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F.J. Sayers lake is located in central Pennsylvania (PA) and is owned by the US Army Corps of engineers(USACE) and leased by Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). F.J. Sayers lake is a popular fishing destination and at one time had the second most application for bass tournaments. The lake hosts over 500,00 visitors to the park which generates over 18 million dollars of revenue to the local community. The lake was constructed in the late 60's and has a an annual winter draw down of twenty feet. This draw down and reservoir aging is extremely detrimental to the aquatic fisheries. Aquatic habitat is the limiting factor at the lake which would hinder fish populations. Native aquatic plants are usually frozen out during the winter months and ice crushes all artificial structures placed and natural habitat in the 5'-20' water column. Bald Eagle and Spring Creek are the main tributaries that flow into the reservoir and provide excellent water quality but the lack of aquatic habitat is the limiting factor and hinder the fishery. The lake was created for flood control. The lake and region in general has been impacted by storm events, climate change, and urbanization which fluctates lake and stream levels. We feel that planting trees as part of the riparian buffer plantings and shoreline enhancement structures should help protect and prevent issues from climate change.
F.J. Sayers has received this grant in 2012 but the planned work was to combat deeper water submerged habitat structures. This plan will focus on improving water quality, shoreline habitat, creating riparian buffer plantings, angler access, and will prevent an overall better fishing experience.
This grant project is part of an overall bigger project which will also include volunteer efforts at the lake. The group has been very successful in completing volunteer scale projects in the past but the proposed shoreline projects has reinvigorated the efforts to improve lake habitat at the lake. This grant if awarded would give us a huge boost which should gain momentum and help us complete our desired plan.

The objective of this project is to stablize shorelines at F.J. Sayers Lake by creating stone deflectors at specific locations. The plan is to create 103 stone framed deflectors at several sites. Project partners will create riparian buffer plantings and access points where practicable. The partners will continue volunteer scale efforts at the lake and plan to add an additional 1600 rock rubble reef, 300 short vertical plank structures, and 180 channel catfish boxes.

The project implementation will be completed by heavy machinery. The heavy machinery will construct shoreline deflectors at the lake which will stop future erosion. PFBC will keep track of the structures completed and the goal is to build over 100 Stone Framed Deflectors at the lake. This project is also part of a volunteer scale effort that aims to construct over 300 Short Vertical Plank structures, 180 catfish boxes, and 1600 Rock Rubble Humps. The volunteer scale effort will be completed with boats in the summer months. Volunteers will build the structures and PFBC staff will place them. PFBC staff will track structures completed, partner funding, grant funding leveraged, feet of impact, volunteer hours, media outreach and educational opportunities to talk about habitat improvement

These deflectors will improve water quality by reducing erosion and sediment entering the lake. Staff plan to measure active erosion before and after the project. They will take this data and input it into erosion calculators which will measure total erosion prevented and nutrients entering the watershed.

PA Fish and Boat Commission is also interested in improving recruitment of fish species and will look at that through a minnow trap study. This study will look at quanity and species richness of the shoreline before and after the projects.

This project will be promoted by a federal (USACE) agency, 2 state agencies (PFBC and DCNR), and a non-profit organization. The state agencies have done a great job highlighting the project on Social Media and their main webpages. The non-profit will also utilize social media, enews blasts, and a print newsletter to share information. We will also personally invite legislators (federal, state, and local) out to these projects. USACE will highlight this project to other USACE office that will have similar issues. The project partners will do their best to highlight this project whenever its possible.

The lake also supports volunteer scale habitat projects throughout the summer. The wildlife leadership academy host young resource students and highlights the importance of bass fishing and habitat in general. Students will be able to see these sites and will learn the importance of protecting the aquatic resource while also improving aquatic habitat.
The project is also used as a tool for PFBC to educate PFBC law enforement on how to build structures and how to get organizations interested in improving lake habitat. The Lake has also hosted several different highschool to engage in lake habitat projects and is a great educational event for them.