State funding released for dam improvement package
Repairs are scheduled, underway or finished at several popular fishing spots by dams in Western Pennsylvania.
On Feb. 14, Gov. Tom Wolf released $23.8 million in funding for a comprehensive, multiyear $43.5 million plan to rehabilitate or replace 10 dams managed by the state Fish and Boat Commission, said the agency’s executive director, Tim Schaeffer, during a seminar at the Allegheny Outdoor, Sport and Travel Show in Monroeville. Fish and Boat will provide the remaining $19.7 million in funding.
“This will keep these lakes open for fishing and boating for a long time to come,” said Mr. Schaeffer.
The dams included in the package are currently stable but are nearing the end of their design lifespans. In Western Pennsylvania, they include: Cloe Lake (Jefferson County), Hemlock Lake (Indiana), High Point Lake (Somerset), Kahle Lake (Venango, Clarion) and Virgin Run Lake (Fayette).
Dam upgrades have been completed in other local impoundments. Ninetyacre Donegal Lake in Westmoreland County is currently being refilled and is scheduled to be stocked in time for the April 18 trout opener, Mr. Schaeffer said. The dual dams at Tamarack Lake (Crawford) also have been repaired and the 562-acre impoundment is refilling.
Repairs are expected to begin this year at Lake Somerset (253 acres, Somerset) and Glade Run Lake (52 acres, Butler).
“As some of you know, Cranberry Glade Lake is trying to turn itself back into a swamp,” said Mr. Schaeffer. In 2020, Fish and Boat will attempt vegetation control on 18 acres of the 85-acre impoundment in Somerset County. If it works, he said, more devegetation will be attempted next year.
Dam repairs and silt removal continue to be a problem at Canonsburg Lake in Washington County, another impoundment owned by Fish and Boat. Mr. Schaeffer said the Canonsburg Lake Restoration and Improvement Association continues to raise funding for repairs.
The prognosis is less promising for Ronald J. Duke Lake, once the 52acre centerpiece of Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County. Created in 1960 by damming the north fork of Dunkard Fork and stocked with trout by Fish and Boat, it was drawn down in 2005 because of structural damage to the dam allegedly caused by longwall mining.
Plans to rebuild the impoundment a decade later faltered due to continued concerns about industrial impacts. The property is owned by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Mr. Schaeffer said he would look into the status of the former Duke Lake.
Peters Creek
Years of hard work by the Tri-Community Anglers Association may eventually pay off. The group cleans, upgrades and independently stocks trout in six miles of Peters Creek and Piney Fork, which flow through South Park Township and Jefferson Hills, entering the Monongahela River at Clairton. Despite good bug life and steady flow, the streams are not state-approved trout waters.
During last week’s seminar in Monroeville, Mike Johnson, Fish and Boat Waterways Conservation Officer for much of Allegheny County, said he has petitioned the agency’s fish managers to conduct a study of Peters Creek to determine its suitability for Fish and Boat stocking. Research is underway. Learn more about Tri-Community Anglers at tcaa. peterscreek.org.
Blue catfish
The big blues are coming, eventually. At the outdoors expo, Rocco Ali, the Fish and Boat Commissioner representing southwestern Pennsylvania, confirmed a blue catfish had been caught by an angler in Pennsylvania waters of the Ohio River.
Blues are the largest North American catfish capable of exceeding 50 inches. They are native to the Mississippi River system, which includes the Ohio, but until recently had been missing from the state since the late 1880s. West Virginia stocked more than 1 million fingerling blues in the Ohio River and a tributary. Mr. Schaeffer said that Fish and Boat has not stocked blues in the state, but called for the agency to draft a blue catfish management plan.
Museum induction
Chauncy Lively, the late fly fishing author known for his innovative patterns and techniques, will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum at a dinner in Mars on Saturday.
Mr. Lively, who died in 2000, is remembered for his magazine articles and book, “Chauncy Lively’s Fly Box” (Stackpole, $44.48). The museum fundraising event from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. will spotlight anglers and feature tying demos and a silent auction. It’s at the Mars Memorial Association, 331 Mars-Valencia Road. Tickets, $30, available at paflyfishing.org.
Turkey awards
The National Wild Turkey Federation recently awarded Mary Jo Casalena, Pennsylvania Game Commission turkey biologist, for her sciencebased management of the species.
Ms. Casalena, who started in 1999, developed harvest experiments and monitored nest initiation and egg incubation dates that resulted in resetting the spring gobbler opening day on the Saturday closest to May 1, a date considered the safest for the hens because most are on their nests.
Also awarded for lifetime conservation achievements was Vern Ross, a former Game Commission executive director and past chairman and president of the Turkey Federation’s national board of directors.