Outdoors

By Tom Venesky tvenesky@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
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WHITE HAVEN – George Sauls has a task that not many people would envy.

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Dean Druckenmiller, president of the Lehigh Coldwater Fishery Alliance, fly fishes for trout on the Lehigh River below Bowmanstown last fall. Druckenmiller would ultimately like to see a water-release plan that protects the wild and stocked trout that inhabit the Lehigh River.

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As the northern area engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District, he oversees the daily operations of five dams, including the Francis E. Walter Dam.

As part of those duties, Sauls has to design an annual Flow Management Plan for the Francis Walter Dam, dictating how much water will be released into the Lehigh River below and when. What makes the job tough is there are two interests – anglers and whitewater rafters and kayakers, that want the water. At the same time, Sauls must balance what’s best for the environment, the communities along the river and keep in mind the dam’s top priority – flood control.

It’s a balancing act that would challenge even the best tightrope walker in a circus.

“It’s tough,” Sauls said on Thursday after he unveiled the list of water releases for 2010 during a public hearing at the Mountain Laurel Resort.

This season’s schedule calls for the same amount of water releases as the last two years – 24 – but they are more condensed than in the past. Instead of the October releases that occurred last year, this season half of the releases will occur in July and August.

Sauls said the releases will benefit anglers who want less rafting traffic on the river in the spring and fall, and the rafters and guide businesses who want more releases to coincide with their busy season during the warmest part of the summer.

It’s a change that Sauls said was suggested by anglers who fish the river.

“The fishing interests brought it up. There is a greater interest in the spring and fall to fish, and a greater interest from rafters for warm weather,” he said. “For the last 20 years the rafting demand has been used to spring and fall releases. Now, the rafting populace likes it warm.”

While the release plan was designed to provide the greatest benefit to the users of the river while allowing the Corps to keep flood control a priority, some of those in attendance felt it neglects a vital resource of the river – the trout that call it home.

Dean Druckenmiller, president of the Lehigh Coldwater Fishery Alliance, said congregating releases during the August could result in deluges of summer-warmed water being released downriver. That could be devastating to the trout below, he said, that are at risk anytime the water temperature exceeds 68 degrees.

“You get a thermal blanket in the reservoir and the water temperature can exceed 75 degrees, and those are pretty warm discharges that will go into the river,” Druckenmiller said. “The water temperature increases in the summertime, and in July and August you have the lowest inflow of water into the dam and the highest outflow. My concern with clumping the releases is what will happen if we get a dry, hot summer. One warm discharge at that time of year and we lose a significant number of trout in the Lehigh River.”

Ray Youngblood, who is an Alliance board member, cited additional concerns with the plan, including the weekend releases and the subsequent high water in the river making it unfishable on Saturday and Sunday.

“The river is basically impossible to fish, and it’s dangerous, when the water is high,” he said.

Youngblood said the river benefited last summer when rainy conditions kept the water cooler during the summer. But if things get hot this summer, the release schedule will still benefit rafters but deluges of warm water from the dam won’t do anything to help the fishery in the river, he said.

“It’s a wait-and-see deal. The concern is what will happen if we see higher temperatures this summer with eight releases in August, right in the heart of it,” Youngblood said.

Jerry McAward, who owns a kayak school and a whitewater rafting company in Jim Thorpe, said August releases will provide cooler water to the river for at least two days each week.

He added that the concentrated release schedule is also good for business, providing more whitewater opportunities during the summer months when most people want to be on a raft in the river.

By eliminating release dates from September and October, McAward said it removes days from the time of the year that didn’t generate a lot of business and puts them in the middle of the busy summer season.

It also reduces the potential for conflicts between rafters and anglers, he said.

“The fishermen talk a lot about the second season – September and October. Concentrating the release dates to a time when more people want to paddle (in the summer) gives fishermen the solitude in the second season,” McAward said.

But potential conflicts with rafters wasn’t a concern to Druckenmiller, who said he’d ultimately like to see a plan that protects the wild and stocked trout that inhabit the river.

“I understand whitewater releases are vital for local economies and communities,” Druckenmiller said. “But I’d rather see the releases more spaced out. In September and October, the cool nights cool the water in the dam, but it won’t benefit the river if it’s not released.”

Sauls said differing opinions between anglers and rafters regarding the releases are nothing new, but the two sides are becoming more familiar with each other’s issues.

Still, he admitted more changes are likely for release plans in the future.

“Ultimately, we want to get the perfect plan. We’re not there yet,” Sauls said.