December 9, 2021

Yesterday we sent out a last minute plea to go to the DCNR website to take a survey concerning the ATV Expansion that has been imposed. In case you did NOT receive the email from us, this is the link to where you can take the 16 question survey and let your voice be heard about this issue – https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Recreation/WhatToDo/ATVRiding/pages/default.aspx

Click on that link above and scroll down to this section (below):

Click on the link circled in red and you’ll be directed to the survey. You only have till Friday, December 10, 2021 to leave your comments. We apologize for the late notice of this but felt we needed to communicate this urgently in order to give you the chance to express how you feel about the ATV Expansion program the DCNR has implemented.

It doesn’t take long to fill out so please consider leaving some feedback to the DCNR about this issue. Thank you

August 11, 2021

SRS has recently sent out to it’s membership (who have previously supplied their email addresses), a plea – to please consider joining us in opposition to the Northcentral ATV Initiative. The PA DCNR has enacted and implemented their “ATV Regional Trail Connector Pilot Program” (referred to as the Pilot Program) on July 16, 2021. But it is the “North Central ATV Initiative” that will continue even after the Pilot Program period expires in roughly 2 years – and we need to keep being diligent in opposing the possibility of more proposed trails that intrude into the Pine Creek Valley from that ‘Initiative’.

Currently, the Pilot Program is proposing to open some previously closed roads in the Trout Run and Lebo Vista areas. Additionally, the Hanneyville area ‘connector’ will also be included in the Pilot Program.

Manor Fork Road is being proposed for ATV traffic through the “North Central ATV Initiative”. I am not sure if it is part of the Pilot Program or the ATV Initiative – but either way, it is being proposed to be open for ATV use. Much more dust and erosion will take place when high impact ATV traffic is allowed to be used on that road. This road parallels Manor Fork which empties into Slate Run. The impact to Manor Fork will be immediate. The dust and erosion will dump sediment into Manor Fork choking the spawning gravel beds with so much slit that natural reproduction of brook and brown trout will be severely and negatively impacted. This must not be allowed to happen to Slate Run and the Pine Creek watershed!

The DCNR news release announced the Pilot Program – included in the release:

“DCNR will be gathering public input throughout the two-year period through a variety of methods, including webinars, surveys, comment cards, public meetings and advisory committees. To comment on the ATV Regional Trail Connector pilot program, please send an email to: RA-NR-ATV-Pilot@pa.gov” *

While this statement seems to indicate that the DCNR will be taking public comment throughout the 2 year ‘pilot’ period – the last sentence seems to only be asking for comment on the pilot program. I’d think you could make comment on the entire ATV Initiative at this link also – I hope!

You can certainly send any of your concerns, thoughts, opposition to your representatives (mentioned in the email sent to all email SRS members) however, we need the PA DCNR to hear from you right now through the email address mentioned above*.

Please consider expressing your opposition, concerns, and observations regarding ATV use in the Pine Creek Valley. The very nature of the Pine Creek Valley is low impact recreation. Everyone who loves the Pine Creek Valley should not allow this high impact development to happen and you need to speak up now in order to possibly influence this issue.

June 13, 2021

WE DID IT!

We have finally held our first ‘in-person’ meeting since the Covid-19 shut everything down in 2020. It was held at the Brown Township Fire-hall on Saturday June, 12, 2021!

We hold our summer meeting in honor of Pat Eroh, the wife of Gene Eroh and a past long time member of Slate Run Sportsmen. So many people showed up – 37 people signed the sign-in sheet – it was simply great to see everyone again! We had more than enough for a quorum and proceeded with our meeting.

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Taking care of business before our keynote speaker, Ad Crable, we picked up where we left off back in 2019. Much was discussed and there will be more updates as time goes forward. The ATV trail expansion was discussed at length with a straw poll indicating, unanimously, that all were not in favor of the expansion. More action to come in the future.

Ad Crable was our guest speaker and he shared with us many stories of his excursions afield hunting and fishing.

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His stories were interesting and humorous. Ad certainly has experienced many encounters with wildlife over his many years hunting and fishing.

I think even though we only had half the RSVPs that then paid for lunch, the crew at the Brown Township Fire Hall seemed to work their magic and I believe all who attended and got lunch and had their fill. Please consider RSVP-ing so we can not come up short next time – thank you.

