In their first season of operation, the fish lifts at Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.'s Holtwood hydroelectric dam in Southern Lancaster County moved more than 28,000 migrating American shad up the Susquehanna River.

"For the first time in decades, American shad were moving upriver through Lancaster County," said Harry Spagnola, superintendent of PP&L's Holtwood power plant. "The fish lifts are helping to make that possible and are an example of PP&L's corporate commitment to the environment."

PP&L built the multimillion dollar fish lifts at Holtwood as part of a public-private partnership to restore American shad to the upper Susquehanna Riverand its tributaries.

"This first year of operation has been an overwhelming success," Spagnola said. "The lifts worked very well, and we were able to meet our objective of allowing tens of thousands of American shad to migrate up the river in a natural way."

PP&L also helped to build a fish lift at the Safe Harbor hydroelectric dam, located about 10 miles upriver from Holtwood. Safe Harbor is co-owned by PP&L and Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.

American shad is the target species for the fish lifts, but many species of fish benefited from the lifts. This year, a total of more than 225,000 fish were lifted at Holtwood, including 25 different species.

Operation of the fish lifts at Holtwood began April 18 and ended June 14.

Each spring, American shad migrate out of the Atlantic Ocean through the Chesapeake Bay and into the Susquehanna River to spawn. For decades that migration was blocked by hydroelectric dams on the river. The construction of the lifts at Holtwood and Safe Harbor now allow the shad to migrate as far north as the York Haven dam near Harrisburg. The York Haven dam is scheduled to have a fish passage in place by 2000, opening up the river to the shad as far north as New York.

After spawning, most of the adult shad die.

"Boaters and anglers should be aware that a number of dead shad will appear after spawning — it's a natural part of the shad life cycle," Spagnola said.

Juvenile American shad will return down the river toward the Atlantic Ocean in September and October. After 3 to 5 years in the ocean, the shad will return, as adults, to spawn in the river system where they originated to repeat the cycle.

Both the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Pennsylvania Fish& Boat Commission have commended PP&L for its shad restoration efforts and for the successful first year of fish lift operation.

PP&L, a subsidiary of PP&L Resources, provides electricity services to 1.2 million customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania. Other subsidiaries are Power Markets Development Co., which invests in energy projects worldwide; and Spectrum Energy Services Corp., which markets energy-related services and products.