Fish Tales Come True

Ray Youngblood has been fishing in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, for 75 years—basically his entire life. But the local waterways still hold surprises, even for him.

When he and fishing buddy Mike Gondell saw an eastern brook trout in Hazle Creek, “It was like a religious experience,” he says. “We were transfixed. It was totally astounding.”

Their shock, he explains, was because Hazle Creek had been considered a dead waterway for over a century. The county is named “carbon” for a reason: It was once a coal-producing railroad hub centered around Penn Haven Junction. That history, dating back to the early 1800s, left many local waters with acid mine drainage—contamination by heavy metals. “They’re abandoned mines,” says Youngblood, “but they still spew out acidity and a lot of other toxic stuff.”

Now, there are wild, breeding trout in Hazle Creek. The area’s mining of anthracite, or “hard coal,” took a sharp decline after World War I, so the water has had about 100 years to transition toward recovery naturally. But it took a dedicated remediation process to get it to its current, healthy state.

The trout Ray and Mike saw—the size of which, of course, is a topic of debate—was a female, surrounded by males: “She needs a special place to lay her eggs,” says Youngblood. “She needs an infusion of good, clean, cold water.” In Hazle Creek, which runs through the borough of Weatherly, she found a suitable spot, much to their astonishment.

It’s an unlikely sounding fish tale, but it’s true. And it’s coming true along 8 more miles of water near Weatherly. At Quakake and Black Creeks, where Trust for Public Land protected more than 1,000 acres of streamside land, local partners are working to replicate the same purification process.

The benefits to fish—and the greater ecosystem they’re a part of—are as clear as a freshwater trout stream. But the creek restorations could also put this area of the Pocono Mountains—two hours from Philly and four hours from Pittsburgh—on the map as a fishing destination. And that’s not all. There’s a trail coming too.

Linking to the Corridor

Coal mining and timber harvesting were the dominant industries here between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. In the following years, Weatherly and other small towns in the region stayed afloat on the backs of textile mills, foundries, and other manufacturing industries. Today, they’re looking for new strategies to sustain their economies. And thanks to leaders like Borough Manager Harold Pudliner, Weatherly’s future looks bright: It extends beyond thriving streams to include hiking, biking, and even railroad history.

Over his 28 years as borough manager, Pudliner has seen restaurants and other small businesses open—and fail—time and time again. “There’s not enough people here,” he attests. Weatherly’s population has remained steady since the 1900s, hovering around 2,500 residents, with geography and limited modern infrastructure isolating the town. “We’re an island,” Pudliner says, explaining why it’s tough for new enterprises to take root. “It’s very difficult when Hazleton is only 20 minutes away, and it has all kinds of restaurants and everything else.”

Wracking his brain for new means of economic development, Pudliner extended his gaze about 5 miles east to the 165-mile Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Known more casually as the D&L, the corridor’s multiuse trail sees close to 300,000 visitors annually, who use it for daily recreation such as hiking and biking, as well as community events like charity runs. Pudliner knew connecting Weatherly to the D&L would not only improve access to nature and recreation for residents; it could also draw tourists—and their spending power—to his humble borough.

Hence the now-in-development Weatherly Trail, a spur connector that will link Weatherly to the D&L. According to a feasibility study done for the trail, “Tourists would now see Weatherly as a destination, not just a drive-through town.” The study also predicted that the trail would have “the single most important economic impact that . . . Carbon County has seen in more than a century.” But you can’t build a trail without land.

Enter Ellen Lott, a project manager at Trust for Public Land. Pennsylvania born and bred and well-connected to land and landowners in the Poconos, she was familiar with an old uranium road on a nearby mountain. Lott knew it was used (on the sly) by local mountain bikers, but she saw its potential to be much more than a well-kept secret. “This is my backyard,” says Lott of her local knowledge. “These are my people.”

In a move that pushed Pudliner’s vision from conceivable to foreseeable, TPL purchased the mountain’s 1,125 acres, which were transferred to the state’s Bureau of Forestry in the spring. They’re now part of Weiser State Forest, and the first phase of the trail connecting Weatherly to the D&L—and many other regional amenities—is in progress.

Trust for Public Land secured state and national funding for the land, while a grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) supported the initial feasibility study. “I don’t think Weatherly could have handled an acquisition of this nature on their own,” says Christine Dettore, a regional advisor with DCNR’s Bureau of Recreation and Conservation. “So when Trust for Public Land stepped in, it was a great team.”

Teamwork Makes the Trail Work

Dettore had worked with TPL before and knew it was the right organization to guide Penn Haven—a catchall name for the trail project and stream restorations—out of the starting gate and over the finish line.

