Dave Fowler, a board member with the Glade Run Lake Conservancy, said he and others had many questions on Wednesday regarding the brush and trees protruding above the lake’s surface during the fish stocking.

Fowler explained that the natural growth was intentionally left in the lake and will serve an important purpose.

“It’s excellent fish habitat,” Fowler said. “By leaving them in there, we will have much larger and more fish in the future.”

Dave Parise, the project manager for the fish habitats in the lake, said the trees and brush will help forage fish hide, and keep the bigger fish from eating them.

He said the growth will eventually die off in about three to four years, and will have served its purpose.

The natural growth that occurred since the lake’s draining in 2011 also eliminates the need for excessive artificial fish habitats to be added in the lake.

“The more natural habitat, the better,” Parise said.

Ben Page of the Fish and Boat Commission’s habitat management division agreed, and added that the brush and trees also will provide nursery habitat for the juvenile fish that will be stocked in the lake.

Another purpose the trees and brush will serve is a feeding ground for panfish, catfish and bass, as the woody growth will naturally become covered in food sources for those fish, Page said.

He said trees and brush were left standing in four other lakes in Pennsylvania that were closed by the commission and eventually refilled.

“The standing trees in the reservoir serve many purposes for the fishery,” Page said.

He said the trees and brush protruding above the surface could be sheared off by ice movement in the winter.

About 3,000 trout were stocked in the lake on Wednesday by the commission, and additional species like panfish and catfish will be added in the coming months.