Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited

Banquet News

Preparations are underway for the annual banquet. It will be held March 31 at the Clarion (former Holiday) Inn in Falls Creek. Prizes are already coming in and this year it looks like we will have some great ones including a top shelf Winston fly rod. Contact any of the directors if you have any leads on prizes or can help in any way.

Summer Activities

In late May Ken Undercoffer took National TU’s traveling blogger, Luca Adelfio, fishing on the Little Juniata. Though the fishing was good, the most memorable part of the trip was when they returned to their cars to discover Luca had been robbed.

Jim Teats and Matt Marusiak helped out at the Jefferson County Youth Field Day at Renlow Park by Reynoldsville on June10. They showed fly-tying and casting to about 150 youth.

Bob Barraclough, Ed London, Orwin Srock, Ken Undercoffer, George Kutskel, and Bud Thomas fished with five kids and their parents at a Big Brothers/Big Sisters outing at Tannery Dam in DuBois June17. This year the bass & bluegills were quite cooperative and many fish were caught.

Matt Marusiak had an article published in the PA Outdoors News in May on the efforts to get Sandy Lick near the DuBois Mall designated as a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures project.

Sandy Lick Creek Notes

If you’ve already bought your fishing license you may have noticed the addition of the Sandy Lick Creek in the DuBois area as a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures project. AMCTU was the key player in getting the PA Fish and Boat Commission to survey the stream in 2005 and getting it added to this list. AMCTU and the students from the DuBois High School will be placing the special regulations posters along the stream this spring. We will also be developing a parking area and trail to access the project. Call George Kutskel if you are interested in helping. Check the PA Fish and Boat web site and local papers for information on when this stream will be stocked. We are hoping to generate as much interest and support for the Sandy Lick Creek to eventually eliminate the mine drainage that turns the water and stream bed red. Though the color of the water is aesthetically disagreeable, the water quality is really not that bad.

Fly Tying Class

The chapter would like to offer a fly-tying class this winter. Call George Kutskel if you or someone you know would be interested in participating. Most likely it would meet one evening a week at the Penn State DuBois Campus.

Website News

Matt Marusiak is working on updating our website. Keep checking out amctu.org for the changes.

New Director Elected at October Meeting

At the October membership meeting Bud Thomas of Grampian was elected as a new member of the board. The existing officers – George Kutskel, president and Joe Buterbaugh, secretary/treasurer – were also reelected for another term. The vice-president and other board seats are open if anyone is interested helping out.

Lick Run Cold Water Heritage Project Wrapped Up

Ken Undercoffer has completed the Lick Run Assessment and Conservation Plan conducted under the 2004 Coldwater Heritage Partnership (CHP) grant AMCTU received. The Coldwater Heritage Partnership (CHP) is a collaborative effort between the PA Fish & Boat Commission, PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Western Pennsylvania Watershed Protection Program and Pennsylvania Trout. The purpose of the Coldwater Heritage Partnership (CHP) is to provide leadership, coordination, technical assistance, and funding support for the evaluation, conservation and protection of Pennsylvania’s coldwater streams. While Pennsylvania has over 83,000 miles of streams, only 25% are considered high-quality coldwater fisheries. Of that, less than 2% are designated as highly productive waters that contain naturally reproducing wild trout. The CHP’s primary focus is to foster protection and improvement of these streams and their watersheds.

Trout Run Growing Greener Grant

Orwin Srock, Bud Thomas, Ken Undercoffer, and Carl Undercofler are conducting initial stream surveys of Trout Run near Shawville for the $20,000 Growing Greener AMCTU received in November 2005. The main objective of this project is to determine the magnitude of the acidification problem in Trout Run, a tributary to the West Branch of the Susquehanna in Clearfield County, and develop a progressive restoration plan to mitigate this problem. Trout Run is not severely impacted by AMD, but is acidified as a result of acid deposition and poor buffering capacity of the underlying geology. Concurrent water quality samples and flow measurements will be collected from selected tributaries and the main stem of Trout Run, and permanent sampling stations will be established for long-term monitoring in the watershed. The 12.38 square mile watershed is mostly forested with headwaters on State Forest and Game Lands.

AMCTU Annual Donations

At the January 2 Board meeting AMCTU made the following contributions:

Anderson Creek Watershed Association – $100
Kettle Creek Watershed Association – $100
Toby Creek Watershed Association – $100
Sandy Lick Creek Watershed Association – $100
PA Trout – $500
Western PA Nature Conservancy – $500
First Christian Church (for meeting room rental) – $150

After some debate the Board chose to forgo our annual $100 contribution to the Potter County Anglers for their trout stocking program. AMCTU in no way opposes trout stocking in general; however, we do oppose stocking over streams capable of supporting strong populations of wild trout such as "Class A Wild Trout Streams". With the healthy wild trout population and inaccessibility of Cross Fork Creek combined with the nearby highly accessible stocked streams we are opposed to the stocking of Cross Fork Creek in Potter County and will not contribute to this program.

Upcoming Meetings

AMCTU holds Board of Directors meetings the first Tuesday of each month except June and July. All meetings start at 7:30 pm. Meetings in DuBois are held at the DuBois Nursing Home and meetings in Big Run are at the First Christian Church. The current schedule is:

February 6 – DuBois
March 6 – Big Run
March 27 – DuBois (banquet preparations)
May 1 – Big Run
August 7 – DuBois
September 4 – Big Run
October 2 – DuBois
November 6 – Reorganization meeting at Hoss’s (6:00pm)

We have given up on monthly membership meetings. It is disappointing to schedule such informative presentations for the limited number of participants. Despite offering drawings for cash we have been unable to attract more than a half dozen general members to the meetings. We will still hold our banquet in the spring and must offer a general meeting in October to elect officers. Thank you to those of you that regularly attended the meetings. We will also continue to hold regular Board meetings and currently have vacancies for board members and the vice-president.

Cooks Run Work to Resume

Colson Blakeslee attended a presentation by the Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation in December and was informed that bids are being accepted and work will resume this year on the Cooks Run Acid Mine Discharge Project in Clinton County.

Trout in the Classroom

George Kutskel has secured the materials and will be supplying the DuBois and Brockway High Schools with the equipment to raise trout in their schools through TU’s Trout in the Classroom Program.

Rivers Conservation Camp

AMCTU is looking for up to two kids age 14 – 17 to sponsor to the June 17-22, 2007 Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing youth Camp at the Allenberry Resort on Yellow Breeches Creek. Contact any Board member if you are interested or want to nominate a youth. For more information about the camp check out their website: www.riverscamp.com.