Get off your @$$

[tomgamber]

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/protest-prompts-temporary-shutdown-of-gas-rig-643918/

 

[bikerfish]

yeah, saw that on the news last night, wondering why it took so long for this to happen. don't worry, the state will pass new legislation making said protests punishible by death. nothing stops the machine!

 

[Lonewolve]

Tom Gamber,
Thanks for posting this. As you knw i am vehemetly against Hydraulic Fracking especially on PUBLIC LAND. The Area that is mentioned is also some of the southernly most Elk area in Clearfield County. Its bad enough that this county is probably the most Coal stripmined as well has been drift/deep mined in the state. There is alot of water, that had a little thought and care been put into the mining from the get go would be great Trout water. Instead it runs orange.
Land Rape for the mighty short lived/spent dollar instead of deliberate intelligent harvesting of natural resources....has been the theme of the day for a long time in this area as well as other areas of Pa and nationwide.
Always hear folks say that its about money/jobs...never hear them say hey we are going to do this in a morally,ethical,responsible,and most ecological way possible .So that future generations as well as current generations may be able to enjoy the beautiful Pennsylvania Wilds.
I know some folks are from Clearfield County heck even Pa Trout Unlimited president Ken Undercoffer supposedly lives there.I wish Trout Unlimited would spend some effort in Pennsylvania keeping this Marcellus situation in check and applying some pressure to the folks that allowed such rampant disregard to happen without having the proper number of specially trained registered inspectors on the hunt at these well sites.
I think if Western Pa was helped more everyone would benefit.

 

[KenU]

I live in the town of Clearfield and have visited several Marcellus well sites in the area, including the one near Elliot Park that blew out a few years ago.

PA Council of TU, PATU chapters, and National, TU have all been involved in the Marcellus play from the beginning. If you want to review what is going on, National TU has a web page devoted to Marcellus drilling at - http://www.tu.org/conservation/eastern-conservation/marcellus-shale-project

National TU has two full-time employees: Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project Director and Mitchell Blake, Marcellus Shale Field Organizer. Both work full-time on the Marcellus drilling issue. Their contact information is in the lower right corner of the TU Website. We have bi-monthly teleconferences to review the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation.

PATU chapters are monitoring streams in the Marcellus play all around Pennsylvania. Mitch Blake is going around the state giving seminars on the subject. All this information is available on the Website.

So yeah, we're involved. If you want to get involved, contact Mitch Blake. --- Ken Undercoffer

 

[troutbert]

Lonewolve wrote:

I wish Trout Unlimited would spend some effort in Pennsylvania keeping this Marcellus situation in check and applying some pressure to the folks that allowed such rampant disregard to happen without having the proper number of specially trained registered inspectors on the hunt at these well sites.

Are you a member of TU?

 

[Lonewolve]

Troutbert,
I used to be a member of Trout Unlimited, I joined when I bought my first flyrod/outfit. There was a card in the box the outfit came in.When I joined I was placed in "The Little Lehigh" chapter even though I was from Palmer Township {Easton,Pa}.
I had no problem with that after I called TU an asked why I wasn't in a chapter locally.I fished the Little Lehigh as much as I fished the Bushkill at the time,although the Bushkill was the first place I caught a trout when I was 5 an had fished ever since.
I joined TU because I believed in good ,clean,coldwater...hell clean water to be honest with you. I had fished other places too, an noticed instream devices that had been placed in streams that had made places i fished before the device was there productive where before they were marginal at best.
I joined not for a cheap hat or a box of flies, i can buy a nicer better ballcap, I tie my own flies.I joined to support something i feel is very important not only to me but to everyone good clean water.I had seen fishkills on the Bushkill growing up because of the Pfizer plant in Easton.Left a bad impression in my head of careless corporate responsibility for the enviroment.
I became a fly angler not only because i enjoy the challenge flyfishing gave me,but because i got tired of being lumped in with the gear chuckers who littered and vandalized local streams an only took from the stream. I was taught to carry in to carry out,take only what you need, give thanks to the creator.

