Roy Magarigal
Roy Magarigal was born in Philadelphia on March 4, 1941. Roy graduated from Malvern Prep in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA, in 1959, and afterwards served an apprenticeship in carpentry with a local home builder until he started his home building business in 1962. The next year, he created a commercial development corporation in cooperation with a local real estate development company, and they built and rented retail space.
In 1964, Roy joined the Army National Guard and went to basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. After basic training, he served in the National Guard for six (6) years as a weekend Warrior until 1970. This allowed him to build custom homes, commercial and industrial buildings, and do historical restoration while in the service.
IN 1965, he married his wife, Cathy, and they later had a son, Roy T. (Rusty), and a daughter, Maureen. According to Roy, the smartest thing he has ever done is to marry Cathy. This year, they are married fifty-nine (59) years. Maureen and her husband, Tom, now own and operate the Big Moore’s Run Preserve and Roy and Cathy live there.
In 1971, he closed his construction business and moved to 500 acres of mountain land he had purchased along Big Moore’s Run in Potter County, just south of Coudersport, PA. Until their recent retirement, Roy and Cathy have owned and operated Big Moore Run Preserve and fish hatchery. Now, their daughter and son-in-law own and operate the fish hatchery and the Preserve, which sells trout, stocks Big Moore’s Run and pond, and offers paid hunting and fishing opportunities and lodging.
As a young boy, Roy’s real interest was in the outdoors. His father and others introduced him to fishing, hunting, and trapping near their home in Malvern and in the Pocono Mountains. This introduction inspired a passionate, life-long interest in hunting and trapping PA wildlife, and in fishing in PA and in fishing and hunting in Canada. Also, Roy is a self-taught taxidermist with shoulder mounts and whole-body mounts of large and small mammals he harvested while hunting and trapping in PA and hunting in Canada. Many of these mounts are displayed throughout his home today.
With all the time he has and continues to spend outdoors, he has accumulated a significant body of knowledge about fish and wildlife, including their life requisites, habits, and habitats. A walk in the woods or along a stream with Roy is always a natural history lesson from a well-informed layman’s perspective. Also, he has a keen interest and strong commitment to protecting and enhancing a wide range of fish and wildlife species and their habitats for generations to come. Along with his interest, he voluntarily dedicates much of his time, effort, and resources to collaboratively solving water quality and fisheries problems in the North Central Region of PA.
As a charter member of the God’s Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited, he and his Trout Unlimited associates played key roles in creating the unique Commonwealth’s Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program operated by the County Conservation Districts through the State Conservation Commission under state law. Each year, over $ 35 million is allocated from the PA Department of Transportation Funds to the Conservation Districts to stabilize PA Dirt, Gravel, and Low Volume Roads impacting waters of the Commonwealth. With over 30,000 miles of public dirt and gravel roads in PA, many of which are along the 84,000 miles of its streams, the program has had a tremendous positive impact on reducing erosion and sediment pollution from those roads since its establishment in the late 1990s. Those responsible for the maintenance of dirt and gravel roads across the U.S. and beyond have modeled their programs after PA’s.
Some of the key features of the Dirt and Gravel Road Program are: 1) the program originated from a multi-organization task force comprised of engineering and environmental professionals from: the PA Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, and Environmental Protection; and the PA Game and Fish and Boat Commissions; 2) the requirement that any organization applying for funding must have training supplied by the Penn State Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies. Over 5000 local municipal and state agency road maintenance workers have completed the training; 3) an annual assessment of the roads impacting streams must be conducted by the County Conservation District and its Road Quality Board and published; 4) an annual Conference on Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance and Training Session with field trips to project sites is held; 5) each organization applying for funding must have training updates for its employees every five years; 6) each organization must evaluate the effectiveness of its project(s) and show before and after photographs; and 7) development and statewide application of the Driving Surface Aggregate Formula and Specification requirement, which greatly reduced the use of unsuitably soft rock for road maintenance.
Roy credits his associates, Bud Byron, Chair of the Statewide Trout Unlimited Environmental Committee, and many others for contributing to the success of the Dirt and Gravel Road Program and other God’s County Trout Unlimited water quality protection and enhancement initiatives. He even credits former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for signing 100 trout stamp prints for $750 each over three years to help fund their initiatives.
Over many years, Roy served as a constable in his area of Potter County, assisting the local and state law enforcement and judicial personnel in enforcing the fish, game, and water pollution laws. With his constant presence outdoors and his desire to protect fish and wildlife from illegal activities, he voluntarily served as the eyes and ears of law enforcement and helped solve many cases.
Roy and Cathy generously provide access to Big Moore’s Run and the pond on their property for the annual Potter County Warrior Fishing Program. Dozens of wounded veterans are treated to a parade in Coudersport, PA, guided trout and bass fishing, and an elaborate cookout over two days at no cost to them. Community volunteers enthusiastically support the program by donating their time, talents, and money.
Hundreds of fishermen and fisherwomen have enjoyed the opportunity to fish for the trophy trout in Big Moore’s Run and the pond. Also, many of them have witnessed excellent hospitality and heard a conservation message from Roy in the process.
Roy and Cathy have traveled across the U.S. and Canada in their travel trailer and traveled to Ireland on a family vacation. With his good friend, airplane pilot, and hunting and fishing buddy, Charlie Jesnig, he hunted and fished the remote Canadian Wilderness via float plane and canoe.
I met Roy when I chaired the PA Dirt and Gravel Road Task Force in the mid-1990s, and have greatly enjoyed the outdoors and conservation conversations with him on every occasion we got together since then. Also, Cathy is an outstanding cook of wild fish and game and a superb baker of fruit pies, which she serves at every dinner meal.
I believe Roy has greatly contributed to conservation as a lover of the outdoors and influencer of those he has met.
Prepared by Wayne Kober in collaboration with Roy Magarigal from his draft story in his words and numerous conversations with Roy over decades.