Just a reminder of the Riverkeeper meeting next Wednesday June 30th at the Trenton Municipal Center at 7 pm. Judy Drabicki the Regional Director for Region 6^th will be our guest speaker. It will be a chance to correct some of the misinformation that is out there and find out how the Riverkeeper’s can help in regards to the Water Diversion issues of the West Canada Creek and Hinckley Reservoir. At this point the potential Water Crisis of 2010 has receded but that doesn’t mean we should wait tell the next one.

Judy Drabicki was the main representative from DEC for the Hinckley Working Group which was headed by the State Health Department and included representatives of Herkimer and Oneida Counties; the Mohawk Valley Water Authority; the New York Power Authority; the State Department of Environmental Conservation; the State Emergency Management Office; the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; and the State Thruway Authority and Canal Corporation. Just for a history lesson the report from the HWG is a good document however much information was excluded because of the lawsuit between MVWA and the Canal Corp. http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/investigations/hinckley_reservoir/docs/2008-04-30_report_to_the_governor.pdf

If you have been following this chess game the lawsuits aren’t over and probably one of the reasons the MVWA has to raise their rates again besides less usage. I am assuming they could save money if they didn’t have to run all the water they take through the Water Treatment Plant to only use almost half because of leaks. Just a thought: They were still finding old wood pipes just a few years ago and it can’t help make you wonder how the water quality after it goes through leaking pipes. I would think it is can leak out something can leak in.

Questions:

Who are the true stakeholders for this watershed?

How many of the recommendations from the HWG have been implemented? Has a planning and advisory group been formed that doesn’t have the MVWA controlling the PR and direction of the group?      

What can the West Canada Riverkeeper’s do as a citizens group? What should our focus be?

Eastern Oneida County and Western Herkimer County might want to have more growth and development but one really doesn’t hear about these needs just Western Oneida County needs which does have other water resources but this area doesn’t. Why isn’t there more of an outcry about this? What if F.X. Matt needed more water? How about expansion of some of the business's in Herkimer County with water needs?

How much money is being spent on these lawsuits? It isn’t just legal fees but engineers, hydrologists, PR etc. Could money be saved if almost half the water that goes through the Water Treatment Plant wasn’t lost due to leaks?  It seems a waste to treat water that is lost due to leaks. Here is a thought: They were still finding old wooden pipelines just a few years ago and it makes one wonder what can leak into old leaking pipes.

Hope to see you next Wednesday but if you can’t make it and have a concern please send it to me.

Kathy 

Kathy Kellogg, http://www.thekelloggagency.com 

Executive Director, West Canada Riverkeepers

Are we headed for a drought?  What can we do about it. 

May 4th. the FFAA, JP Ross Fly Rods, TU, The New York DEC and the West Canada River keepers will be meeting with Brookfield Power to discuss the current state of the river flows in the West Canada. 

The attached graphs give you a 120 day and a 60 day picture of the river at Kast Bridge. 

Please note that this data was collected all the way down at Herkimer and not at the mouth of the discharge at Trenton Falls.  That means there is a lot of water coming in from other tribs. 

What you will see is a trend that the river flows are going down slightly and also that every day, the river is pulsed. 

The alternative is... make your own power. 

We need power, and we need to conserve the ecosystem. 

Issues we have with the West Canada is that many people, including the DEC thinks that this stream is a put and take fishery.  Many of us think it is not, but we have no data to prove it, other than a small brookie and small brown trout caught here and there. 

The DEC is using old data to make decisions on this river, and the rest of the organizations are just doing what they have licenses to do. 

Is the West Canada Trophy Section worth saving, and is it a self sustaining fishery?  Who knows, but JP Ross and the FFAA is going to help find out.

The meeting is 7pm, May 4th at the Trenton Falls Dover Road Bridge.  Anyone being confrontational will be asked to leave.  This meeting is open to the public.

The 2010 fly tying symposium for kids and adults was a hit. All together we had about 155 people attend the event and in the end we taught about 38 kids to tie flies.

We hope that next year we will be able to have the event again, and that we see you there.