 

[Lonewolve]

Contd'
I am currently not a member for several reasons, #1 my chapter is not currently in effect{ Little Lehigh}.
I am not personally into meetings, but I will attend from time to time, I am more interested in doing Riparian buffer work, also i would like to do instream device work. Although in this state seems the fish commission makes you have to do a hellish amount of paperwork to throw a couple rocks around,seems to me that developers in this area get away with bloody murder with running their stormwater drains into the streams without proper time release catch basins.
Meanwhile locally the Limestoners are overly silted up, one of the main reasons we haven't the hatches we once had.Midges are alive an well though.
#2 I would prefer to join as a life member if i rejoin, I am currently a Life member of the NRA,and am also a member of the NWTF too. WShen i joined the NRA as a life meber they had a payment program this was 1992, i paid 25 bucks a month, well come tax refund time i paid my membership in full.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[pcray1231]

because i got tired of being lumped in with the gear chuckers who littered and vandalized.

You can be a gear chucker and not litter or vandalize. I probably agree on the percentages of offenders, but your choice of tackle doesn't have a thing to do with how you act in these matters.

So, are you saying you were more concerned about how you were being perceived, rather than how you were actually acting?

Personally, I could care less what people think of me. I also was raised to carry everything out and respect the resource, by bait fishermen no less. Those values have nothing whatsoever to do with why I choose fly gear.

 

[Fishidiot]

Lonewolve wrote:
I am currently not a member for several reasons, #1 my chapter is not currently in effect{ Little Lehigh}.
I am not personally into meetings, but I will attend from time to time, I am more interested in doing Riparian buffer work, also i would like to do instream device work. Although in this state seems the fish commission makes you have to do a hellish amount of paperwork to throw a couple rocks around
Rick Wallace

Rick,

Might I humbly suggest you re-join and do the best you can (like the rest of us) rather than complain about what you perceive - wrongly - as inactivity on the part of the state council and local chapters with respect to MS.

 

[Lonewolve]

PCray,
Hey maybe in yer neck of the woods you fish with folks that dont litter or destroy the streamside vegetation...come over this way ill show you what i mean.You may take offense..but remember this , go to most any FF only section or whatever they have changed the flavor to at the moment an look and see if the area is littered by the particular anglers that use that area. I only ever find cigarette butts maybe a piece of cigar. now go above that or below that even with garbage cans supplied in the parking areas worm containers,beer/soda cans, spinner/lure wrappers,power bait jars,fast food containers..the list goes on.
Like i posted earlier..I too am a carry in carry out guy..yes i have hauled out plenty of full bags of garbage from streams in open tackle areas....why cause i care. i could care less about image, but IMHO fly anglers have a better mindset about their resource,thus sthey are true caretakers of the waters they enjoy.

 

[Lonewolve]

Fish,
I am currently considering re-joining again,very seriously.Not sure where yet. theres an old saying " The squeaky wheel gets the grease" .

 

[pcray1231]

Lonewolf, I didn't say we don't have litterers. I would also agree that on a % basis, gear chuckers and bait fishers are more commonly the culprits.

That doesn't mean that all spinners do this. Correlation vs. causation. In no way does using spinning gear lead you to this behavior. And in no way did your switch to fly gear lead you away from this behavior. That's all I was saying.

So, in essence, while you were never among the litterers, you switched because you didn't want others to perceive you as being part of that group?

 

[bearfisherman]

I think it is more of a function of ease of access than it is type of fishing gear. Where access is easiest, you will find the garbage because of increased traffic and easy fishing for people who do want to work as hard as some of us to catch a few fish.

As a side note, I just got done cutting trees for logs and clearing streambank to allow equipment in for our next stream project. The people who are working on this project are spin fisherman and bait dunkers primarily, who just want to see a local stream improved for better angling.

If you work with the PFBC and your local conservation district, it actually is relatively easy to complete stream projects. We don't have a local TU chapter, so our watershed association is leading the work.

 

[Maurice]

Lonewolve wrote:
Contd'
I am currently not a member for several reasons, #1 my chapter is not currently in effect{ Little Lehigh}.
I am not personally into meetings, but I will attend from time to time, I am more interested in doing Riparian buffer work, also i would like to do instream device work. Although in this state seems the fish commission makes you have to do a hellish amount of paperwork to throw a couple rocks around,seems to me that developers in this area get away with bloody murder with running their stormwater drains into the streams without proper time release catch basins.
Meanwhile locally the Limestoners are overly silted up, one of the main reasons we haven't the hatches we once had.Midges are alive an well though.
#2 I would prefer to join as a life member if i rejoin, I am currently a Life member of the NRA,and am also a member of the NWTF too. WShen i joined the NRA as a life meber they had a payment program this was 1992, i paid 25 bucks a month, well come tax refund time i paid my membership in full.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

Rick,

Its not the fish commish that authorizes the use of General and Joint permits, It is the PADEP and ACoE. They demand due diligence in all facets of environmental, biological and historical significance. THe permits the PAF&BC approve as a party to the DEP are GP-1 Habitat Improvement projects. By and large they are extremely cooperative and in many cases provide design assistance and financial support up to and including complete permit acquisition provided the project fits their programs.

