking, among other things.
The cutbacks would, according to a commission map, be concentrated in three areas of the state. All coincide with the districts of lawmakers who have opposed license fee hikes.
As a result, lawmakers reacted angrily, with Scarnati’s bill an example, sources say.
Merger bill
Speaking of legislation, a bill that would partially merge the Fish and Boat and Game commissions was introduced into the state House of Representatives Thursday.
Rep. Bryan Barbin, a Cambria County Democrat, is sponsor of House Bill 1895. It would merge the administrative and law enforcement functions of the agencies.
Specifically, Barbin said Pennsylvania is unique in the nation for having separate, independent fish and game agencies. Twenty states have combined agencies. Another 29 have agencies within larger departments, like Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Were Pennsylvania to go the same route, it could save $5 million annually, Barbin said, citing a study looking at the issue done previously.
Barbin said his proposed legislation would “eliminate redundant administrative, computer and pension services, and create shared law enforcement responsibilities.” One executive director would oversee the two commissions.
“As both agencies seek increases in fees, we owe the license buyer our best efforts to find cost savings,” Barbin said.
Furthermore, his bill would require the combined agencies to be audited every two years.
It makes no mention of the one executive director having to be appointed by the Governor and approved by lawmakers, as was the case in an original draft.
Homebodies
A Pennsylvania study done several years ago found that, sometimes, stocked trout moved a long way from where they were released.
Sometimes, that amounted to more than 20 miles.
Other trout, though, appear to be homebodies.
Biologists with New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation routinely survey wild brown trout populations in streams each summer. And they are able to identify specific fish via their unique color patterns.
This year,seven fish – all 6 to 12 years old — in four streams were found in the same pools as the year before. They hadn’t left home.
The fish, all 17 to 22 inches long, hadn’t grown much in that year, however.
Habitat work
Pheasants Forever and the Game Commission are hosting a wildlife habitat enhancement seminar at 7 p.m. Nov. 14. It is set for the Buffalo Township municipal building.
It will focus on programs available to private landowners for improving wildlife habitat at little or no cost. Landowners with vacant land — especially land crossed by a pipeline or containing a well pad – might benefit.
Register by contacting Chet Krcil at 724-986-5250 or ckrcil@gmail.com.
Gander Outdoors
Gander Mountain stores are gone. But their successor, Gander Outdoors, are coming soon.
According to plans presented to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Camping World will open 15 to 20 stores by March 31. Another 40 to 45 stores could open by fall.
There’s no word on where the stores might be located.
