This past weekend was somewhat busy! On Friday the Pine Creek Watershed Council had a meeting and the Pine Creek Preservation Association held their annual picnic on Saturday!

The Pine Creek Watershed Council

The Pine Creek Watershed Council consists of some very interesting and diverse organizations and entities relating to the local area. They meet about eight times a year and usually switch the location of the meeting so that it divides the driving distance up so that no geographic area is always closer than another for travel time. They’ve met at the DCNR building south of Wellsboro, the community building in Cammal and at Colton Point (one March where I just about froze my …. off).

This group of people coming together consists of the region’s Planning and Zoning personnel (for at least the Potter County and Lycoming County regions and maybe even a few more), State Forrester’s (2 – DCNR) and I believe people from the PA Fish Commission also attend. The Tiadaughton Chapter of Trout Unlimited also participate. It’s been a few years ago that I thought Slate Run Sportsmen should attend these meetings just to show support and to try to make more connections to organizations that are concerned with, and working to, protecting the Pine Creek Valley. It’s just my opinion but Slate Run Sportsmen should be a part of this gathering to keep us informed of the area’s issues.

The area that this council encompasses include Potter, Tioga, Lycoming and maybe even a bit more area that I am just not aware of (Clinton county?). Just trace Pine Creek up from where it empties into the west branch of the Susquehanna River and any county or municipality that it’s running through, this council tries to get participation from the governing bodies to attend their meetings. Even though this may seem like ‘small potatoes’ to the lay-man – it isn’t! This area is quite a bit of land affected by Pine Creek.

I believe it was the next to last meeting where I heard a young lady that worked for the DCNR shared a report about the threats and impacts invasive species were having on the State’s forests. After listening to her for seemed like an eternity I had interject that her report sounded so overwhelming that it was down-right depressing. I tried to pull myself back into reality and realized that perhaps things aren’t quite as bad as the state I had let myself work into. Still, I’m glad someone has so much knowledge and is working for the DCNR related to invasive species and working on trying to understand all the threats to our forests’ health. My opinion, a healthy forest means a healthy trout stream – which means good fishing.

At one of these meetings (and maybe more than one) there has been discussion about the expansion of the Rails to Trails I (at least up in the Wellsboro area). Additionally, there has been discussion in the past regarding the infiltration of ATV use on the state Forest roads. If a new issue, threat, or use occurs in this area, this council usually has some sort of information about the issue or knows who to direct one toward in order to find out more.

My point in constructing this post was to inform people that there is an organization here that is working with the surrounding municipalities with regard to and trying to protect the entire Pine Creek Valley! I think the most impressive ‘take-away’ I have has been that the Planning and Zoning entities participate with this council – trying to inform the council of what has been and what ‘may be’ coming down the pipeline regarding zoning changes to the Pine Creek Valley.

I believe this council is doing a lot of good work for the Pine Creek Valley. They have the interest of the entire Pine Creek Valley at heart. This organization, like most others, is always interested in encouraging the participation of new people as its existence depends on recruiting new people in order to keep it viable. If you are interested in attending one of their meetings, please shoot SRS an email at slaterunsportsmen@gmail.com and we’ll get you in touch with them.

The Pine Creek Preservation Association Picnic

I also attended the Pine Creek Preservation Association’s annual picnic this past weekend (held on Aug 3rd). I believe it kicked off about noontime and to my surprise it wasn’t raining. The rain held off long enough for the entire event. It was held at ‘The Barn’ – a venue and facility down on route 44 – north of the Jersey Shore route 220 interchange. It looked well attended to me – like usual. I usually get a table in the back of the facility – a converted barn that has several ceiling fans and several dozen tables that seat from 6 to 8 (or so). This must be a 3 season sort of facility as I can see daylight through the barn’s clad exterior walls.

There was a gentleman called up and recognized for his longtime service to PCPA. I apologize for not having his name but he has been picking up trash in the area for decades is what I understood. Certainly a well-deserved recognition.

For at least the past couple of years I believe the food was catered by the Pine Creek Inn on route 44 (south of Ramsey and Bonnell) and the quality was very good (like usual). An interesting “question and answer” session was held after everyone had nearly finished up with their meals. If you were first to answer the question, you got an extra raffle ticket. Then they started calling out the raffle numbers which are issued to everyone as they enter the facility. If your raffle number is called you go up and select from the many fine donations that are on display toward the ‘front’ of the barn. Many if not most items are donated by mostly local contributors. I actually managed to win something this year! A nice framed colored sketch of a brook trout!

Well, when the creek temperatures rise and there’s no trout fishing in Pine, there seems to be something to attend or go check out in the Pine Creek Valley. Till we see each other again… UB