Category: News

LJRA President Bill Anderson was a guest on the Keystone Chronicles podcast recently. You can listen here.

We regret to announce that John Pascavage, a former director of the LJRA,  passed away at 69 years on July 15^th. John was an avid fly fisher and tyer.  In 1998, he co-founded the Little Juniata River Association when he became concerned about the macroinvertebrate health on the river following a chemical spill.  Memorial contributions may be directed to the Little Juniata River Association (see donate to the LJRA ). His obituary can be found here:  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/centredaily/name/john-pascavage-obituary?id=35854119

Angie Spagnoli has joined the board of the directors of the LJRA. She has a background in Environmental Science and Ecology and brings her expertise to these areas to the organization. Welcome Angie! Read more about Angie on the meet the directors page. Angie replaces outgoing Director Bill Bressler. Thank you Bill for your years of service to the LJRA.

2022 River Bank Clean-up will be held Saturday April 9th. Meet at the Spruce Creek Methodist Church by 8:45AM. All bags, gloves, vests and bottled water furnished. Dress for the weather. We need a few people with waders to clean a few areas, conditions permitting. The event is on rain, snow or shine. Refreshments served before and afterwards.

Contact:  Bill Anderson 814-569 8843, [email protected]

LJRA Meetings: February 9th and March 16th. Meetings are held at 7PM at Marzoni’s  in Altoona. 

Annual LJRA Riverbank Cleanup: April 15th, starting at 9AM. Check the website and Facebook for more information closer to the date.

The LJRA Banquet is coming back! April 29th at the Rivers Edge Fishing Lodge, Spruce Creek PA (across from the USGS monitoring site)

The Little Juniata River Association will be presenting at the Keystone Cold Water Conference on February 25-26th.” There will be a number of interesting presentations, including several regarding managing our streams for wild trout. We encourage everyone to attend. Visit the website link shown below for more info. Note: If you are a Little Juniata River Association life member, your registration for the 2 day conference ($100) will be paid for by the LJRA. 

 

Link to the KCWC website::   https://www.coldwaterconference.org/

Bill and a couple of LJRA members, Jill and Jason Sutt, met a Penn dot crew cleaned up a load of trash left by squatters” near the banks of the river along rt 453 just east of Tyrone. They brought an awesome big front loader and 4 strong guys with shovels. Now the area is spotless!. Kudos to Penndot Maintenance and Jacob Decker for responding to our need!

All LJRA members are entitled to a personal 1/2 day river tour with LJRA President, Bill Anderson. The tour includes a visit to LJRA project sites, access points (boating and fishing), cold water sources and headwaters. You will also have an opportunity to discuss threats and opportunities regarding the Little j and its watershed.  Contact Bill  [email protected] to set a date.

The LJRA has always spoken for our river. Most recently the LJRA responded to the potential for a large truck stop/convenience store to be constructed in the Sandy Run watershed. Sandy Run is the largest source of cold water in the upper river. It is listed as a Class A Wild Brown Trout Stream by PFBC. It has a Designated use of High Quality Cold Water by PADEP. Based on a LJRA review and letters of concern from other stakeholder groups, the storm water management plan for this project has been challenged by PADEP. They have now been given until October 12th to resubmit their plans, which must now consider that the drainage will be into the Exceptional Value Wetlands surrounding Sandy Run.

Monthly LJRA meetings will resume in June. The sale of the Edgewater Inn necessitated a change in the day and venue.  The meeting will be held Monday June 17th at 7PM at Marzoni’s near Greenwood (1830 E Pleasant Valley Blvd, Altoona, PA 16602).  Hope to see you there.