By Kyle Kamm
Heading into my senior year studying fisheries management at The University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, I was fortunate as the recipient of the 2024 Jeremy Brooks Memorial Scholarship to be able to spend this past summer working in multiple aspects of fisheries management throughout a summer internship with Trout Unlimited.
Half of my summer was spent surveying road-stream crossings and taking aquatic organism passage (AOP) data. During the other half of my summer internship I was fortunate to be able to work with the local Wisconsin DNR trout stream restoration crew on the Parker Creek, Plum Creek, and Kinnickinnic River restoration projects.
For the AOP work I was teamed up with Ernest Luedke, who was returning for a second summer of AOP surveying. We spent six weeks traveling St. Croix, Peirce, Dunn, and Pepin counties in Wisconsin collecting information on barriers to fish passage, which can include dams and culverts.
Ernie was a great teacher and co-worker. He helped me learn how to take AOP measurements and offered other life lessons like deer hunting tips.
I’m from Somerset, Wisc., and while traveling through the counties surrounding my home, I was able to explore new areas and experience the beautiful landscapes. I even took note of some trout fishing spots I want to return to one day.
Taking AOP data allowed me to realize the issues a small, perched culvert can have on a fish population. Hopefully in time, AOP barriers on higher class streams can all be fixed, restoring fish passage and reconnecting populations.
I helped with water quality sampling, collecting macroinvertebrates and Wise–H2O data, and downloading temperature loggers with Kent. Clark was so kind that he gave me a jar and let me take leftover bugs for my upcoming invertebrate course collection. It was great to meet and build connections with my local chapter members.
Throughout the summer I had the opportunity to help my local Trout Unlimited chapter, –Kiap-TU-Wish — with water quality monitoring on the Kinnickinnic River. I worked with Kent Johnson, Tovah Flygare, John Kaplan and Clark Gary.
I was also able to help the local WI DNR with their trout surveying on the Rush and Willow rivers, spending two days electrofishing, weighing and measuring hundreds of trout. I’ve had this experience through previous years at college but this was my first time working with the DNR and surveying waters close to home. I had a blast and was able to connect with the biologist, Kasey Yallaly.
During the other half of my summer Internship, I was fortunate to be able to work with the local DNR trout stream restoration crew on the Parker Creek, Plum Creek, and Kinnickinnic River projects.
On my first day of work, I learned how to run and maintain some of their heavy equipment and spent the morning practicing in the tracked dump truck. Once I got the hang of driving it, I then began to haul rock, dumping piles where they were needed along the river.
Every day I got more comfortable operating large equipment and by the end of the summer, I logged hours on the tracked dump truck, bulldozer, excavator, skid steer and utility vehicles.
Growing up helping on the family farm, I have always had a love for operating machinery but this opportunity to operate machinery in a work environment was beyond what I was expecting. Going to work was exciting knowing that I would be tasked with driving different equipment in different terrain along the riverside.
Operating equipment was not the only thing I fell in love with. Being able to change the land and stream to help aquatic organisms and fishermen while making the stream bank stronger against future erosion was a purpose that intrigued me.
I was fortunate to be able to work on different sites and was able to see the fascinating changes made.
Nate Anderson, Josh Kucko and Nick Kriewald were all great to work with. I learned so much from asking questions and spending rainy days with them. They all made me feel like I had been working with them for years. I felt valued and trusted. This experience was by far my favorite and helped me the most in figuring out my future goals.
I want to thank the Jeremey Brooks family for awarding me this scholarship and providing me the opportunity to work with Trout Unlimited. I could not have imagined a better summer experience that will boost my academic and future fisheries career.
I also want to thank TU staff Dan Dauwalter and Sara Strassman for choosing me to be a part of their crew and trusting me with this position.
My final thank you goes out to all the coworkers I was fortunate to work with, especially Kasey Yallaly and Nate Anderson. Sitting down and talking about careers and schooling made an impact on my future goals and aspirations. My goal is to continue schooling after my undergraduate to land a career surveying and protecting the land and waters where I grew up for future generations to enjoy.