LRSA Hats & T-Shirts...
They look great and show you support the Lehigh River restoration
efforts. The hats have embroidered lettering and brook trout. The t-shirts
are printed on both sides. View Riverwear
MEETING SCHEDULE 2008
We encourage all sponsors to attend the stated meeting of the LRSA.
Meetings are held the last Tuesday of the month at the Walnutport VFW
on Cherry Street in Walnutport at 8:00 PM.
LRSA Officers:
President: Matt MacConnell, PE 610-657-2707
Vice President: Greg Gliwa
Secretary: Open
Treasurer: Tom Gyory
Memberships: Colleen Miller 610-760-1367
Advertising Sales: Bill Derhammer 610-791-5215
Webmaster and
Newsletter Editor: Matt MacConnell
LRSA Board of Directors:
Irv Conway
Bill Derhammer
Tom Gyory
Greg Gliwa
Matt MacConnell
Bob Metz
Colleen Miller
Ken Mack
Todd Woodring
Mission Statement The Lehigh River Stocking Association is a nonprofit, 501C-3 public
organization dedicated to the restoration, revitalization and restocking
of the Lehigh River. Our goal is the continuous improvement of this
waterway and its tributaries. Our objectives are to insure clean water,
a healthy and balanced ecosystem, an abundant fishery and access points
for all citizens to enjoy. This will be to the benefit of all interests;
including the businesses located throughout this region, the sportsmen
and the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This project has
been ongoing for the last seventeen years with great success.
We need and ask for your support for this outstanding program to continue.
Next LRSA Meeting July 29th at 8 p.m. See map below.
It is with utmost saddness that we learn of Ted Miller's passing on June 3, 2008. Ted Miller was the founder of the LRSA and has been the visionary for the restoration of the Lehigh Trout Fishery. We will miss him greatly and offer our most profound sympathies to the Miller family.
Spring Stocking - March 22, 2008
Thanks to everyone who helped with this successful stocking event. About 40 folks were on hand in JT to get us started and another group at Northampton. The Rainbow trout were in great shape, about 13 - 18 inch and ~ 1.4 lbs each. Roughly 4800 of these fiesty bows are now prowling the holes, eddys and riffles from Glen Onoko down to below the Northampton dam. These fish join the 8,000 5-7 inch Brown Trout float stocked in November. The next few months on the river will be very interesting. Please be sure to renew your sponsorship so that we can keep up the angling excitement. See on the river!
We are low on sponsors this year for some reason and will not be able to meet LRSA stocking targets without your support.
Tight Lines.
LRSA Video Clips
June 2nd, 2007 Fishing Clip at Glen Onoko
Francis E Walter Dam Release Schedule - for details go to the Links Below. These are the presentations made to the public by the Army Corp of Engineers in 2008 and 2007.
The Lehigh River Watch is the official publication of the LRSA. Please download and take a look and enjoy the great fishing stories and conservation articles.
Lehigh River Fisheries Management Plan
May 1, 2007
Prepared by:
David A. Arnold and Daryl J. Pierce
Fisheries Management Area 5
Division of Fisheries Management
Bureau of Fisheries
Pennsylvania Fish
NEWS - Lehigh River named Pennsylvania’s ‘River of the Year'
DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis this week named the Lehigh River as the commonwealth’s River of the Year for 2007.
The designation recognizes the watershed’s role in eastern Pennsylvania history and its promising recreational future. The Lehigh River drains portions of 10 counties and stretches more than 100 miles.
“The Lehigh River is alive and thriving, with water quality better now than it has been the last 150 years,” DiBerardinis said. “There are scores of partners working to preserve, protect and enhance this great state resource, and its resurgence has pumped new life into the communities surrounding it.
“Once a historic transportation corridor for coal bound from Carbon and Luzerne counties to Philadelphia, New York and beyond, the Lehigh River helped fuel America’s Industrial Revolution,” DiBerardinis said. “Now, mountain bikers, hikers and hunters are seen where mules and canal barges hauled coal and other cargo. Where dams once contained the mighty river, anglers in great number now seek trout, American shad and other species found in a healthy waterway.”
DCNR annually designates a “River of the Year” to applaud local residents, governments, non-profit and conservation organizations working to improve waterways and the quality of life in their watersheds across the state.
The Lehigh River winds 104 miles from its headwaters near Gouldsboro, Wayne County, to its junction with the Delaware River in Easton, Northampton County. Its watershed drains Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Schuylkill and Wayne counties. The Lehigh is the Delaware’s second largest tributary.
ACID MINE DRAINAGE AND THE LEHIGH
The November/December issue of the PA Angler has its lead article
about acid mine drainage in Pennsylvania. The article has some very
sad facts regarding the conditions of streams in the state. Pennsylvania
has about 4,000 miles of streams that are dead because of abandoned
mine drainage. We dont have to look too hard to see the damage
locally, the yellow boy stain on the streambeds in the
coal fields of Carbon and Schuylkill counties. You see streams that
are gin clear that should scream trout! but have ph
factors of 4, very acidic. Nothing is living in that stuff, no plants,
bugs or fish. Heavy metal has coated the stream bed making them
tombs. Just think of having these waterways healthy. What an impact
on potable water and fishing recreation. Can you imagine 4,000 miles
of new water holding fish?
There is some good news in all of this. The Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Fund of 1977 provided $520 million to Pa and has been used to restore
18,000 acres of land and 100 miles of streams. Currently there is
over $1,500,000,000 (yes thats billion) in the fund that is
not being allocated due to the states fighting over who gets the
dough. The most and oldest damage is in the eastern states with
more abandoned mines but the most mining is currently being done
in the western states. So to get some help here in the Keystone
State write your legislators and get bill S2616 passed to restore
our streams and watersheds. They aint making any more creeks.
P.S. Did you know that Pennsylvania has the most miles of rivers
and streams in the continental United States? Thats something,
PA is about 34th in land mass of the lower 48 states. PA is also
the biggest polluter to the Chesapeake Bay, nothing to be proud
about.
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