Editor:
West Virginia’s superb brook trout fishing is one of the reasons why there are more anglers per capita in West Virginia than in most other states, and why fishing generates close to 7,000 jobs and more than a half-billion dollars of economic activity in the state.
Thanks to a new bill introduced by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the fishing could get even better.
Sen. Capito recently introduced the bipartisan Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization Act, a bill that, if passed, would authorize additional funding to help farmers and landowners install healthy watershed practices and meet regulatory goals on a voluntary basis.
These include places like the South Branch Potomac River and its tributaries, such as its North and South forks, and others that include the Lost River, Cacapon and Panhandle streams.
Thanks to the Chesapeake Bay Program and others, Trout Unlimited and partners have been able to work with our agricultural partners on almost 400 West Virginia farms to simultaneously improve fish habitat, water quality and farm productivity. The Chesapeake Bay Program is vital to these efforts, and Trout Unlimited appreciates Sen. Capito’s support for building and sustaining the program.