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Large wood additions improving habitat in Vermont
By Erin Rodgers A Trout Unlimited project in Vermont is improving fish habitat in an important native trout stream. In July and August 2018, a field team of seven people — led by me and Joel DeStasio— installed a significant amount of large woody habitat on 3.5 miles of Michigan Brook in Pittsfield. The team used…
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TU making fishing better on Vermont’s Mettawee
Replacing perched and undersized culverts with bridges allows fish and other stream-dwelling residents access to important, additional habitat. By Erin Rodgers Trout Unlimited’s ambitious work on the Mettawee River in Vermont moved forward in earnest in 2018 setting the stage for continuation of the effort in 2019. This ongoing project aims to remove or restore all barriers fish…
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Maine volunteers collect eDNA samples for Arctic char work
When Arctic char are caught (by angling) at sample sites, data is quickly collected from the fish prior to their release. By Dave Huntress and Steve Brooke Maine’s Kennebec Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter is in its second season of using environmental DNA samplingto detect the presence/absence of Maine’s rare and unique “blue back” Arctic char in a handful of…
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TU volunteers monitoring spawning redds and dam sites in Massachusetts
Members of TU's Deerfield Watershed chapter work on their redd survey on their home river. The past year has seen TU staff and volunteers in Massachusetts engaged in a variety of efforts in the field. The Deerfield Watershed chapter had a big year in 2018, particularly with their efforts with a sapwning study in the Deerfield…
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Highlights aplenty in New Hampshire in 2018
Trout Unlimited’s staff had a busy year in New Hampshire in 2018, spending some time monitoring previously completed projects, installing new projects, and evaluating opportunities for new projects in 2019 and 2020. From site visits, to completing field surveys, to conducting eight community workshops, TU staff did a little of everything in 2018. One major project that consumed a lot of hours for the…
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Mine Drainage Cleanup in Pennsylvania: Perseverance pays off in the Potts Run watershed
By Rachel Kester As a college intern at the Clearfield County Conservation District, I first sampled Potts Run in the summer of 2002 as part of an assessment of Clearfield Creek, a tributary to the West Branch Susquehanna River in northcentral Pennsylvania. Potts Run sticks in my mind because after spending all summer sampling streams degraded…
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Lake Champlain chapter removes old dam opening up brook trout habitat on the Ausable River in NY
By Rich Redman Quarry Dam was an old concrete/timber crib dam located on the West Branch of the Ausable River, approximately four miles east of Lake Placid, N.Y. The dam’s history is lost in the mists of time, but it was probably built to help loggers move logs down the river in the annual log…
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