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Mike Swartz was hoping for just a few extra hands to help build fish habitat structures at Frances Slocum State Park on Wednesday.
What the lake habitat manager for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission got was 32 volunteers, a combination of 13 Boy Scouts from Troop 241 in Lehman and 19 members of the Nanticoke Conservation Club.
But then again, a large turnout out isn’t really a surprise.
The Nanticoke Conservation Club has been building a variety of fish habitat structures at Frances Slocum since 1999, and each year there are plenty of volunteers.
“This is one of the better projects in the state,” Swartz said. “Today we built 20 structures in under 45 minutes, which is really good.”
What they were building was a box-like configuration called a short vertical plank structure – a series of 1-inch boards nailed together with brush stuffed inside. The structure contains plenty of openings for small fish to hide, helping to grow the lake’s fishery. The structures are deposited in the water at various locations around the lake. Concrete blocks inside the opening sink each structure to the bottom of the lake, and each location is marked and mapped by the PFBC.
The project is organized by the Nanticoke Conservation Club and over the last three years they’ve built and deposited 60 structures in the lake.
“Having the scouts help out is a big benefit,” said club member Joe Rutchauskas, adding that the annual project has greatly improved fish habitat in the lake, which otherwise has a flat, muddy bottom.
“These structures give the fish a place to spawn, provides cover for the young and attracts predator fish like bass,” Rutchauskas said. “As a result the fishing here has gotten better each year because anglers target these structures because they know the fish will be there.”
Swartz said he had an angler approach him on Wednesday offering thanks for the structures and said he’s noticed an improvement in the fishery at Frances Slocum. He said the habitat work will continue at the lake for at least another five years.
Chances are, Troop 241 will continue to be a part of it as well.
Scout master Brian Doran said the scouts complete their necessary service hours by helping build the structures each year. The project provides a hands-on component as well as educating the scouts about the environment, he said.
“This benefits the environment, the community and it’s been fun for the boys,” Doran said. “We’d definitely like to keep partnering with the Nanticoke club and keep this going.”
Doran’s son, Justin, who is in Troop 241, participated in the project for the first time and said he didn’t know anything about fish habitats before the work began. But after he helped build the structures and then joined the PFBC on a boat to watch them go into the lake, Justin, 13, was well aware of the benefits.
“When you see them go into the lake, you realize the purpose of creating fish habitat so the smaller fish have a place to hide,” he said. “You’re not just out here doing work. You’re learning about why you’re doing the work.”
Swartz said the habitat work at Frances Slocum will continue until approximately 30 percent of the lake has been improved with additional cover.
The structures weren’t the only habitat work that the volunteers accomplished on Wednesday. Before the scouts arrived, club members and the PFBC cut down a dozen trees along the edge of the lake. Swartz said the tree branches and leaves provide a complex habitat for smaller fish, and as it breaks down over the years larger fish start to occupy the habitat as a place to rest and ambush prey. That’s important for muskies – a species the PFBC is intently managing at Frances Slocum.
“We’ve been trying to improve the musky fishery here and it seems to be getting better,” Swartz said. “The work on every lake is done under a five-year plan that renews until we reach 30 percent cover, which is a lot for a lake like this that doesn’t have much on the bottom.”
