Stocking of Pennsylvania Class A trout stream in Potter County causes controversy

Harrisburg — Despite objections from former state fisheries officials and two board members, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission is moving ahead with a plan to stock a Class A stream in Potter County while monitoring the impacts on wild trout.

At its quarterly meeting in July, the agency’s board of commissioners approved by a 7-2 vote, a notice of proposed rulemaking for stocking a three-mile stretch of Freeman Run and studying the effect on the reproducing fishery for five years.

The rulemaking is now out for public comment and is expected to receive a final vote at the board’s October meeting.

Commissioners Charles Charlesworth, of Lackawanna County, and Eric Hussar, of Erie County, voted against the proposal, which also has drawn criticism from retired commission executive director John Arway and former commissioner and current PA Council of Trout Unlimited president Len Lichvar, both of whom testified at the board meeting.

The proposal would amend the Fish and Boat Code to manage section 4 of Freeman Run under Miscellaneous Special Regulations as catch-and-release for brook and brown trout and harvest permitted for rainbows.

If the board adopts the change, it will have to take a separate vote on granting an exemption to stock rainbow trout because Freeman Run section 04 doesn’t meet any existing criteria for putting hatchery fish in a Class A wild trout stream, said Kris Kuhn, the agency’s fisheries bureau director.

The proposal provides for halting stockings if they are found to be damaging to the wild population before the study ends in 2030.

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Freeman Run was stocked until five years ago when sampling revealed it qualified for Class A status, based on its biomass and year-class diversity of wild trout. 

A number of locals, including the Potter County Anglers Club, which maintains a cooperative trout nursery, have pushed for its return to the stocking schedule.

In 2023, the commission approved a Cooperative Nursery Grant to the club in the amount of $65,000, which was one of the largest such grants ever awarded to a cooperative nursery.

Pressure from the sportsmen’s group, “which has the ear of the local commissioner who has become their advocate to restore their favorite fishing hole,” is driving the board’s action, Arway said, and that is failing to put the wild resource first.

Stocking would be contrary to data that show hatchery trout are detrimental to the resident wild population, he said, and would violate language in the Fish and Boat Code that “prohibits commission actions detrimental to the protection, preservation and management of fish.”

“When stocking stopped on Freeman Run, the biomass of browns went up 40%, based on a 2021 Fish & Boat Commission survey,” Arway said. 

“Degrading the wild fish population in exchange for creating fishing opportunities is not only unethical, it’s against the law.”

Lichvar similarly criticized the commission “for putting social and political pressures ahead of resource science.”

He said he dealt with the same issue on several other stocked streams that were found to meet the Class A threshold 10 years ago when he was on the board.

“I argued and voted against continuing stocking in these now-designated Class A waters to no avail,” he said. “For the last 10 years … the debate has raged on.

“This ongoing issue clearly demonstrates the misguided priorities of the commissioners.”

Lichvar questioned the commission’s investing what he called “a huge amount of fisheries staff time” in the Freeman Run proposal, when it could have been spent on other issues, including authorization for private individuals to stock fish, and a re-evaluation of stocking allocations, which is in the Strategic Plan for Management of Trout Fisheries in Pennsylvania 2025-29.

“I don’t mean the elimination or reduction of stocking. However, much of the stocking patterns date back 50 years and are not providing the best management of the resource and not benefiting the angling public.”

Where water conditions have changed, allocations may need to be altered, he said.

With regard to Freeman Run, he said, “there are plenty of other streams in Potter County where hatchery fish could be stocked. At TU we don’t believe there’s any reason to add stocked trout to any Class A water. You’ve got to do what’s best for the resource.”

Speaking in support of the proposed study was Jared Manning, of Bellefonte, who said he represented anglers who fish Freeman Run and camp owners and other businesses in Potter County.

He expressed confidence that if the proposal is approved stocking advocates will be able to show proof of “strong angler utilization returning on Freeman Run in 2026,” and that data will indicate the wild trout population still “will be thriving.”

Commissioner John Mahn believes it is reasonable to do the study. “At least we’ll know then and if it turns out that rainbows are hurting the population of browns, I would support discontinuing stocking.”

Freeman Run will be an agenda item at PA Trout’s annual meeting Sept. 20 in Mill Hall, with Commissioner Hussar leading the discussion.

“We’re not happy about it at all, but we’ll try to make the best of a bad and unnecessary scenario,” Lichvar said. “We will continue to lobby our case. It may not turn the tide, but we’ll ramp up pressure and we will make it uncomfortable for the decision makers.”