BUCKS 4 Browns Update

Last year at the Symposium we raised a fair amount of money, but unfortunately the state and many of the hatcheries did not want us to stock because of some rare diseases that were going around.  We kept the money in the fund and also consulted with Morrissville College and the State about the best time to stock fish.  The consult reveled that the spring is the best time.  Many of you will be happy to hear that this spring we will be stocking at least 500 healthy brown trout into the trophy section of the West Canada Creek.  If you are interested, please come to out next meeting April 6th at 7pm to hear the news and details.  The only way you can find out about the stocking is to come to this meeting or the following meeting in May, after that it will be a mystery as to where they will be.  We have had many issues in the past with poachers and we prefer not to release to the public when the stocking is.  However, we will need help and it is a great event to do with young kids. 

April 6th Meeting

Tuesday April 6th will be our next meeting.  Our events will include.  For details where the meeting is click here.

• 6:00 fly tying for kids.  This will be a follow up from the Symposium.  If you are a child please come to the event with hooks, fly tying vise and tools.  We will have plenty of fly tying materials that have been donated to the club by John Patterson.
• 7:00, half hour home video on fishing a remote Adirondack Pond.  We have the pleasure of talking to a member who has footage of fishing for Brook Trout in a well known but very remote pond.  What to know how he did, come find out.
• 7:45, quick meeting about our bucks 4 browns stocking.

A typical day at Trout Waters starts with optional fishing at Hale Eddy followed by a hearty breakfast at 8 am. Students attend classes and break for lunch. In the afternoon, students will spnd their time learning about habitat and the ecosystem on the river. Dinner will be served at 6 pm followed by some time to fly fish on the West Branch of the Delaware River. Lights out at 11 pm. This is an intense week of learning and fly fishing that is sure to last a lifetime. For more information, GO HERE.

Travel Adventures was founded in 1992. We are a full service travel agency run by a staff of fishing and travel experts. We take great care in recommending appropriate fishing destinations to our clients and we pride ourselves in getting you there comfortably and at a reasonable cost. We will tell you exactly what to bring and where to buy it, if necessary.

Unlike a lodge owner, we do not restrict ourselves to one location. We search a cross-section of lodges and outfitters to find the one that is right for you. We represent lodges, outfitters and charter operators worldwide. Just look at our Fishing Destinations. We have personally visited, and of course fished, most of these locations! We want you to consider us to be your concierge service. We are going to do the best possible job for you on every trip; we want you to be a repeat customer and our ambassador to your friends.

We offer extremely competitive prices and we ask you to carefully compare with any equivalent outfitter. Years of experience and our many contacts mean full and professional service to you. Our pricing is the same as if you deal direct with the outfitter. So ... allow us to help you with honest opinions and suggestions ... at no extra cost.

Loren Williams is an accomplished fly angler with over 3-decades of angling and tying experience behind him. He is considered one of the best teaching guides in Upstate New York where he guides for salmon, trout, and steelhead using traditional fly-fishing techniques. Loren is also a very popular public speaker, regularly presenting on topics relating to fly-fishing for salmon, steelhead and trout.

 www.tughilltomorrowlandtrust.org/donate_eagleclub_details.php

 Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust is a regional, private, nonprofit organization founded in 1990 by a group of Tug Hill residents, and incorporated as an independent, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization in 1991. Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust primarily serves the portions of Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Herkimer and Oswego counties that fall within the boundaries of the Tug Hill region in northern New York State. Tug Hill Tomorrow was formed for two purposes:

FFAA

Meeting

December 1st, 2009

7:00 pm

Election of New Officers

Whitestown Vets Club

Yorkville, NY

Fly Tying Session following the meeting!

1. Bring your vise and materials for a night of Tying!

FFAA

Meeting

Novemer 10^th, 2009

7:00 pm

Whitestown Vets Club

Yorkville, NY

Fly Tying Session following the meeting!

1. Bring your vise and materials for a night of Tying!

FFAA

Meeting

October 6^th, 2009

7:00 pm

Whitestown Vets Club

Yorkville, NY

The 2010 Fly Tying symposium will be held again at athe Radisson on Genessee Street in Utica, NY.

We have a lot to do, and we are asking for some help.

If you are interested in fly tying, please click here to sign up.

If you are interested in being a corporate sponsor for 2010, please click here to send JP Ross an email.

We will go over more details of the Symposium at the October Meeting held on October 6th. 

The Date will be announced at this meeting.  We look forward to seeing you there.

JP