| Leroy M. Young, Jr., a 26-year
employee of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has been named as the agency’s Director of the
Bureau of Fisheries.
In announcing the appointment, PFBC Executive Director Doug Austen said, “Leroy will bring
to the bureau director position a wealth of experience and the ability to work with a wide variety of
interest groups. I am confident that he will strive to make the Bureau of Fisheries even more successful in its
efforts on behalf of the aquatic resources as well as the citizens of the Commonwealth and our many visitors.”
Young
has served as the Commission’s Chief of the Fisheries Management Division since April 2005. He spent the previous
18 years working in the Division of Environmental Services, and from May 1997 to April 2005 he served
as Chief of the Aquatic Resources Section in that Division. The Aquatic Resources Section is responsible for
permit and license application reviews related to hydropower development, water withdrawals, coal mining,
thermal discharge variances to permits, aquatic herbicide use, and lake drawdowns. The section also coordinates agency
involvement in Superfund cases where there have been impacts to aquatic life.
From 1996 to 1998 he worked on an interagency
team in the development of the Pennsylvania/Maryland Instream Flow Model. Development of this computer
model involved Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) evaluations on 101 study sites distributed
among 75 wild trout streams in Pennsylvania and Maryland. This model is currently used routinely by
the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to develop instream
flow protection conditions for wild trout streams in those agencies’ water
allocation permits.
Young’s other work with the Commission includes such things as American shad restoration
on the Susquehanna, Lehigh and Schuylkill Rivers; warmwater fisheries management; and creel survey efforts
on Lake Erie.
In 2004, Young received the Susquehanna River Basin Commission’s Maurice K. Goddard Award, which
is given in recognition of excellence as a water management professional. In 2006, he received the Pennsylvania
Environmental Defense Foundation’s
Pine Cone Award in recognition of his efforts towards the stewardship of Pennsylvania’s streams.
He and Jane,
his wife of 26 years, live in Coburn. They have four children: Brittney, Abigail, Aaron, and Adam, and
two grandchildren. |
