Anglers may or may not get to legally fish Beaver Run Reservoir some day, but at least they've made that desire known.
More than a dozen sportsmen crowded into the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County's tiny meeting room to support a presentation aimed at giving fishermen legal access to the 1,300-acre lake in Salem, Bell and Washington townships.
The lake is one of two drinking water sources in the county. The other is the Yough River.
Anglers can fish the Yough, however. Beaver Run has been closed to angling since 1952.
That doesn't necessarily keep people out. Municipal authority police fine trespassers if they catch them, but an untold number of anglers fish the lake illegally in spring, summer and fall anyway.
Ron Evancho, a waterways conservation officer in Westmoreland County for the Fish and Boat Commission, is looking to end all of that skulking about.
Evancho asked the authority board Thursday to open the portion of the lake that lies south of Route 286 to public fishing. He suggested leaving the lake north of that boundary -- which is closest to the lake's dam and its water purification treatment system -- closed as a nursery water.
In return, the Fish and Boat Commission would patrol the lake, he said, fining those who ventured into the nursery area, eliminating any litter left behind, and managing the lake's fishery.
"What we're seeking from you is a partnership," Evancho said. "You have a resource up there of 1,300 acres. We're just looking for an open line of communication."
The public didn't get a lot of time to comment on the idea at Thursday's meeting -- two people spoke, then, citing a full agenda, authority solicitor Ken Burkley cut off a third even as board chairman Donald Ruscitti moved right into approving last month's minutes -- but one of those who did get to voice an opinion was Edward Straub. A resident of Murrysville, Straub said it would be in everyone's best interests to manage the reservoir as a water supply and allow fishing, too.
"Too often in Western Pennsylvania we find reasons for not doing something that is already being done elsewhere in the state and around the country. Then we wonder why our kids have to leave the area to find good, high-paying jobs or a more attractive place to live," Straub said.
Westmoreland County's own long-range plan cites a lack of recreational opportunities north of Route 22. The authority could help rectify that by opening Beaver Run to fishing, Evancho said. Grant money available from various state sources could build parking lots and other facilities to handle the fishermen, he noted.
That's just what Jesse Salensky doesn't want to see, however.
Salensky lives on an arm of Beaver Run Reservoir. He told authority members that he fears opening the lake to fishing will ultimately lead to hunting on the property and then the development of the site as a county park.
"To open it to the public may create more of a problem than a solution," Salensky said.
Authority manager Chris Kerr had said previously that he would recommend against opening Beaver Run to fishing. Municipal authority officials made no decisions one way or the other Thursday, however.
Instead, Burkley said the board needed a formal request to open the lake from Fish and Boat Commission executive director Doug Austen before it could even address the issue.
Such a letter is expected to be sent sooner rather than later, and there are plans to hold a face-to-face meeting between Austen and at least a few authority board members, perhaps as soon as early April.
In the meantime, the board will weigh Evancho's request, said authority board treasurer Joseph Scarpo.
"It won't happen quickly because it can't happen quickly," Scarpo said. "We've got legal issues, we've got environmental issues, we've got policing issues, we've got a lot of issues.
"But the board is going to take this request seriously. We're going to do what we have to do to see if this partnership makes sense."
Representative supports public fishing at Beaver Run
Count state Rep. Tom Tangretti, the Westmoreland County Democrat who chairs the House tourism and recreation development committee, among those who would like to see Beaver Run Reservoir opened to public fishing.
Tangretti could not be reached for comment. It is known, however, that he recently sent a letter to the municipal authority suggesting that it revisit its opposition to letting anglers fish the reservoir, given the positive recreational and economic impacts of sport fishing.
According to figures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sport fishing contributes $1.6 billion to Pennsylvania's economy each year. It generates $50 million in state sales tax alone and supports 14,000 jobs.
Westmoreland County gets a good share of all that, too, Ron Evancho said, because it annually ranks second only to Allegheny County in the number of resident adult fishing licenses sold.
