Casselman

At odd intervals some official type person apparently shows up at Markleton to tell boaters that they can't use the put-in unless they pay the PA Fish & Boat Commission $18.00 fee with a $150.00 fine as a penalty. I wonder if anyone in PA State government talks to each other, or to paddlers, because this method of enforcement sets up a perverse incentive that potentially penalizes trip leaders from doing the right thing by moving up the watershed when water levels get high.

Since 2003 I have tried to spread the idea that the Casselman is a great fallback to the Lower Yough when the water levels are high in the Yough drainage after a hard rain. When a commission official restarts this rumor, it absolutely kills the momentum I've tried to start with Baltimore/DC area paddlers and the Casselman, with the result that Baltimore/DC people don't think of the Casselman in high water situations and in my opinion, the Casselman as a resource is under-utilized.

Supposedly, the reason that the fee system was set up at Ohiopyle in the 1980's, was to spread out start times so the Lower Yough wouldn't get overcrowded. You'd think Ohiopyle park would encourage Casselman paddling, to help alleviate overcrowding, especially at high water. And you'd think that Pennsylvania policies for surrounding rivers would be encouraging to paddlers to find safer and less crowded options in the same watershed as the Lower Yough.

It seems that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission primarily/exclusively thinks of boating in terms of boating for fishing and fishing access. The Commission does not understand how it puts an additional burden on a trip leader to talk a group out of a ill advised Lower Yough trip to go to the Casselman and then face possibility that someone will walk up to them and raise the issue of additional fees or threaten fines. Contacts between paddlers and the apparent representatives of the Commission have been officious, rude and not considerate of fees paddlers may have already paid to Ohiopyle Park for launch permits not used because in the leader's judgement, the Lower Yough was too high for a particular group on a particular day. The Commission's interactions with whitewater paddlers does not reflect well on the State of Pennsylvania and suggests a lack of welcome to visitors.

The Fort Hill take-out of the Casselman is managed by the Casselman River Watershed Association (http://www.casselmanwatershed.org/) which asks for voluntary contributions to maintain the Fort Hill take-out. It is unfortunate that the Markleton River access is managed by the PA Fish and Boat Commission that seems to know so little about how whitewater boaters arrange trips.

Please consider making contributions to the Casselman River Watershed Association for their work at the Fort Hill take-out and please pressure Pennsylvania policy makers to place the Markleton access under the same management.