I’ve only been out fishing twice since I wrote last month. Other things, like work projects at home, work at work, and snowstorms in April, keep getting in the way of spending time on the stream. The only available chances to fish were both cold and rainy, which would be ideal in the middle of the summer, but kept the water temperature cold and the fish comatose in the early season. The first time out I saw only one fish (comatose, of course) and didn’t catch any. The water temperature stayed stuck at 42 degrees all day. The second time out, on a different river, the water temperature was a whopping 44 degrees and we were grateful to see (and catch) three nice brookies—which still wasn’t many though, especially compared to the thousands of fish that had showed up in the WDNR’s fish surveys for this particular stream. At least we weren’t skunked like the first day.
What we DID SEE on both days, however, was that the fine restoration work done on these streams over ten years ago by the local WDNR trout crew and Kiap- TU-Wish volunteers had held up through another season of spring flooding. An unrestored section on one of the rivers, downstream of our stream bank stabilization work, was washed out; 100 feet of 10- to 15-foot-high stream banks had eroded and were clogging the river below with sand and silt. I guess our work really does do some good. We also saw well-maintained banks, on both rivers, where the WDNR trout crew and Kiap-TU-Wish volunteers had cleared encroaching box elder and invasive buckthorn (while leaving most native species). This ongoing maintenance work helps stop the spread of invasive species and helps keep the streams challenging, yet fishable, for Kiap-TU-Wish members and non-members alike. Another good thing we’ve accomplished.
Unfortunately, this second good thing, ongoing maintenance work, is in danger of becoming a thing of the past. While new project work along trout streams will continue to receive some state funding through the WDNR, funding for maintenance along trout streams was severely cut and the responsibility for trout stream maintenance was transferred to another state department a couple of years ago when the WDNR was re-organized. Since that time, there has been very little trout stream maintenance done in our area of the state, unless it was initiated by Trout Unlimited chapters or other conservation groups. This means that all of the hard work we’ve done over the past 20 years to cut down shallow-rooted trees and brush, stabilize stream banks and provide coldwater trout habitat could be in vain and those areas could become overgrown and unfishable once again. Our local WDNR fisheries biologist and trout crew don’t want that to happen, and we don’t want that to happen either.
In order to accomplish our conservation goals in this age of increasing budget cuts and shrinking government services, citizens like us are going to have to work smarter, cooperate more with agencies and other like-minded groups, and take more responsibility for doing some things that were previously done for us by others. The Wisconsin DNR and Kiap-TU-Wish have been strong partners in the past and are committed to working even more closely together in the future. Kiap-TU-Wish members and our local fisheries and trout crew have met several times over the past year as this situation has unfolded. The solution to our maintenance issue, which we are developing, involves the WDNR and Kiap-TU-Wish putting together maintenance plans for all of our recent stream restoration sites. These plans could include periodic brushing, prairie plantings, mowing, burning and other activities that will enhance the coldwater fisheries and the riparian habitats along side them. Once these plans are assembled, we will look to the WDNR, other government agencies, other conservation groups, land trusts and, of course, Kiap-TU-Wish volunteers to cooperate together in fulfilling these plans. Will this take more planning, time and effort on our part? You bet. Will we end up with more ecologically diverse, vibrant, resilient streams and riparian habitats into the future? You bet. Are the members of the Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of Trout Unlimited up to this new challenge? You all already know the answer to this one . . YOU BET!
In closing, thank you for all of your donations in terms of volunteer hours spent brushing, working with the kids from our eight Trout in the Classroom sites, and advocating for conservation causes in the past year, as well as for your generosity to the Hap Lutter Memorial Spring Appeal. Please join us for our final chapter meeting of the season at a Kiap-on-Tap on May 1 from 6:00-8:30 PM at Rush River Brewing in River Falls. And one more challenge for all of us: try to take one kid, one young person, or one young adult fishing this summer. They are our future and you just might change a life. Until fall, happy fishing! —Scott Wagner
