Casselman River Watershed Association Hosts July 11 River Float
The Casselman River Watershed Association hosts a River Float on the Middle Youghiogheny on July 11, with a look at its trout nurseries and stream health work.
The Casselman River Watershed Association is running a River Float down the Middle Youghiogheny on Saturday, July 11, and there is a way to join whether or not you own a boat.
If you need a boat, contact the Ohiopyle Trading Post at 724-329-1450 to rent one by July 1. Mention CRWA so they know you are part of the group. The cost is $59.70 and covers the boat, lifejacket, paddle and helmet. Renters meet at the Trading Post at 10 a.m. on July 11.
If you have your own boat, contact Roger at 814-279-4514 by July 10 to reserve your spot and coordinate shuttling. Boaters report to the Ramcat Launch at 10 a.m.
The float is one of many ways the Casselman River Watershed Association connects people to this water. The river draws anglers and paddlers alike, and protecting both is at the heart of what the group does. CRWA has established six access points along the Casselman and partnered on three more launches in the Laurel Hill Creek subwatershed. Paddlers can put in at Meyersdale, behind the high school football field, and work their way through Garrett, Rockwood, Markleton, Fort Hill and Hardensville before taking out at the Ramcat Access on the Youghiogheny. This year the association plans to assess each access point and build a prioritized list of repairs.
The Casselman is mostly a warmwater river, home to bass and sunfish, but a few cold-water tributaries like Tub Mill Run hold trout. Tub Mill Run feeds three trout nurseries that raise roughly 15,000 trout a year for stocking in area streams. The largest, the Jack Wagner Memorial nursery at the Wagner Sugar Camp, accounts for 9,000 of them. The work falls to volunteers from CRWA, the Salisbury Elklick Sportsmen, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Forbes State Forest and neighbors who simply show up to feed the fish. Some of those trout land in local streams for events like the CRWA Annual Kids Fishing Day.
The association also keeps an eye on stream health. A recent biological assessment of the Coxes Creek subwatershed, a tributary of the Casselman, surveyed fish and stream bugs across several sites. The Mountain Watershed Association led the effort, with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy handling the electrofishing and the Fish and Boat Commission supplying historical data. Crews counted 343 fish across 23 species and more than 1,300 stream bugs across 72 species. The news was mixed. Wilson Creek turned up no fish at all and rated as impaired, while Laurel Run was the only segment with a healthy stream-bug population. The bugs, it turns out, tell you plenty about a stream.
To keep up with CRWA’s events, check their Facebook page. And if you have been looking for a reason to get on the river, July 11 is right there waiting.