Swattie87 wrote:
The safety concerns about the proposed detour into the parking lot noted, but otherwise that post is over the top and not very tactful or well placed IMO.
The DCNR has more bases to cover than angler convenience, and as long as reasonable standards are being met to protect the stream, I'm not sure there is much more to be asked. (I don't see anything out of the ordinary from the pictures of the site in the post. If anything, I see MORE stream protection than I've seen on other similar projects on small streams.) From a traffic, and angler usage perspective, does August or September make more sense to do this project, yeah, probably. But that then leaves less "good weather" before next Winter to complete it. (I don't know how long this is planned to take, but I can understand why you'd want to start work on it ASAP once the weather improves in the Spring.)
Bridges get replaced all the time, and roads along streams get worked on all the time. The fish live through it just fine. They can handle some muddy runoff during rain events for a couple months. (Look at wild Browns in some valley streams where the runoff is like that after every rain event.) I do remember one pretty big fish kill after a concrete pour problem during Rt. 322 work on Tea/Honey, but that was an exception, not the rule. Both of those streams recovered very quickly, and are high biomass Class A's now.
I can understand some concern for the lowest reaches of Cherry Run, but the effect on Penns, given the small amount of water that Cherry Run contributes to its total volume will be negligible. Keep in mind too that the bridge over Cherry Run being replaced is only approximately 1/4 mile up from its mouth. The 4 or 5 miles of Cherry Run above that will be unaffected.
Be careful on the detour roads into the parking lot if you choose to use them. Most of the folks who choose to do so likely know what state forest mountain roads are like, have vehicles capable of traversing them, and know how to drive on them. Other than that, this is a minor temporary inconvenience for prolonged access to the Cherry Run lot.
I would think a business in that area would attempt to downplay the impacts of such a project, as opposed to inflate them.