Little Juniata River Association -a 501 c3 non-profit organization
Our mission is to: “Monitor, Preserve and Improve the Little Juniata River and its tributaries as cold water resources”.
The Little Juniata River Association will hold its monthly meeting on June 9th at the Edgewater Acres , 7 PM. Come early for dinner and or stay after for drinks and yarn telling. This month’s agenda includes an update on the trout telemetry study. Several trout have reappeared after being “gone” since last fall! We will also review current projects status.
The Directors of the LJRA Announce New Goals for 2016
The next LJRA meeting will be held Thursday March 10th at 7PM at the Edgewater Inn. Come early and have dinner and a drink with other members or stay afterwards for fellowship and fish stories. The main agenda item will be the upcoming clean up. Election of officers will be held. Nominations will be accepted. Time permitting, the future goals and action items of the LJRA will be discussed.
If you are interested in participating in the clean up or serve as a group leader be sure to attend.
Reminder: during the winter months the meeting will be held on the second thursday of the month.
Jim Eckenrode from the Blair County Conservation District presented the plans for monitoring important stream parameters such as temperature, turbidity, pH and conductivity along the upper J at the February meeting held Thursday the 11th. The data will be important for monitoring the health of the river and making a case for HQCW designation in the upper J. During the winter months the meetings of the LJRA will be held the second Thursday of the month at 7PM.
Join us at the Edgewater Inn at 7PM. On Tuesday evening 9/8. Status report on the Trout Study. Plus updates on current LJRA projects. CXome early for dinner and stay late for drinks and fish tales.
LJRA meeting Thursday, April 9th, 7PM, Edgewater Acres near Alexandria.
Our speaker this month will be Tobias Nagle from the Altoona Water Authority. The AWA controls five reservoirs and their outlet streams in the headwaters of the “j”. Tobias will present a study of flows and water temps from these reservoirs. Other business will include a recap of our recent cleanup. And a forecast for spring hatches.
LJRA will hold its February meeting , 7 PM, Wednesday the 11th. at the Edgewater Inn and Riverside Grill.
Agenda:
Dennis Johnson (Juniata College) will bring us the status of our Telemetric trout behavior study, scheduled for this spring.
Lenny Lichvar, PFBC Commissioner who represents our area will join us and speak to the recent changes in DHALO and Class A wild trout stream stocking.
Organization kick-off for the LJRA Spring River Bank Clean-up. Those willing to act as group leaders should attend.
Meeting of the Little Juniata River Association – October 14, 2014
Our October meeting was held, for the first time, at the Edgewater Inn and Riverside Grill, Alexandria PA. This magnificent facility was purchased recently by Keith Beamer and his wife Sarah. Many of you know Keith as a member of the Habitat management team for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. He participated in several of our bank stabilization/trout habitat projects in the upper river from 2010 to 2013. Sarah is the former science teacher for Grier School and headed up the Trout In the Classroom program at Grier School last year. LJRA partnered with Sarah on this very successful program. Both Keith and Sarah are LJRA Life Members and they recently signed their new business up as our first corporate member. Sarah and Keith have invited the LJRA to hold all our meetings in their beautiful facility. In addition to fine dining, they offer a full “Bar and Grill” menu! Finally, we have a great place for our “after the meeting drink”
There were approximately 23 officers/directors, members and guests in attendance. President Bill Anderson welcomed us and opened the meeting. Keith formally welcomed us as well.
Summary of LJRA Trout Mortality Presentation
Our guest speakers for October were Mark Nale, Bob Carline, and Mark Jackson. They gave a presentation on the methodology and preliminary results of a study on bait-hooked trout mortality. The study was conducted during the April 2014 Trout Tournament held on Bald Eagle Creek, Centre County.
Participants could use any tackle but had to keep the fish alive and turn them in to tournament officials who interviewed the anglers regarding the circumstances of their catch. All fish caught were held in a hatchery run for nine days monitoring their health each day.
There were 490 trout, all species, caught during the two day event, with 87% of the fish caught using bait. Of these, 26 died. This represented 5.5% of the bait caught trout – a much lower mortality than that reported from most prior studies. Most trout which died did so on the day caught. Less than one percent of the fish which died did so during the nine day holding period.
A discussion followed with questions such as whether or not there have been such studies on mortality of bait caught wild trout, what about mortality with circle hooks, and whether or not (given the study results), it was yet a good idea to limit certain areas of the rivers and streams to fly fishing or lure fishing only. A thought to consider being that opening all waters would create more friends for the waterways-an important consideration given present day challenges.
President Anderson pointed out that historic objections to the use of live bait on the Little Juniata had more to do with the fear of invasive species introduction (from bait buckets) than with trout mortality.
The study will be repeated in 2015.
THE EFFORT TO REMOVE BROWNS FROM BELLS GAP RUN
On November 19th there will be electroshocking done on a 2 mile stretch of Bells Gap Run. An effort will be made to eliminate the burgeoning numbers of brown trout, which threaten the viability of the native brook trout population. The Bells Gap Run Reservoir will be drained and brown trout removed next year.
WHERE DO THE TROUT GO?
LJRA will fund a telemetry study to be conducted by PSU/Juniata College in 2015 to try to determine (among other things) where the Little Juniata River trout go during hot weather/low water periods.