I find Karl Lutz and his staff at the F&BC in the Habitat section to be very helpful. The DEP on the other hand can really put your patience to the test.

Get involved with a chapter and express your interest in Riparian work and I am pretty sure you will be received with open arms. Patience with your involvement can result in some worthwhile satisfaction. But it doesn't happen fast, hardly ever. After a few years you can look back and appreciate your efforts.

 

[Chaz]

All chapter of TU need help of all kinds, don't be shy about volumteering for something. LL Chapter will be holding a reorganization meeting on July 18.
Here's the notice.
The meeting will be held at the Wildlands Conservancy in Emmaus on July 18th at 7:00pm. If you are interested in helping to reorganize and rebuild the chapter we encouage you to attend. The meeting is RSVP-based, which means that if a significant number of members do not RSVP for the meeting by July 13, 2012, the meeting will be called off and State Council will recommend de-chartering of the Chapter. Kindly RSVP by July 13, 2012 to c-skutskel@pa.gov or via phone at (814) 359-5114.

 

[BelAirSteve]

The fracking issue reminds of of the John Prine song "Paradise."

"Then the coal company came, with the world's largest shovel, and they tortured the timber and stripped all the land. Well they dug fer the coal till the land was forsaken, then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."

Something tells me, when all is said and done, there will be MANY unintended consequences...like with most things that mess with the environment. Sad.

 

[pcray1231]

Funny, coal is going bankrupt because of gas.

 

[RyanR]

Lonewolve wrote:
I know some folks are from Clearfield County heck even Pa Trout Unlimited president Ken Undercoffer supposedly lives there.I wish Trout Unlimited would spend some effort in Pennsylvania keeping this Marcellus situation in check and applying some pressure to the folks that allowed such rampant disregard to happen without having the proper number of specially trained registered inspectors on the hunt at these well sites.

Are you a Trout Unlimited member? If not then we sure wish you'd get involved to express your concerns, help out, and learn that exactly what you wish TU would do they are in fact already doing but we could always use more help from folks just like you.

 

[RyanR]

Lonewolve wrote:
Contd'
I am currently not a member for several reasons, #1 my chapter is not currently in effect{ Little Lehigh}.
I am not personally into meetings, but I will attend from time to time, I am more interested in doing Riparian buffer work, also i would like to do instream device work. Although in this state seems the fish commission makes you have to do a hellish amount of paperwork to throw a couple rocks around,seems to me that developers in this area get away with bloody murder with running their stormwater drains into the streams without proper time release catch basins.
Meanwhile locally the Limestoners are overly silted up, one of the main reasons we haven't the hatches we once had.Midges are alive an well though.
#2 I would prefer to join as a life member if i rejoin, I am currently a Life member of the NRA,and am also a member of the NWTF too. WShen i joined the NRA as a life meber they had a payment program this was 1992, i paid 25 bucks a month, well come tax refund time i paid my membership in full.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

I don't know if you live closer to the Little Lehigh or to the Bushkill in Easton but I am currently the president of the Forks of the Delaware Chapter and our primary watershed is the Bushkill Creek. Our next regular meeting is September 5th, 7PM at Stockertown Rod & Gun Club and you are most welcome and encouraged to attend. We meet regularly here the first Wednesday each month from September thru June.

We are very active in the Bushkill Creek as well as Martins Creek, partnering with the Martins-Jacoby Watershed Association. We do and have done various in-stream projects in both streams along with extensive riparian plantings up and down the Bushkill Creek watershed. Currently we are engaged in a critical water-quality monitoring program going on in Bushkill Creek. We do an annual stream cleanup on both streams and alos have an active Adopt-A-Highway project along the creek on Bushkill Drive. We have a number of other projects and involvements throughout the year as well. We have a few stream-work projects currently in the planning and proposal stages too. If you don't attend regular meetings, no worries, we get our information out thru member e-mails and our newsletter.
-Ryan Rush

 

[Gone4Day]

Don't miss Stop the Frack Attack in DC this week.