Another check on the million dollar mile idea: A little digging revealed the economic contribution and impact of angling in the 97 miles of River in middle and lower Susquehanna ... Sunbury to Holtwood Dam...as revealed from the angler use and harvest survey. The estimated economic contribution was $24,742 per mile plus $10,000 per mi of economic impact, including 16 full time jobs created by the amount of angler use. The study ran from April to October the end of Sept as I recall and covered all species
The public (non-angling vast majority of tax payers) could ask, why not just stock $1 million worth of commercially produced trout per year during the projected life expectancy of the project instead of doing the project. You'll have more trout, possibly more anglers, possibly additional money spent in the area for a cheaper cost, and no red tape costs associated with feasibility studies, etc
Mike wrote:
Providing passage into selected tribs would seem at face value to have potential. Some, however, might be too small, too acidic, blocked by natural barriers, be exclusively wild ST streams, or lack suitable habitat for larger fish under summer low flow conditions. I suspect some agencies and sportsmen groups could get behind this where and if practical. Those could be big if's, however. Of course there would be those pesky problems of funding and RR infrastructure and probably more that I don't even know.
That is just a general thought motivated by interest in restoring fish passage and habitat and knowing of efforts to remove barriers, some natural, in Erie as well as at high culverts around the state. You may want to approach some agencies, conservation groups, and/or seek grants, as well as inventory the tribs for passage potential and discuss results with the owners of the blockages.
Swattie87 wrote:
sarce - There’s a couple tiny Gorge tribs with natural barriers that may still be all Brookies, or at least nearly all Brookies. Most of the tribs though are already predominantly Browns, or have a very well established population of Browns. That ship has probably already sailed, and I wouldn’t let that be a hurdle to this movement.