Environment

Dave Washburn says fishing is fairly good when the wind will let you get out on the lake.

Hi, I’m Dave Washburn, with the FLW Weekly Fishing Report. Depending on what you’re targeting, fishing is fairly good when the wind will let you get out on the lake. Bass, bluegill and shellcracker are the headliners, but you’ve got to cover water and make a lot of casts to do well.

Less than 25 people have offered comments at public meetings on budget cuts to Land Between the Lakes national recreation area. LBL officials have held two meetings to discuss a 50% cut to the park's maintenance budget which totals around $750,000. The park hosts almost 2 million visitors each year.  12 people attended the last meeting, LBL Public Affairs Specialist Nicole Hawk says she thinks public awareness is increasing.

Waterfowl hunters of the West Sandy Wildlife Management Area near Springville, Tennessee will have to hunt somewhere else for the next few seasons. The Tennessee Valley Authority has flooded the land since the 1970's to allow for waterfowl hunting, but spokesman Bill Sitton says they’re leaving the area dry during this upcoming fall to repair the pump house for the bottoms. He says,

Construction on the Olmsted Lock and Dam Project in Southern Illinois has been ongoing for 20 years, 13 years over schedule. Now a completion date is set for 2026. The final cost of the project will be almost 4 times the initial estimate. Shelly Baskin spoke with Project Engineer Richard Schipp on the problems plaguing the project and what lies ahead for the site.

For the first time since 2005, the Kentucky Watershed Watch Program is changing the tests it conducts on rivers, lakes and streams.  Throughout the year, the program’s 12 hundred volunteers take samples, giving the state a better feel for the quality of its surface water.  Joanna Palmer with the Watershed Watch Office says they’re now teaching new methods to volunteers...

“If they are following the protocols, the sampling protocols that we use here in the division of water..it will give us a better idea of what is happening in the stream,”  said Palmer.