Apr 6, 2018 By Ben Moyer for The 5 min read

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” That’s a quote from the Lorax, Dr. Seuss’s children’s book character who embodies environmental conscience. Whenever I encounter that quote, it brings to mind a corps of local angler-conservationists who care an awful lot about places they fish, or might fish, or even where other people might fish. That adds up to “a whole awful lot,” as the Lorax would put it.

The Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited, headquartered in Uniontown, formed in the fall of 1995. The following spring the chapter began its annual litter cleanup along Dunbar Creek, the Dunbar-Ohiopyle Road, and the Betty Knox road that follows Dunbar Creek upstream deep into State Game Lands No. 51. They have never missed a year since.

It’s no secret among area leaders, community groups and civic promoters that litter, mindlessly tossed along roadsides, into streams or dumped in convenient woods, is this region’s uniquely garish embarrassment. Travel any direction outside the area and look around. On your return, you’ll notice that you cross a boundary of some kind, inside which many residents apparently take little pride in their surroundings.

That’s especially regrettable along the course of Dunbar Creek, a mountain stream of uncommon scenic character where, increasingly, visitors to this area are drawn to sample the improving trout fishing.

“A lot of our members have always picked up trash along Dunbar Creek while fishing,” said Eugene Gordon of Mt. Braddock, who chairs the cleanup effort. “But we started it as a formal annual project in April 1996. The first time we did it we took out three triaxle loads of trash and over 100 tires. I don’t think you could imagine much of anything that we haven’t found along the stream — appliances, furniture, toilets, car parts and even an entire car once by the pipeline. There are no surprises among those members who have participated.”

One often discarded item that puzzles cleanup workers are castoff deer carcasses — the remains of someone’s deer from last year, stuffed in plastic bags after butchering and tossed into the stream. Whoever did that had to be a person active in the outdoors and should have known better.

The annual cleanup always happens on the Saturday preceding the opening of trout season so that all anglers can better enjoy Dunbar Creek’s natural setting, free of trash and debris. This year’s cleanup will take place tomorrow, beginning with a briefing and organizational meeting at the Game Commission maintenance building on the Dunbar-Ohiopyle Road. Trout season opens on April 14 on most Pennsylvania streams and lakes. But about four miles of Dunbar Creek from the old stone quarry upstream into the game lands are a designated Fly-Fishing Only, Catch-and-Release stream, open to fishing year-round.

Chestnut Ridge TU Chapter members first became concerned with the accumulated mess along the streambanks, but the group also participates in PennDot’s Adopt a Highway program and so tidies up the Dunbar-Ohiopyle Road (SR 1051) that anglers use to access the creek. PennDot supplies high-visibility safety vests, work gloves, trash bags and hauls away the collected trash for ultimate disposal.

While Gordon says it’s regrettable that any trash is left behind along such a beautiful resource as Dunbar Creek, he does believe the litter along the stream has gradually diminished over the years.

“We like to hope that people are beginning to wake up to what we have here and are respecting it a little more,” Gordon reflected.

The cleanup is much appreciated by Game Commission staff who patrol and maintain State Game Land No. 51 in the Dunbar Mountains.

“The Betty Knox section along Dunbar Creek historically has been a targeted location for illegal dumping and random littering,” said Steve Leiendecker, Game Commission land manager for Fayette, Greene and Somerset counties. “Our Habitat Maintenance Crew is tasked with cleaning up trash, litter and illegal dumps, especially tires which are difficult to properly dispose of, and the crew really appreciates the assistance with keeping this part of Game Land 51 clean. Chestnut Ridge Trout Unlimited’s cleanup project just before the trout season opener every year has been going on long before I became land manager, and it has always been appreciated by our agency and the local outdoor community. Dunbar Creek is a popular resource with local hunters and fishermen and without the annual cleanup, those who value this scenic area would have a less enjoyable experience there.”

Several organizations have partnered with CRTU on the cleanup over the years including; Pennsylvania Game Commission, Dunbar Sportsmen’s Club, PA Cleanways, PennDot, and Dunbar Township.

Gordon observed that the chapter has worked to improve the environment, and the trout-fishing experience, on Dunbar Creek in diverse ways.

“Our chapter is proud that we have worked to improve both the water quality of Dunbar Creek through our Glade Run project, which neutralizes acid mine drainage in the headwaters, and the scenic character of the stream corridor by cleaning up litter,” Gordon said. “We believe this makes for a better experience all-round for those who come here to fish and enjoy the outdoors.”

The chapter also works with local schools in its Trout in the Classroom program. Students in 20 local schools learn about trout biology by raising the fish from eggs in the classroom, then releasing them in Dunbar Creek and other suitable streams.

“I’ve enjoyed fishing Dunbar Creek all my life,” Gordon concluded. “It is a place that deserves our best efforts.”

Ben Moyer is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America.