Outdoors category, Page 6
Could trawler cams help save world’s dwindling fish stocks?
PORTLAND, Maine — For years, Mark Hager’s job as an observer aboard New England fishing boats made him a marked man, seen as a meddling cop on the ocean, counting and scrutinizing every cod, haddock and flounder to help set crucial quotas. On one particularly perilous voyage, he spent 12...
Trail towns poised to capitalize on increasing access, popularity of rails-to-trails
Lauren Edinger and her husband, Edd Velez, whitewashed an antique tin ceiling in their future ice cream and sandwich shop in the former J.H. Shoop & Sons building in Freeport. The repurposing of the century-plus-old retail building — home to one of the oldest family-owned men’s clothing stores in the...
‘Generational changing’ investments poised to remake Western Pa.’s trails system
Described as “generational changing,” recently awarded investments in rails-to-trails will help connect more than 100 miles of recreational trails in Western Pennsylvania, opening previously unrealized pathways to communities poised to benefit economically. Murrysville to Rankin. O’Hara to East Deer. Aspinwall to Homewood. Plans are underway to grow and connect mostly...
Voting begins for Pennsylvania’s 2023 River of the Year
HARRISBURG — The public is invited to again vote online for the 2023 Pennsylvania River of the Year, choosing from among four waterways nominated throughout the state. “Honoring the River of the Year has become one of my favorite annual traditions and I am hopeful that we receive a record...
Earlier start to firearm deer season keeps hunters, processors busy
Curtis Johnson of Indiana Township has big plans for the buck he bagged Saturday morning. “I’ll get a pound of the deer jerky, and bologna as well — I love the bologna you guys do,” Johnson told the staff at Wright’s Deer Processing in Clinton Township, near Saxonburg. Since the...
Deer hunting in Pennsylvania starts this weekend
The biggest day on the Pennsylvania hunting calendar — opening day of the firearms season on deer — begins at a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday. More than 850,000 people have purchased some form of general hunting license, from resident adult to mentored youth, this year. For families, hunting clubs...
Big turnout expected as Pa. firearms season for black bear set to start
With 1,450 black bears already harvested by hunters in seasons earlier this fall, Pennsylvania’s firearms season on the large mammals opens a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday. The firearms season will continue daily through a half-hour after sunset on Tuesday. Daily hunting hours run from a half-hour before sunrise to...
Pa. fisherman pleads not guilty to charges in tournament scandal
CLEVELAND — Two men accused of stuffing five walleye with lead weights and fish fillets during a lucrative fishing tournament on Lake Erie pleaded not guilty to cheating and other charges on Wednesday. Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage, Mercer County, made no...
Prosecutor: Pa. fisherman caught cheating at tournament charged
CLEVELAND — Two anglers accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament were indicted Wednesday on charges of attempted grand theft and other counts. Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominski, 35, of...
Largest North American catfish to be brought back to Pennsylvania rivers
With blue catfish — the largest catfish species in North America — beginning to show up in the Ohio River in southwestern Pennsylvania after an absence of about a century, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission this week launches restoration efforts for the fish in rivers in the state. The...
‘Forever chemicals’ in deer, fish challenge hunters, tourism
PORTLAND, Maine — Wildlife agencies in the U.S. are finding elevated levels of a class of toxic chemicals in game animals such as deer — and that’s prompting health advisories in some places where hunting and fishing are ways of life and key pieces of the economy. Authorities have detected...
Pa. hunting seasons for smallest, largest game birds to start Sept. 1
Pennsylvania’s 2022-23 hunting seasons will get underway Thursday with the openings days for birds that rank among the smallest and largest game birds, respectively: the mourning dove and the Canada goose. The mourning dove weighs in a bit heavier than 4 ounces, while an adult male Canada goose can tip...
