Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited

Officers and Directors Report

The officers and directors met on February 1, 2017 and took the following actions:

• Provided support letter to PFBC for approval of wild trout and Class A wild trout waters. You can find the list of waters being considered for designation at this web link: Wild Trout Streams Being Considered.
• Started planning a family fishing event to be held at the Tannery Dam sometime in later April or early May.
• Noted that PFBC is proposing to hold a Wild Trout Summit in the summer. PFBC also added six more streams to their Keystone Select Stocked Trout Program, including Chest Creek, Kinzua Creek, and Oil Creek.
• Appointed Doug Wolfe as the chapter’s Financial Reviewer. This is a new requirement from national TU that each chapter has an officer (who is not authorized to write checks, otherwise withdraw or transfer money from accounts, or use chapter or council credit cards) review the bank and/or credit-card statements every month. Thanks Doug!
• Appointed Rich Ferrara to fill a director position vacancy. Thanks Rich!
• Approved donations to the following organizations: $500 donation to PA Council of TU, $500 donation to the Western PA Conservancy, $100 donation to the Headwaters RC&D Council, $100 donation to the Toby Creek Watershed Association, $100 donation to the Bennett Branch Watershed Association, and $100 donation to the Kettle Creek Watershed Association.

Next AMCTU board meeting is 7 pm on May 2, 2017 at the DuBois Nursing Home. All membership is welcomed to attend board meetings.

Youth Engagement

One of our chapter’s goals is to engage more youth and we host or participate in several programs specifically for youth. Please contact George Kutskel at maksak@comcast.net or 814-771-4022 if you can help out with any of these upcoming youth events.

• The DuBois Middle School fly-fishing club outing will be held on May 3 at the Tannery Dam.
• AMCTU’s annual environmental day with students from the DuBois Middle School will be held on May 19 at Camp Mountain Run.
• AMCTU also helps out at the Youth Field Days. The Clearfield County Youth Field Day is June 3, and Jefferson County is June 10.

Projects Update

Wilson Run
The chapter completed a habitat and bank stabilization project on Wilson Run near Penfield last year. This included installing eight log vanes to keep the creek. Kelly Williams recently inspected the project and noted that all the structures are holding and appear to be doing what they were designed to do – protecting the bank under high water events. While the creek hasn’t moved much in response to the structures, holes are starting to develop below the structures and sediment is building up upstream close to the bank where we hoped they would fill in.  We’ll keep checking back as time goes on and under high water events. Funding for the project was provided by the Headwaters RC&D Council Sinnemahoning Watershed Grant Program.

Camp Run/Cooks Run
Kelly Williams received this update on February 11, 2017 from PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – Bureau of Abandoned Mines Reclamation (BAMR) regarding Cooks Run restoration:

“The next phase of the Cooks Run restoration effort is the reclamation of the Fran Contracting No. 2 site which impacts Rock and Camp Runs.  The design and permitting of the project is complete and the bid documents were undergoing final edits at the end of this week. It is anticipated that the project will be submitted to [DEP] Construction Contracts section in Harrisburg sometime next week. They will then review and determine the bid advertisement and bid opening dates likely sometime in April. If all goes well, the contract should be awarded in May or June and construction of the project should begin this summer!”

Sandy Lick Creek
In partnership with the City of DuBois, PFBC, AMCTU, and Clearfield County Conservation District, the Western PA Conservancy (WPC) applied to the DEP Growing Greener Grant Program for over $200,000 to install the stream habitat and bank stabilization project in the flood control section of the Sandy Lick Creek, which we have long advocated for. If awarded, these funds will be used to permanently stabilize up to 1,800 feet of highly eroding streambank by installing eight streambank stabilizing devices and 650 feet of toe of slope protection. WPC expects that this work would reduce 450 tons of sediment per year entering the stream. Some of the structures will need to be built by hand, so if this is funded, we will be looking for volunteers who want to get their hands dirty and feet wet.

Montgomery Run Riparian Planting
AMCTU has received a Coldwater Heritage Partnership grant to plant a riparian buffer along Montgomery Run (tributary to Anderson Creek at the DuBois Reservoir) and reforest a long-abandoned splash dam. We will soon take some soil samples to make sure that the right trees are selected, and will need help with the tree planting likely later this year.

Meetings and Events

AMCTU and Jim’s Sports Center hosted an eight-week beginner’s fly tying class that started February 9, 2017 and was taught by instructor Rich Ferrara. Ten adults and one junior signed up for the class. We are thankful to our members who have come out to assist with the class. 

Shannon White is our featured speaker for the membership meeting on March 21, 2017. Shannon is a PhD candidate at Penn State University and has been conducting fascinating telemetry studies of the movement of brook trout. Come learn how trout really think and how far they really travel. Shannon has a great blog about her research at thetroutlook.com. We are sure that this will be an informative and fun presentation. The program starts at 7 pm at the Community Room at the Martin’s Grocery Store in DuBois

Make your reservations now for the 51st Annual Allegheny Mountain Chapter’s Trout Kick-off banquet. Don’t miss out and don’t wait! The banquet will be held on Saturday April 1, 2017 at the Falls Creek Eagles. We’ll have a buffet dinner and, as always, lots and lots of prizes. Register by March 15 for a reservation discount. Final day for reservations is March 24. You can learn more and make your reservation online at amctu.org, or contact Kelly Williams at kwilliamsccd@atlanticbbn.net or 814-591-1299. The banquet committee is meeting 7 pm on March 28, 2017 at the DuBois Nursing Home to finalize banquet plans.

For the April 18 membership meeting, we are planning a fly-fishing demo on the Sandy Lick Creek near Martin’s Grocery Store in DuBois. We are also planning our annual picnic with Iron Furnace chapter at Walter Dick Park in Brookville again this year in May. Check the website amctu.org, “Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited” on Facebook, or the DuBois newspaper for latest updates.