Funding for Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchey

[pgail66]

Dale Hollow NFH, as well as eight other fish hatcheries across the country, including six in the southeast, face funding cuts related to mitigation activities. This funding cut is part of the President's proposed budget for FY 2012 and has not yet been approved by Congress. According to the proposed budget, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will remove these funds from the National Fish Hatchery System unless full reimbursements are negotiated from, what they call, "responsible parties". The total cut and the equal reimbursement sought is $6.28 million for all nine hatcheries.

Anglers, the communities that rely on these stocked fish, and the business people who also rely on this industry can contact their local U.S. Congressman and Senators: Alexander and Corker to let them know we want a funding solution to keep fish stocked in Tennessee and Dale Hollow NFH fully funded.

For Tennessee this means that the funding to raise and stock fish for waters around TVA and COE dams will be cut if a funding solution is not realized by October. COE has proposed to pay $3.8 million in reimbursement to FWS. FWS has requested $4.7 from COE, leaving funds for COE mitigation 20% short. Dale Hollow raises fish for four COE waterways (Percy Priest Tailwater, Center Hill Tailwater, Dale Hollow Tailwater, and Dale Hollow Reservoir).

A bigger issue for Tennessee is TVA. Dale Hollow raises fish for about twenty TVA waters all over middle and east Tennessee.

If a solution is not made by October, one of two scenario are likely, however, if we voice our opinions, this situation can be resolved before the devastation begins:

Scenario 1: FWS decides to close Dale Hollow NFH, because it will be facing an approximate, two-thirds cut in funding, and would leave that hatchery not worth operating. In this case, Tennessee will lose 1.3-1.4 million fish per year, which are currently spread out throughout the state.

Scenario 2: FWS decides to leave Dale Hollow NFH open but produce no fish for TVA waterways and only 80% for COE waterways. In this scenario, Tennessee fishermen will lose about 960,000 fish per year.

Please contact your U.S. House Representative, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Senator Bob Corker as soon as possible to get their involvement to solve this issue for the future of one of the greatest Tennessee pastimes.

[pgail66]

If you want to support fishing in TN, it's easy. Contact both Senators. Just click and start typing:

http://corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe
http://alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email

Then, find your specific House Representative; click and type:

http://roe.house.gov/Contact/
https://desjarlais.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
http://duncan.house.gov/services/zip-auth.shtml
https://fleischmann.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
http://cooper.house.gov/index.php?op...=117&Itemid=61
https://black.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
http://blackburn.house.gov/contactform/

All House members above receive fish from Dale Hollow NFH. In East TN, they come to you via TWRA trucks, but if they are hauling trout, they most likely spent most of their lives @ Dale Hollow.

[pgail66]

You can send a real simple message to let both senators and your House rep. know you want to keep trout fishing in Tennessee. Example: Please support continued stocking of fish in our district (for House rep.)/ state (for senators) by supporting a full funding solution for Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery.

If you want to help, but don't know your House Rep, go here. You need your zip code and four-digit extension:
https://writerep.hou...p/welcome.shtml

If you don't know your four-digit extension, go here: http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp

If you need further help, let me know.

If you want more information before deciding to write in, here are three links:
www.tennesseetailwatertrout.com

http://www.fws.gov/dalehollow/dale%2...ct%20sheet.pdf

Go to page FAR-8 http://www.fws.gov/budget/2012/FWS%2...ifications.pdf

If anyone needs a break down of how Dale Hollow NFH fish are distributed across Tennessee, please let me know. I don't have a link, but I can type it out.

The Hatchery has recently been contacted by Channel 4 TV (NBC Affiliate) in Nashville with interest in doing a story. The Herald-Citizen newspaper is coming this Friday to do a story at the Hatchery. Odell Braswell (PBS TV) is going to help with a story at the Hatchery's convenience. The Hatchery's Congressman has met and learned more about this issue and is becoming more supportive. This issue is gathering steam. Please help us if you believe it's a worthy cause.

[pgail66]

Remember; this is not a done deal. There are two ways this issue can be solved. Congress is the key to either solution.
Solution 1: Congress votes on a budget that puts these mitigation funds back in the 2012 budget. This would not necessarily mean a net spending increase. Congress could deny FWS the $47.8 million increase that they are requesting by not allowing them to spend some of the $140 million they want to spend on new land acquisitions. In other words, Congress can force FWS to change their priorities and put more money towards fish and more traditional programs and take away from some of the new programs they would like to spend more money on related to climate change. The amount of money that needs to be put back in is $6.3 million. It's chump change compared to some of FWS's other programs that are not even proven or popular.

Solution 2: Congressman in Tennessee and state officials can pressure TVA and COE to come up with full reimbursement agreements with FWS. If TVA agrees to pays $835,000 (100% reimbursement to FWS), Dale Hollow NFH would face only about a 5% cut, which would result in a 20% cut in COE waters. If COE agrees to pay the remainder of the requested amount ($900,000) for all hatcheries involved, then Tennessee would continue to get all the fish from Dale Hollow they get now.

If you would like to join the friends group, Friends of the Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery, send me an email, and I'll send you updates on this issue as they occur. You don't have to do anything to join the group except send the email, but you are welcome to work as hard as you want to help spread the information to the public, state officials, and Congress.
[email protected]

[FlyLie]

I truly support the cause for keeping ALL the hatcheries open. Doing my part! It's not over, until it's over in Oct. Keep those "cards and letters" (EMAILS) comming in!!