Till we see each other again… UB

May 31, 2021

Hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day Holiday! It’s sunny and a high of 70 degrees is forecast for today here in Slate Run! So I hope everyone can get out and enjoy this weather as it’s been cloudy, cold and rainy for the past couple of days.

We want to remind you that we are still planning on hold our first ‘In-Person’ SRS meeting of 2021 on June 12, 10:30am at the Brown Township Fire Hall and that we will be asking for a $10 donation to cover food costs if you plan on eating at this event. PLEASE, please , please – RSVP us by June 5th – shoot a quick email to Harry at hfinkbiner@gmail.com to let us know if you plan on attending and want to eat! If we don’t get a good idea on head-count, there may be folks that will not get food so PLEASE – RSVP us, contact us and let us know if you are coming!

Please remember – BY JUNE 5th – RSVP us if you plan on attending!

Take care and see you at the meeting!

April 12, 2021

Just a quick note folks, if you have a question about your SRS membership it is better to shoot us a quick email rather than leave a comment here at the website. Our email address is – slaterunsportsmen@gmail.com. While I usually check every couple of days for comments at the website, I check on email daily unless something turns up that prevents me.

Thanks everyone who has renewed their membership for the 2021-22 season. Just a gentle reminder to those who haven’t yet – please consider renewing.

UB – the SRS Membership and Website ‘Guy’ … and… An Unintentional Blogger

March 9, 2021

FIRST THINGS FIRST – If you leave feedback here with your email address contained in the feedback – then you need to check your email for a response from us. We’ve had a few folks in the past that leave feedback and express an interest in joining or renewing but don’t seem to check their email when I shoot off an email message to them regarding an SRS membership. I send an email and I never hear back (believe me if I had their phone number, I’d be calling them). So please, check your email (and respond to it) after you’ve left feedback here at the site. It will have further instructions on how we can establish communications. Thank you.

Wow, I haven’t updated this ‘Home Page’ for a while! Well, it’s high time. So I’ll post a few pictures and weave a message to those that visit the home page I guess.

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Spring is springing up around us, yesterday it was just over 60 degrees Fahrenheit! Suppose to be similar today and the next day too! Lucky us! Well, it’ll get back to normal after that – that’s ok.

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I’ve seen the Sandhill cranes in the back yard and they got really close to the house late yesterday afternoon. Must be spring eh?

But what I really want to communicate is that I’ll be sending out an email to those SRS members that have provided us an email address to remind them that it’s time to renew your SRS membership. I’ve hesitated about doing this as I know that the whole Covid-19 issue has affected many and I do not want this communication to feel like we’re strong-arming anyone. Having said this, we still need to exist as an organization.

I’ve learned more and more the longer I’ve been involved with Slate Run Sportsmen. What I’m coming to realize is that we are a ‘watch-dog’ group. We are ‘eyes and ears’ on Slate Run. Oh, please do not be offended because we’re not the only ones. There are several groups – Pine Creek Preservation Association, PA Environmental Defense Foundation, and even the PA Environmental Digest, just to mention a few, that actively oversee the area and are quite diligent when it comes to keeping an eye on things here. We all love these surroundings and want to make sure it will remain a pristine wilderness for future generations.

So, please, if you can, consider renewing or joining Slate Run Sportsmen! We keep a pretty keen eye on things and we support several local organizations with an annual monetary donation each year. We hold an annual clean-up of Slate Run and are planning on how we can increase further recruitment of like-minded people. Your membership allows us to keep supporting these organizations! If it wasn’t for you, we’d not exist.

We’re not trying to bleed a stone here. If you have fallen victim to the Covid-19 virus itself or lost your job, we don’t want to bother you with this frivolous request. You have more important issues to address. But if you can manage it, we’d like to have you renew or join our quest.

Take care everyone and as I say at the end of each blog post – till we see each other again…. I’m an Unintentional Blogger …. Aka UB

January 14, 2021

Well, out with the old and in with the new eh? It’s a new year and time that this home page got updated. There isn’t much to post here currently, but, the SRS board will be addressing whether to hold the Spring membership meeting ‘in person’ or not real soon. Check back periodically for any updates (updates to be listed under the ‘Calendar’ tab here on the HOME page).

I know there’s been one heck of a snowstorm that hit central Pennsylvania and then the big rain – but there hasn’t been much since. Stay warm!