Several million trout will be stocked by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in the state’s streams this year, luring anglers to rivers, creeks and lakes in hopes of catching them.

Most of these fish raised in nurseries and hatcheries will either be caught or not live beyond a single season of fishing.

Many more wild trout, however, can be found across the state in limestone and freestone creeks often in cold mountain waters.

Dave Nihart, of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, said wild trout are best suited for waters where habitat and environmental conditions are ideal.

The greatest threats to wild trout, he told members of the Susquehanna Chapter of Trout Unlimited, are high water temperatures and habitat degradation.

Decisions that impact land use and water quality, along with climate change play a big part on trout populations.

Penns Creek, a limestone stream that originates in Centre County at Penns Cave and flows many miles eastward to the Susquehanna River, is renowned for its streambred brown and brook trout.

Nihart referred to the section of Penns Creek in Mifflin and Centre counties, as a fertile stream with a stable habitat and minimal bank erosion.

Wild trout flourish in those conditions, despite the stream receiving heavy angling pressure.

Nihart also talked about Spring Creek in Centre County, renowned as a world-class wild-brown trout fishery.

However, stream conditions improved after the removal in 2007 of McCoy-Linn Dam near Bellefonte, restoring Spring Creek to its natural, free-flowing condition. Dams can create sediment, cause warming water temperatures, and prevent passage of fish and other aquatic life.

Benner Run in Centre County is located in dense canopied forest land and experiences minimal bank erosion and angling pressure — ideal conditions for a wild trout stream.

“There is not much you can do to improve it,” Nihart said. “It has maintained very good biomass.”

Efforts to limit or establish fish harvests by anglers don’t necessarily help overall trout populations in streams, Nihart said.

However, added angling pressure from anglers on wild trout streams does impact populations.

“Not all wild trout populations are the same,” he said.

And, trout populations in streams themselves don’t remain the same year after year. Many streams in the state hold both wild and stocked trout.

“With stocked trout, the expectation is they will be gone in two months,” he said. “They are there to serve their purpose.”

After all, the goal of putting hatchery-raised trout in streams is to provide recreation for many anglers.

Contrary to what many believe, stocked trout do not severely impact wild trout populations.

“Competition is not as big a deal as many think,” Nihart said. “Competition in streams with stocked fish is not of long duration.”

A strategic improvement plan for wild trout fisheries, he said, includes surveys of streams, restoring habitats, monitoring creeks, and identifying otherwise unknown wild trout waters.

“Anytime we document wild trout resources, we elevate water protection,” he said.

Nihart referred to northcentral Pennsylvania as a mecca for wild trout.

“We are blessed in this part of the state to have so many public lands,” he added.