Gary in Kentucky

[pgail66]

Good...Good day for fishermen. We've not yet won the battle, but business has really picked up.

Thanks to a recent press release in support of the Hatcheries by the TWRA, it's all over the news. Our group has been pushing this to the press for three months, but the TWRA has so much influence that they've got it printing and airing everywhere!

Thanks to the TWRA finally stepping up to support us, we're all over the news in the last fourteen hours.

NBC TV - Nashville
http://www.wsmv.com/news/28013458/detail.html

The Tennessean http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...l-budget-cuts-

Tri Cities. com
http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/...pr-ar-1064489/
Forbes.com http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/...s_8485251.html

Someone in the Hatchery staff also got a call today from The Knoxville News Sentinel (their main newspaper).

[FlyLie]

Good...Good day for fishermen. We've not yet won the battle, but business has really picked up.

Thanks to a recent press release in support of the Hatcheries by the TWRA, it's all over the news. Our group has been pushing this to the press for three months, but the TWRA has so much influence that they've got it printing and airing everywhere!

Thanks to the TWRA finally stepping up to support us, we're all over the news in the last fourteen hours.

NBC TV - Nashville
http://www.wsmv.com/news/28013458/detail.html

The Tennessean http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...l-budget-cuts-

Tri Cities. com
http://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/...pr-ar-1064489/
Forbes.com http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/...s_8485251.html

Someone in the Hatchery staff also got a call today from The Knoxville News Sentinel (their main newspaper).

Great post. I'm going to steal it and put in every board I can!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pgail66]

Steal anything you want...Please.
Thanks for the help. Any and all is appreciated.

If we can get the press to ask Congresspersons to respond on this issue, that would be key. They then have three choices: 1.Have no comment (that makes them look like they don't care about their district). 2.Support funding (that puts them on record to vote for funding). 2.Come out against funding (then they must explain why they don't support the state's economy or fishing in their state(s)).

[pgail66]

Great post. I'm going to steal it and put in every board I can!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Boone. I see your reside in the town where Wolf Creek NFH is located. I'm sure you know that hatchery, and all the cold-water, national hatcheries in the southeast are facing similar budget cuts.

The National Fish Hatchery System is a system. They all depend on each other, and fishermen depend on all of them to keep trout fishing in all of the southeast. For instance, Dale Hollow ships about half-a-million 3" fingerlings to Chattahooche Forest NFH every year for grow out, and Dale Hollow and Wolf Creek are part of the imperiled species program for Barrens Top Minnows and share the commitment to Ft. Campbell Military Base.

[pgail66]

If you have the right plug-in, you can click on the link and hear a podcast that aired on 99.7 WTN, in Nashville, on the Doug Markham show, Sat., May 28 around 6:25 am. about this issue.

The hosts interview Andrew Currie, manager of Dale Hollow NFH. He fully explains this funding dilemma and the hosts ask some good questions to prompt him to say things he's not allowed to say unless asked. This podcast is probably about 20 min. long.

http://www.dougoutdoors.com/dougoutdoors/Podcasts.html

[pgail66]

The Dale Hollow NFH manager is supposed to have a conference call today, Thursday, June 2, to find out the Fish and Wildlife (FWS) plan to implement these cuts if Congress does not intervene and force the cuts back in and reimbursement negotiations fail with COE and TVA.

To this point, we've known that FWS proposes to make these cuts, but they've not stated which hatcheries will be closed and what exact production cuts the hatcheries left open will face. This upcoming information will let us know exactly what fishermen can expect if the cuts actually take place.

We also have information that has come down to the hatcheries that the outrage from the public and state agencies is getting communicated to the congressional delegates of those states, and that those states' delegates are really roughing up top officials at FWS. In other words, the effort is having an effect that should affect this decision today. If you're supporting this effort, please keep it up. If you've not called or written your congressman and senators because you thought it wouldn't help; it does help; please call or write today and tell them to support Tennessee fishing by supporting a full funding solution for Tennessee's national fish hatcheries.. See posts above to quickly send emails to all three of your representatives.

[FlyLie]

The Dale Hollow NFH manager is supposed to have a conference call today, Thursday, June 2, to find out the Fish and Wildlife (FWS) plan to implement these cuts if Congress does not intervene and force the cuts back in and reimbursement negotiations fail with COE and TVA.

To this point, we've known that FWS proposes to make these cuts, but they've not stated which hatcheries will be closed and what exact production cuts the hatcheries left open will face. This upcoming information will let us know exactly what fishermen can expect if the cuts actually take place.

We also have information that has come down to the hatcheries that the outrage from the public and state agencies is getting communicated to the congressional delegates of those states, and that those states' delegates are really roughing up top officials at FWS. In other words, the effort is having an effect that should affect this decision today. If you're supporting this effort, please keep it up. If you've not called or written your congressman and senators because you thought it wouldn't help; it does help; please call or write today and tell them to support Tennessee fishing by supporting a full funding solution for Tennessee's national fish hatcheries.. See posts above to quickly send emails to all three of your representatives.

Please post any info you get on the conference call on both the TN and KY boards. We need the ACTIVE SUPPORT of all anglers in all states effected by the the budget decision. Hopefully, TVA will step up on any short cut in needed funding for the hatcheries but we have to wait and see. I know they are involved in the discussions.