Dettore credits Trust for Public Land’s unique combination of ability, connections, and knack for identifying funding sources with the positive outcome. “Ellen and TPL knew the dollars Weatherly could go after,” she says—“and how to get them.”

Pudliner agrees: “When Ellen came on, it really started kicking off. She was just fantastic with the people she brought in and everything else. It gave me a lot of hope.”

Lott, in turn, describes Pudliner as “a real dynamo. He’s the one who’s been pushing this boulder up the hill,” she says. The boulder, in this case, included getting the feasibility study done and applying for funding to build the first phase of the trail and a trailhead parking lot. It also involved working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the stream cleanups—including more grant applications to install weirs, or small dams, for water-quality testing, which was done with Trout Unlimited, the Wildlands Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was a truly massive, multifaceted effort. “Remember, I’m running a municipality and doing this on the side,” says Pudliner of his two decades leading the Penn Haven effort. “TPL being involved really took a lot of pressure off me,” he adds. “Ellen has always been right there.”
One thing that quickly becomes apparent talking to partners involved in Penn Haven is that they’re exceedingly humble and quick to heap praise on each other. It’s charming and reveals the close-knit nature of the communities and agencies at work here. True to form, Lott says, “Penn Haven is a great example of local leaders taking all the right steps to bring recreation and the associated economic impact to their town. It’s their vision, and they have really worked hard to implement it.”

Sharing the Love—and Dollars

In many of these conversations, the nearby town of Jim Thorpe—named for the first Native American athlete to win Olympic gold—is a harbinger. Known as the “Little Switzerland of America,” its Victorian architecture, scenic mountain setting, fall foliage festival, and quaint shops and lodgings have made it a tourist destination, once second in popularity in the U.S. to Niagara Falls.

In recent years, Jim Thorpe has become congested with visitors seeking outdoor recreation such as rafting, kayaking, and fishing on the Lehigh River and birding, hiking, and biking on the D&L Trail—which goes right through town. (Fun fact: Lott met her husband mountain biking in Jim Thorpe.)

By contrast, the Dollar General on Weatherly’s Main Street has a handwritten sign in the window reading, “FRESH PRODUCE.” That tells you something about the current economy here: There’s only one store in Weatherly, and it’s where residents have to go for everything.

The idea behind Penn Haven is that, with active trout streams and a trail of its own, Weatherly will be poised to absorb some overflow from Jim Thorpe, drawing enough visitor traffic to support new local businesses.

There’s potential for Weatherly to become what Dettore calls a “mini–Jim Thorpe” and to help this area meet demand for its growing outdoor recreation appeal (possibly even attracting a new generation of residents). To that end, Weatherly is working hard to increase its draw.

Weatherly Borough Manager Harold Pudliner led the effort behind the Weatherly Trail, but he’s quick to extend credit to partners such as TPL. Photo: Alexandre da Veiga

Under Pudliner’s guidance, the borough recently opened the Weatherly Area Museum, which features regional locomotive history at the trailhead parking lot, and the former train station is just waiting for an entrepreneur to transform it into a brewery or coffee shop.

“We may not see activity out of that museum and parking area now,” says Dettore, “but once that trail’s done, you’ll have an option of another place you can come into [from the D&L].”

What’s more, Weatherly’s Eurana Park, a sprawling green space with a disc golf course, playground, music shell, picnic areas, and a pond, is only a 10-minute walk from the trailhead. A revitalized population could lead to community gatherings there as well.

In another win, the borough recently received funding to look at how Weatherly can connect to the Greater Hazleton Rails-to-Trails network, which will eventually branch to the D&L and other nearby small towns. Spreading the recreation demand around will take pressure off places like Rockport, an access point to the D&L and Lehigh Gorge State Park, where Youngblood says you sometimes can’t even get in the parking lot.

Connecting Weatherly to Lehigh Gorge State Park is yet another achievement TPL’s Penn Haven trail project makes possible. More than 20 miles of the D&L run through the state park along the Lehigh River. Even on a chilly May afternoon, the trail through this stunning gorge was busy with bikers, hikers, and parents pushing strollers. And the water was studded with kayakers in hard and inflatable crafts.

Rushing water cascaded down rocky trailside bluffs while leaves rustled in the canopy of the mixed pine-and-deciduous forest. It’s a place that draws nature lovers from near and far—some portion of which could eventually wind up spending a few dollars in Weatherly.

Natural Connections

Sure, the protected land and forthcoming trail will provide great opportunities for recreation and public health. But Penn Haven isn’t solely a place for people: It’s also home to critical wildlife habitats.

