oy Scouts from Troop 20 in Palmerton got a chance to help the ecosystem of Beltzville Lake last week when they built some porcupine cribs.

If you are wondering what those spiky rodents have to do with an aquatic environment, and why they need accommodations for their infants, allow Keith Beamer, lake habitat manager for the state Fish and Boat Commission, to explain.“We’re building fish habitats tonight. The structure that we’re building specifically is called a porcupine crib,” Beamer said to the crew of Scouts, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources members, and parent volunteers.The 4-foot-tall habitats are constructed of alternating layers of wooden boards, which taper off as they reach the top. As the ends of the boards stick out further and further, they take on a quill-like appearance, hence the name. The 22-layer structures are weighed down by eight concrete blocks that are nestled into the base.The hope is that these installations will help to build a natural fish and water creature ecosystem of sorts, reducing or eliminating the need to stock the lake. It all starts with the algae that will grow on the porcupine cribs. Macroinvertebrates, including insects and worms, feed off the algae. Smaller fish consume the macroinvertebrates, which serve as a food source for larger fish.“Each time we put one of these structures in, it creates a little food web,” Beamer said. “These structures are going to benefit the fish by giving them a place to hide, and a place to forage.”In addition, the presence of mother fish helps to protect the fry — or immature — fish, along with the safety of the structure.“It helps the fish live in this environment without danger,” Troop 20 Scout Zacary Reif, 11, who has participated in the project for three years, said.The habitats are part of an ongoing experiment that could greatly benefit man-made lakes, such as Beltzville.“The whole bed of the lake is clear-cut, so there are no natural habitats for the fish,” Troop 20 volunteer Greg Gruber said, explaining that the dead trees on the bottom of a natural lake normally fulfill this purpose.Scouts were allowed to help stack the wood, while the adult volunteers nailed the structures together and added the concrete blocks.After completing the structures, DCNR volunteer Curt Ahner loaded them onto the whaler with a Bobcat. The whaler could hold two at a time, along with Beamer and two Scouts.“It was really cool. I was never on a boat before. It feels really awesome to help out like this,” Troop 20 Scout Sean Sommers, 11, said.On the return trip, Beamer pointed out several polelike images on the whaler’s fish finder, indicating that these were some of the other habitats. Thanks to the GPS trackers on the habitats, fishermen can find some of the best fishing spots on the lake.“One of the benefits for our anglers is that we have all of these habitat structures on our website. So if you’re coming out here for a short day, you can pull up our habitat map, see where we put these structures in, what depth they are, where the coordinates are, find them and do very well,” Fish and Boat Commission’s Mike Swartz said.Last year, Beamer said the Commission saw a 32 percent increase in fish using the structures over the course of a year. The volunteers, Fish and Boat Commission and DCNR are hoping that the project will continue to stimulate growth in the aquatic ecosystem, as well as an interest in the lake itself.“It’s been a great project for the kids, working with an outside government agency. They get to build things and hopefully one day they’ll get to go out and catch some of those fish,” Gruber said.Photo gallery: http://www.tnonline.com/gallery/troop-20-makes-porcupine-cribs-fish-beltzville