SPRING CLEANUP
We will once again conduct our LJRA spring clean-up. The date chosen is Saturday, March 28th, 2015. This will be the 10th anniversary of this annual event.
Fall Float BOAT CLEANUP
A very successful cleanup by water craft and some bank walkers was held on October 4, 2014. Total weight of trash/junk gathered was .5 tons. The April 5, 2014 water craft cleanup yielded .5 tons and the October 2013 effort yielded 1.5 tons! Nice. Lunch for all participants was provided at Green Hills Camp. John Corr was project leader for this worthy LJRA effort
The Little Juniata River Association will meet on October 14th at 7 pm. This month’s meeting will feature a presentation by Bob Carline, retired PSU professor of fisheries and Mark Nale, president of the Pa. Outdoor writer’s Association. Their topic is Hooking Mortality based on a study conducted on Bald Eagle Creek last year. The meeting place is the Inn at Edgewater near Alexandria (directions on their webpage).
Bill Anderson
President
Little Juniata River Association
Little Juniata River Association
Meeting Minutes January 29, 2013
The meeting was conducted at the Bull Pen restaurant in Tyrone, and was called to order at 7:10 PM by president, Bill Anderson. Present were:
Bill Anderson- President
Jim Litrun- Secretary
Charlie Hoyer- Director
John Bennis- Director
Cliff Wurster-Director
Ron Kuntz- Director
Plus 12 members and guests
I. Proposed New By-Laws
Changes to the current by law-laws for the LJRA were presented. A motion was made by Cliff Wurster and seconded by Charlie Hoyer to accept the revised By-Laws as presented. The motion was carried by unanimous consent.
II. Presentation by PFBC Officers
Waterway Conservation Officers, Craig Garman and Anthony Quarracino, discussed changes in the PFBC organization, regulations, stockings, hatchery closings and programs for 2013. Officer Garman stressed the importance of immediately reporting any observed violations of fishing and boating laws or littering of waterways by calling 911. Officer Quarracio reviewed activities, accidents and arrests on Raystown Lake in 2012. Copies of the 2013 PFBC “Pocket Guide” were handed out to all present. President, Bill Anderson, thanked the officers for their diligent service for taking the time to meet with the members of the LJRA.
III. Spring Clean Up Project
The annual spring clean up will be conducted on April 6, 2013, the first Saturday in April. Volunteers will meet at the United Methodist Church parking lot in Spruce Creek at 9 AM. Details will be forthcoming after further discussion at the LJRA meeting in February.
IV. Macro Sampling Report
Art Kempf reported on macro study conducted on the upper “j” in 2012. Art made special not of the diligent work by Jennifer Farabaugh of the Western PA Conservatory in sorting and identifying genus, family and class levels, as well as converting organism counts to six different metrics and scores. All of this work will be published on the LJRA website. John Pascavage discussed previous macro and fish kills, as well as observations of the recoveries, along the “j” in 1989 and 1997.
V. Knotweed Control
Art Grover of Fruittown Land Stewardship Services in Centre Hall, PA was present to discuss expected results from the three-year Japanese Knotweed program for which he was contracted. Applications will begin in fall of 2013 and continue into 2015 along the upper “j.” Art explained that it takes three applications to get the weed under control, but it is never completely eradicated. It is 90% killed in the first application, spotty in two years and controlled in the third year. He indicated that it would be helpful for volunteers to cut down large areas of growth during the spring and summer to make it easier to spray during the fall. However, no application of chemicals should take place other than by, or under the supervision of, Mr. Grove.
VI. Elections
President, Bill Anderson, indicated there were two director slots and the position of secretary open. Jim Litrun nominated Joe Reese and Carl Reed for directors. This was seconded by Cliff Wurster and carried unanimously. Jim Litrun nominated Charlie Hoyer for secretary. This was seconded by Cliff Wurster and carried by unanimous vote. The elections for officers and directors will be held at the February 12th meeting. In accordance with our new bylaws, all directors and officers will be reconfirmed by a vote of directors present at our February meeting.
VII. Projects
A motion was made by Art Kempf and seconded by John Bennis for the LJRA to undertake a bank erosion project in conjunction with the PFBC at what will be called “Site 6” in 2013. The motion was carried by unanimous consent. Cliff Wurster has volunteered to complete the necessary work to obtain permits. Carl Reed has agreed to serve as co-chair along with Bill Anderson. The project is currently scheduled for August 8 through 11. Funds remaining from the 2012 NFWF and BCCD grants as well as general funds from LJRA, will be used.
VIII. Public Easement Program
The LJRA has available an additional $200,000 in 2013 to pursue further public fishing easement property. To date, over 4 miles of easements have been obtained. This money can be used to obtain permanent public access for properties along the “j” and its tributaries. Anyone aware of interested owners is encouraged to contact Bill Anderson. Bill informed the group that Jackie Kramer in no longer with the program and Scott Hollinger will be our contact in the future.
IX. Adjournment
A motion was made by Jim Litrun and seconded by Art Kempf to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 PM. The next meeting will be held at 7:00 PM on February 12, 2013 at the Snyder Library in Tyrone.
Respectfully submitted:
James N. Litrun – Secretary