Maddas honored with ‘Stanley Long Outstanding Volunteer Service Award’
If you are fortunate to know John Maddas, of Dunbar, you know he didn’t seek out the recognition. Maddas is a soft-spoken man who lends a face to words like humility, grace and class. But recognition tracked him down, working to improve his beloved Dunbar Creek as he’s done for almost half a century.
On July 25, officials from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission traveled from Harrisburg to the local trout stream to bestow on Maddas the agency’s “Stanley Long Outstanding Volunteer Service Award.” The award was established by the Commission in 2003 to recognize the best of volunteer contributions to Pennsylvania’s anglers, boaters and aquatic resources. Maddas’ award was only the third ever presented by the Commission.
“The Commission asked me to come to Harrisburg for the presentation,” Maddas said. “But I told them I’d be working on a stream improvement project on the creek that day, so they came out here.”
Andrew Shiels, Fish and Boat Commission deputy executive director, presented Maddas with a framed commemorative rainbow trout print to acknowledge his service.
Now 67, Maddas was 20 years old when he began his lifelong service to Dunbar Creek and to the thousands who have enjoyed the stream and its mountain surroundings.
“I was fishing one day, wading across one of the old jack dams when I slipped and ran one of those steel spikes into my leg,” Maddas recalled. “It cost me a month’s work and a pair of new hip boots. I decided that if I could help it, that would never happen to anyone again.”
Since then the list of improvements Maddas has pushed to completion on Dunbar Creek read like a hundred-member conservation group’s wish list. He leads work parties that build and maintain the series of jack dams that provide prime habitat for trout, and trout fishermen. He spearheads litter clean-ups along the creek, restores eroded stream banks, samples water, and has helped the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited install acid mine drainage treatment facilities in Dunbar’s headwaters.
Outdoor cooking is also among Maddas’ skills. His kielbasa and ‘kraut tailgate lunches have convinced lots of recruits to help with his projects over the years.
But Maddas hasn’t spent five decades caring for the stream for its sake alone. He wants others to enjoy the place he loves. He runs an annual kids’ fishing day that attracts dozens of youngsters. Each May, Maddas arranges a special trout stocking in a cordoned-off kids’ zone, recruits volunteer helpers and then quietly helps kids tie knots, straighten out tangles and, hopefully, catch their first trout.
Some of those same kids have already taken the fly-tying course Maddas coordinates each winter through the Dunbar Sportsmen’s Club.
“It’s a thrill for the kids when they catch a trout on a fly they tied themselves,” Maddas observed. “It’s meaningful experiences like those that a lot of great people here, not just myself, have hoped to pass on.”
Maddas credits long-time former Fayette County “fish warden” Jim Beatty with introducing him to fly-fishing.
“Jim knew I liked to fish for trout and he told me I could enjoy the creek more throughout the season if I learned to fly-fish,” Maddas remembered. “He was right.”
Most local trout fishermen agree that Dunbar Creek today offers better fishing and a higher quality outdoor experience because of Maddas’ dedication. Even with recent dry weather and extreme low flows, dozens of trout could be seen swimming in the deep pools below jack dams and other stream improvement devices Maddas and his helpers have built in the creek.
And after Maddas makes one of his frequent litter sweeps the stream is pristine and inviting once again.
“I’ve had a great time up here over the years,” Maddas said. “The creek is getting better all the time and that’s a tribute to a lot of great people who have pitched in something positive for the future. Maybe the best part of it for me has been the people I’ve met up here who share a value for this place.”
Maddas knows that Dunbar Creek is seldom listed among the nation’s, or even the state’s, top trout streams. But that doesn’t dampen his affection for the creek he considers home.
“I’ve fished all over Pennsylvania in Potter and Clinton counties and on the big name streams but I always long for Dunbar Creek,” Maddas confided. “I hope people can come up here and enjoy themselves for a long time. It might be a little overlooked, but it’s a beautiful part of Fayette County.”