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Dredging for fish habitat starts in Montgomery County

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Montgomery County’s Pandapas Pond to be closed temporarily next month

By Mary Hardbarger | The Roanoke Times

Montgomery County’s Pandapas Pond is scheduled to be temporarily closed to the public for two weeks next month as workers plan dredging to enhance fish habitat and fishing opportunities.

The Forest Service/U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to begin work on the pond in early September. The pond will be closed Sept. 14 to Sept. 28 to the public, depending on weather conditions.

Trails closest to the pond will also be closed due to the work, but other trails on the property will remain open.

The project comes after years of sediment build-up in the pond, a popular destination for fishers and families.
According to Jesse Overcash, wildlife biologist, this will be the first time the pond has been dredged.

“We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” he said.

When sediment builds up, water becomes shallower and warmer, hurting the habitats for some species, such as the rainbow trout the pond is stocked with, Overcash said. Warmer water also creates an environment where invasive plants can thrive.

Overcash said the pond is very shallow in some parts, which “reduces the ability, especially for kids, to have meaningful fishing.” The shallowest parts of the pond are less than two feet, Cash estimated.

The dredging process will require the lowering of the pond level 5 to 6 feet prior to excavation. Once the water level is lowered, the exposed shoreline will need to dry before the dredging begins. After the drying process, the pond will close to the public while heavy equipment removes the soil. The sediment will be taken to a spot a few miles away on National Forest land to dry, Overcash said.

The project is being funded by National Forest Wildlife and Fish habitat improvement money, Overcash said.
Future improvements to the pond also include the installation of a new fishing pier and improvements to the pond’s banks.

.See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

Agencies sue federal government over fish habitat expansion

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WATER: Inland Empire agencies sue federal government over fish habitat expansion

Saying important water supplies were at stake, 12 Inland Empire water agencies said Tuesday they’ve sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

The agencies, including Western Municipal Water District in Southwest Riverside County, oppose Continue reading “Agencies sue federal government over fish habitat expansion”

Young Girls build fish habitat at Smith Mountain Lake State Park

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Smith Mountain Lake State Park ranger, John Mitchell, above, inspects the first trailer load of fish habitat blocks to leave the park’s public boat landing Wednesday for their permanent locations at the 15-foot deep level of the Lake. Constructed of polyethylene piping, cinder blocks and concrete, the habitats resemble submerged tree limbs to fish, providing cover from predators, as well as places to rest and raise young. Youth Conservation Corps members, who left the park Saturday for home, constructed the habitats, some 150 of which were distributed in the Lake last week.

One hundred and fifty handmadefish habitats-looking very much like an army of extraterrestrials having a wild hair day–marched in stiff formation down a pier early Wednesday at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, tentacles of black polyethylene pipe crowning their heads and concrete-filled cinder blocks acting as footing.

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

Eight Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) high school crew members, three college-age YYC supervisors and John Mitchell, a ranger at the park, worked in tandem, transferring the soon-to-be-sunken assemblages from a flatbed trailer to the dock, then onto boats for distribution in the Lake. Their loads in place, boats piloted by rangers and filled with teens andfish houses sluiced through the water to various destinations, among them Smith Mountain Lake Community Park, across the main channel and within sight of the launching point at the State Park’s public boat ramp, docks at the park’s Discovery Center and beach, and possibly by some of the park’s lakefront housekeeping cabins if the crew didn’t run out.

Arriving at the park on July 25, the all-female YYC crew also constructed eight picnic pads.

“They dug out the sites level, fitted them with 4′ x 6′ timbers, then filled them with stone,” said Mitchell.

It took the crew almost two days to make the fish habitats in a design and with materials recommended by the Virginia Dept. and Game and Inland Fisheries.

“The girls have done a great job,” said Brian Heft, Smith Mountain Lake State Park manager. “This is something we’ve done for years to support fish structure in the Lake. Fish need assistance to hide from predators, rear their young, and rest. Docks are not necessarily fish structure. Structures come up from the bottom of the Lake. This is an ongoing process. We plan on continuing it.” REBECCA JACKSON

Montana…Proposal to Temporarily Waive Fishing Limits

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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public comment on a proposal to temporarily waive fishing limits on 12 lakes as part of its ongoing native cutthroat trout restoration program.

The fishing limit wavier would run July 15, 2011 through October 1, 2011 on 10 lakes in the South Fork Flathead drainage (George, Woodward, Pyramid, Pilgrim, and the Upper and Lower Three Eagles lakes and four lakes in the Necklace chain of lakes). Anglers would be encouraged to keep all the hybrid trout they can catch.

An additional waiver would be in effect July 15, 2011 through September 1, 2011 on Cherry and Granite lakes in the Cherry Creek drainage, a tributary to the Big Hole River. Anglers would be encouraged to catch and keep hybrid trout and brook trout.

Similar fishing, limit waivers allowed anglers to participate successfully in several native fish restoration projects in recent years. The limit waiver encourages anglers to remove as many nonnative trout as possible to hasten native cutthroat trout restoration objectives. Six of the South Fork of the Flathead lakes would be “swamped” with an abundant stocking of pure westslope cutthroat fingerlings too small to be caught by anglers to eventually dilute the nonnative genes in the remaining population. In late August and September, the Cherry Creek lakes and the Necklace chain of lakes would be treated with rotenone, a fish toxicant commonly used by fishery managers to remove unwanted fish from streams and lakes and then restocked with native cutthroat trout.

The westslope cutthroat trout is Montana’s state fish. FWP’s restoration effort is aimed at averting a federal endangered species listing by increasing the range of cutthroat trout in the state.

Available Maps of Lakes to which Limit Waivers Apply

Comment Deadline

Calendar iconComment deadline is 5 PM on June 20, 2011.See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

Opportunity for Public Comment

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