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Outdoors

PFBC encourages anglers, boaters to enjoy spring and summer

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) began its recent quarterly business meeting by thanking anglers, agency staff, and volunteers for a safe and successful start to the 2023 trout season, setting the stage for plentiful fishing and boating adventures throughout the spring and summer months. “The excitement that surrounds our spring fishing opportunities, especially the Opening Day of trout season earlier this month, can still be felt all across Pennsylvania,” Tim Schaeffer, PFBC Executive Director, said. “The quality of the trout raised at our state ...

‘Chickadee Checkoff’ donations to aid wildlife keep falling

By ERIN JORDAN The Associated Press CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Donations to Iowa’s Fish/Wildlife fund, informally called the Chickadee Checkoff, fell nearly 15 percent last year but have been gradually shrinking since the fund was created in the early 1980s. Study and support for Iowa’s nongame animals, including songbirds, turtles, frogs, owls and salamanders, is needed more than ever as many species decline in numbers, mostly because of lost habitat. North America has lost nearly 30 percent of its birds — about 3 million — since the 1970s, according to a 2019 article in the ...

Memories run through it

By Nick Wilson I have always been amazed by the seasons and cycles of life, how change and hardships shape us while other aspects stay the same or come back around in unexpected ways. Something that has remained a constant for me since I was a little boy is trout fishing. I have been fishing locally for as long as I can remember, mostly with my dad, who tragically passed away in 2009. Sharing this pastime together, along with hunting and other outdoor activities, was a highlight of my youth, and I continue enjoying those traditions to this day, missing my father, yet feeling his ...

Outdoors Calendar

Atkinson Mills Sportsmen’s Club • Meetings — held on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The club is located at 55 Sportsmen Club Lane, McVeytown; email atkinsonmillssportsmensclub@gmail.com; online at http://atkinsonmills-sportsmensclub.weebly.com. Blue Rock Sportsman Club • Club meetings — 2 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of each month on the gun range, and at 7 p.m. in January and February in the barn. To east end Blue Rock: From Milroy, follow signs to Reeds Gap State Park. Free camping available and kitchen is open during all events except trap ...

PFBC announces awards for outstanding achievement in law enforcement for 2022

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has announced several awards presented to Waterways Conservation Officers in recognition of outstanding achievements in law enforcement in 2022. Awards were presented during the PFBC Board of Commissioners quarterly business meeting on April 24, 2023. The PFBC Bureau of Law Enforcement 2022 Officer of the Year Award was presented to Waterways Conservation Officer (WCO) Erin Czech, whose district includes the eastern section of the City of Philadelphia in the Southeast Region. In 2022, WCO Czech’s exemplary law ...

Tribe seeks to adapt to climate change

SANTA CLARA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — Raymond Naranjo sings for rain, his voice rising and falling as he softly strikes his rawhide-covered drum. The 99-year-old invites the cloud spirits, rain children, mist, thunder and lightning to join him at Santa Clara Pueblo, where Tewa people have lived for thousands of years on land they call Kha’p’o Owingeh, the Valley of the Wild Roses. “Without water, you don’t live,” says Naranjo’s son Gilbert, explaining the rain dance song his father, a World War II veteran, has sung for decades — and with increasing urgency as the tribe ...