Rosston boat launch at Allegheny River/Crooked Creek to close before Labor Day for improvements
The state Fish and Boat Commission is closing the Rosston boat launch in Manor Township at Crooked Creek and the Allegheny River for repairs beginning Monday, Aug. 29, through Sept. 23. The commission is building a new launch ramp and improving the parking lot, said Mike Parker, commission press secretary....
USDA scattering rabies vaccines for wildlife in Pennsylvania, 12 other states
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun scattering millions of packets of oral rabies vaccine from helicopters and planes over 13 states from Maine to Alabama. The major aim is to keep raccoons from spreading their strain of the deadly virus to states where it hasn’t been found or isn’t...
Small but mighty, Natrona riverfront trail opens
A small but vital trail link recently opened in Natrona to connect the community park with the Allegheny River shoreline. The strip of land — 10 feet wide and 100 feet long — provides a major impact. “It is critical,” said Bill Godfrey, president of the Natrona Comes Together advocacy...
Experts to discuss spotted lanternfly invasion at North Park
Penn State Extension is hosting a meeting about the invasive and destructive spotted lanternfly in the region at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 22 at the lodge in North Park. Populations of the spotted lanternfly, the invasive plant hopper from Asia, have skyrocketed in Allegheny County: From Jan. 1 to July 11,...
$3.5M purchase of bridge, rail line, opens path to Armstrong trail expansion
An old railroad bridge spanning the Kiski River that kids double-dog dared each other to cross is now a critical link to hundreds of miles of hiking and cycling trails — and potential economic development. Armstrong County purchased the bridge, erected in 1899 over the Kiski River, and 14 miles...
National Aviary researchers submit drone footage to make case for ivory-billed woodpecker’s existence
Researchers from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh’s North Side are among a group of experts presenting new evidence to prevent the federal government from declaring the ivory-billed woodpecker as extinct. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating whether it will list the large, charismatic woodpecker that inhabits swampy bottomlands...
That’s no fish! It’s an American eel — in the Kiski River
“What the hell is that?” three anglers asked as an official with the Roaring Run Watershed Association reeled in a creature swirling around in the Kiski River. It turned out to be an American eel. It’s a rare find in the river, said Gary Smith, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat...
Ospreys raising young atop crane along Monongahela River near Charleroi
Tarentum resident Jim Bonner, executive director of the local Audubon Society, has heard many bird stories. Over the years, he has fielded countless inquiries from the public to the Audubon Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s headquarters at Beechwood Farms in Fox Chapel. But there was something different about a recent call....
Spotted lanternfly numbers on the rise in Allegheny County
They’re here and there are lots of them. Reports of spotted lanternflies in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are on the rise. According to the PA Department of Agriculture, as of July 11, there had been 2,944 reports of lanternflies from Allegheny County compared to 102 on the same date last...
Scaling Seven Summits: CEO’s climbs raise money toward providing free hearing aids
Scaling North America’s tallest peak is difficult enough without temporarily losing a vital means of communication. “You’re on this rope, and you can’t talk to anybody because you have to be separated on the rope,” Julie Beall-McKelvey said. “In case one of you falls, you can’t be right next to...
Despite popularity, aging trails subject to all manner of abuse
The people involved in overseeing and maintaining Western Pennsylvania’s trail systems nearly all said that cooperation is key in keeping the trails clean, welcoming and open. Along the Five Star Trail that runs from Youngwood to Greensburg, chapter President Vaughn Neill is working with a few dozen volunteers on fence...
Stepping up: Volunteers donate thousands of hours of time maintaining the region’s myriad hiking, biking trails
As walkers, hikers and bikers make their way onto the crushed limestone gravel of one of Western Pennsylvania’s many trail systems, it might not seem as though they are merging onto an economic highway. But if they’re stepping onto the Great Allegheny Passage — the trail between Pittsburgh’s Point State...
Grove of giant sequoias threatened by California wildfire
The largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park remained closed Saturday, a day after hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire burning through dense forest became the latest to threaten the world’s largest trees. A team was being sent to the Mariposa Grove to wrap...
