The Origins of The Last Riverkeeper and Gamekeeper.

How did The Last Riverkeeper and Gamekeeper come about?  After the pro bono study of Big Spring by Dr. Black and me I realized the need for such a group because of watershed groups and fishing organization were lacking in scientific advice and research to meet their goals in protecting streams.  Because our study ended up closing the hatchery the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as well some members of Department of Environmental Protection started a campaign against me by telling firms, and organizations both in the private and nonprofit sector not to hire me as an environmental consultant.  I realized just how afraid the state was of good scientific studies.

Needless to say this was a great slap in the face after investing over 7 years and thousands hours in research on the study to save Big Spring.  To this day the resentment from certain people still remain. They continue to tell groups not to use me. This is the cost of being scientifically correct which seldom crosses the research of the  PFBC and in some cases the DEP in Pennsylvania.

Since I spent so much time trying to help citizens and nonprofit groups  I decided to start a nonprofit to hopefully help out..  I remember many of the conversations I had with the late Charlie Fox.  We often talked about all of the things he did to improve the Letort (If you don’t realize this, Charlie lived on the Letort Spring Run).  Charlie didn’t wait for someone else to do it,  he put in the spawning gravel and tried to maintain the sections next to his property.  He always mentioned that each fly angler should try and pass this heritage down (for a great article I wrote on Charlie, go to my fly fishing site flyfisher.com and click on the various links).  Thus the name:  The Last Riverkeeper! .  Dedicated to perhaps one of the early stream keepers and water conservationists in America. I had kicked The Last Riverkeeper idea around for over 25 years.  As most people in fly fishing know the Cumberland Valley was one of the birthplaces of fly fishing and riverkeeping in the America. We added Gamekeepers to make it more inclusive since our work extends to protecting the parameters of environment for all wildlife.

What excuse do you have?  Each of you is responsible for the waters of this earth.  Each of you is The Last River or Gamekeeper. 

Principles of The Last River and Gamekeeper