Forest Service Accepting Comments on Fishing Dock
Project to Provide Accessible Fishing and Improve Fish Habitat at Sandy Beach Park
Marienville, PA, May 9, 2022—The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service is accepting public comments on a proposal by the Elk County Conservation District to improve fishing accessibility at Sandy Beach Park near Ridgway, Pennsylvania. The project includes installing an accessible fishing dock to improve angler access and installing fish habitat structures to compliment the dock.
Fish habitat structures would be placed along both sides of and within Big Mill Creek. One side of Big Mill Creek is Ridgway Township’s Sandy Beach Park the other side is the Allegheny National Forest. The fish habitat structures would have footer logs and cross vane logs pushed into the banks on the Forest Service side of Big Mill Creek and would be armored with rock. The proposal includes felling five to ten eastern hemlock trees, on National Forest System land, that are leaning toward the proposed fishing dock location and using the trees for the construction of the fish habitat structures.
Equipment access would be from the Sandy Beach Park side of Big Mill Creek. The cutting and placing of logs and other materials would be done by working in the stream channel during low flow conditions. All required permits would be obtained before implementation. This project is located in the Clarion River Inventoried Roadless Area (Management Area 7.2–Remote Recreation) in Warrant 4869, Ridgway Township, Elk County.
For maps and more information, a scoping document is available for download on the Allegheny National Forest website at https:// www.fs.usda.gov/ project/?project=62138. Printed copies are available upon request.
Comments may be submitted at any time but would be most helpful if received by June 9, 2022. The input received will help us refine the proposed action. Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who comment, will be available for public inspection as part of the project record. You may submit comments to the responsible official in the following ways:
• Email: commentseastern-alleghenymarienville@usda.gov. Please include Sandy Beach Fishing Dock on the subject line, your name, and your physical mailing address with your comments.
• Mail: Robert Fallon, District Ranger, Marienville Ranger District, 131 Smokey Lane, Marienville, PA 16239
• Phone: (814) 9275700 during normal business hours.
• Fax: (814) 927-2285