I got back several days ago in order to attend a Pine Creek Watershed Council meeting and the Pine Creek Preservation Association (PCPA) picnic. It is pretty typical early August weather here so it’s pretty hot and humid now. This is to be expected and the water temperature in Pine is high enough to leave any remaining trout in it – alone! I’ve got to think they’ve moved on in order to survive – but if you encounter trout on Pine, please consider leaving them alone at this time – so they may survive this summer’s heat.

The Watershed Council meeting went well and the PCPA picnic was really nice.

At the Watershed Council meeting two subjects seemed to dominate the discussions – 1 – the North Central ATV Initiative and – 2 – Zoning issues dealing with Bed and Breakfasts and rental properties. These two had significant discussion – along with the other normal topics on the agenda.

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I thought I heard that this was the first PCPA Picnic in a couple of years. Certainly there was none last year due to the COVID pandemic. It was well attended and I think everyone had a good time. I believe the Northcentral PA Conservancy spoke-person’s name was Brittany and John Childe (PA Environmental Foundation Lawyer) both gave us brief updates dealing with projects in the area.

I had the opportunity to tour the region and check out the roads that are being considered for the DCNR’s ATV Regional Connector Pilot Program. These roads are part of the Northcentral ATV Initiative to my knowledge. I saw beautiful, serene areas that will negatively be impacted by ATV traffic. That sort of high impact recreation has been excluded from this area in the past and I personally think it needs to remain excluded.

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The areas I saw were remote and majestic. We can not allow high impact – destructive intrusion into the Pine Creek Valley. ATV trails do not need to criss-cross every square mile of the state. There are plenty of trails in Potter and Clinton counties for the responsible ATV recreationalist to roam. I believe that introduction of ATVs to this area will ultimately turn-off those that come here to get away from all the noise and dust of the areas they come from – turning them off to that point of not coming back to this area if ATVs are allowed to infiltrate the Pine Creek Valley. SRS has documented it’s opposition in a ‘Position Statement’ and has sent this on to many government officials. We are encouraging SRS members to oppose the North Central ATV Initative and to send your own personal opposition to your representatives. See the SRS HOME page for more details.

Enough of the soapbox.

I have seen only a few flies while I’ve been back.

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The Iso was hanging upside-down on the side of the place and I want to say that the yellow fly is a Yellow Drake of some sort – but I really am not sure what it is. It was sized to about a 14 and the Iso was a 12-14.

Saw this Iso just outside the ‘backdoor’ this morning.

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Don’t really know if this is the early or late generation version. I’d have to compare the pictures from earlier this year. I was just glad it didn’t fly off when I tried to place it on the scale! I settled for just having the scale placed beside the specimen. There will be a little measurement distortion since the fly isn’t sitting directly on the scale – but you can get a pretty good idea or it’s size this way still.

The water temperatures in Pine right now are remaining above 70 degrees overnight and that does NOT bode well for any trout remaining in it. Looks like its been above 70 for 6 or 7 days running now according to the USGS data from the Waterville station.

The picture above shows 3 golden/palomino trout pretty clearly. What it doesn’t show is that the darkened area is all the ‘normal’ trout stacked up at the mouth of a feeder into Pine.

So that’s pretty much the story from Slate Run – typical August, hot and humid. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s the next several days with high humidity and chances of spotty storms. Pine could use a shot or two or rain for certain.

Please consider emailing the DCNR (see SRS HOME page for details) about opposing the ATV Pilot Program and the North Central ATV Initiative – thanks!

Reporting from Slate Run…. till we see each other again. UB