The creekside acres TPL conserved fall within an Audubon-designated Important Bird Area, which indicates a high diversity of birds. Species spotted in the region include red-tailed hawks, red-winged black birds, and great blue herons, to name just a few. (Non-avian critters include groundhogs, black bears, and bobcats.)

And because Penn Haven cannot be developed, the land and skyway will remain available as migratory corridors, connecting to a broader landscape of more than 24,000 acres of public forest—about the size of Disney World. These include state game lands and Lehigh Gorge State Park. Unbroken tree canopies capture carbon and keep areas cooler, supporting climate resilience and longevity for creatures of all kinds.

Improved water quality is yet another advantage. The forest provides essential food sources for wildlife and access to fresh water, and the restorations at Quakake and Black Creeks will positively impact fish near Weatherly and Philadelphia alike.

“Everything flows down from the streams,” says Dettore, from Black Creek to the Lehigh River to the Delaware River in Philly. The stream remediation will ultimately decrease the load of pollutants going into the Lehigh River and southward.

Improving the area’s water quality, again, points back to Harold Pudliner—and to trout. “I used to fish when I had time,” he says, “and to find a natural stream is very difficult. A lot of people go to the Lehigh, but that’s a stocked area. I think once the word gets out that we have a good fishing stream, people will come.”Good fishing requires high-quality water, and the path to making Carbon County creeks vibrant again requires testing, treatment, and patience—but only a little of the last. Pudliner says a resident went weekly to record readings from the Hazle Creek weirs, and it took only about a year to see improvement. The U.S. Geological Survey indicates creeks can turn around rather quickly once remediation begins.

Hazle Creek became healthy primarily due to the restoration of natural wetlands at its headwaters, an effort led by the DEP. “Now it’s a Class A stream,” Pudliner says with pride. That means it ranks among the best places to fish for wild trout in Pennsylvania (per the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission).

After the success at Hazle Creek, partners cooperated to instigate similar processes at Quakake Creek, including the addition of lime to counter acid and other chemicals in the water. Quakake Creek flows into Black Creek, alongside the mountain TPL protected for the Weatherly Trail, meaning all of these waters will be much cleaner in years to come—and accessible for anglers to enjoy. Notably, 97 percent of the Class A section runs through public land.

Local angler Ray Youngblood has been fishing in Carbon County for decades; he never thought he see healthy wild trout in certain waterways, but remediation efforts have changed that. Photo: Alexandre da Veiga

Curiosity Blossoms

Walking toward the confluence of Hazle, Quakake, and Black Creeks, Youngblood and Gondell casually drop Latin names of plants and insects with the ease of biologists.

Gondell says a certain patch of riffling water has perfect breeding conditions for Epeorus pleuralis, or quill Gordons, a type of mayfly that trout feed on. Youngblood IDs a patch of mahogany mushrooms and recognizes hay-scented fern and grasspink orchids at a glance.

“Fly fishing leads you down many paths,” Youngblood attests. “You get into botany, birdwatching, entomology. If you have just a normal amount of curiosity, you can’t help it.” It’s a notion that could have positive impacts on future generations of Pennsylvanians: Get them into fishing, and their interest in other aspects of nature will surely blossom.

“Hey, Ray, look at that water!” Gondell blurts out, noting a perfect pool for trout. The creeks are running high due to recent rainfall, and these seasoned anglers instinctively read the stream as they go—eyeing the best casting spots even without their poles in hand that day.

They both believe in a catch-and-release approach because they want the wild trout to have a chance to repopulate. “It’s the cold-water wild trout that you want to keep [in the stream],” says Gondell, who cofounded a Trout Festival in nearby White Haven. In its third year, the festival features recreation outfitters and fishing vendors, fly-tying, kids’ activities, and a pulled-pork dinner hosted by a local restaurant. This year, it also included a group bike ride on—what else?—the D&L.

When asked how realistic he thinks it is that Weatherly will become a trout-fishing destination, Gondell says, “Very realistic—now that Ellen has done such a great job with Penn Haven,” he teases.

“Don’t quote him on that,” quips Ellen, ever the humble conservationist.

On a more serious note, Gondell leans in: “A good fisherman is going to keep his fishing hole secret,” he observes. “But as the saying goes, a stream that doesn’t have friends, doesn’t last very long. There’s a lot of space where people can enjoy themselves here.”

Amy McCullough is a senior writer at Trust for Public Land and managing editor of Land&People magazine. This story is dedicated in memory of Dr. Randy A. Poncher, her stepdad and an avid trout fisherman.