The quarterly newsletter of the EBTJV MAY 2009 Northeast Division Editor s Notes Welcome to our Spring edition and the first in 2009. Now that all the snow is melted and the trout are chasing mayflies, it s a good time to focus our efforts on our local watersheds. Please keep me informed of new interested parties for my mailing list and also keep me updated on changes of positions within councils and chapters. Our distribution list is now over 160 and still growing. There are quite a few folks in the east that are interested in our native brookies. I ve continued to add links to all the url s and email addresses contained in the newsletter. You just need to click on them to send an email or visit a website. As always, I m open to suggestions and new ideas so feel free to send them to me at williamo@maine.rr.com. In This Issue: Editors Notes... Page 1 Social Networking... Page 2 Maine...Page 3-6 Osprey with Brookie photo by Donna Lorello Branford The membership of our EBTJV Google Group is growing nicely. It s a site where we will have a forum for discussions, a place to upload and post files/ documents/newsletters and send a reminder to the entire group. Hopefully this opens up broader lines of communication throughout the EBTJV. You can easily apply for group membership by clicking the tab on the right side of http:// groups.google.com/group/ebtjv. I urge you to visit it often I have a feeling that this will be a useful tool for the EBTJV. Please Note that this month we ll be opening up discussions on Google Group, so if you re interested in commenting or have some great ideas, feel free to share them with us all. Enjoy the Newsletter and our Google Group Tight Lines! by Bill Oleszczuk www.easternbrooktrout.org Page 1
Brook Trout on Social Networks The joint venture recently increased its communication reach with some social media tools. We now have a blog and joined three social networking sites. The Brook Trout Blog, at http://brooktrout.wordpress.com/ offers a running commentary on the activity of the joint venture. We will be posting information and updates on a regular basis. We have created a facebook page, the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, http://www.facebook.com/pages/eastern- Brook-Trout-Joint-Venture#/pages/Eastern-Brook-Trout- Joint-Venture/59207767524?v=info&viewas=1633323785. You will need a facebook account to view this page. If you are already on facebook we hope you will become a fan of this page. We are on the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation s social media site Fishington as well. You can see it at: http://www.takemefishing.org/community/sn/ profiles/view/name/eastern-brook-trout-joint-venture. We also are on Twitter, at https://twitter.com/ebtjv. You will need a twitter account as well if you want to follow us or send as a tweet. Many of us are still old school and these social media tools are sometimes hard to understand. Not to worry they are not near as hard to figure out as you may think and are chock full of good information. Check them out. by Tom Sadler www.easternbrooktrout.org Page 2
Maine Maine's Crooked River Protected A long-running debate was finally settled earlier this year when Maine's Department of Environmental Protection finally denied a permit to rebuild a dam at Scribners Mills. The Crooked is the major spawning tributary for Maine's Sebago lake and its famous landlocked salmon population (Salmar-Solar-Sebago) but it is also the home to a significant wild brook trout population that flourish in its cooler deeper pools. The dam was first built there in 1847 and operated until 1962. The dam site is 21 miles upstream and would have provided a head for a restored water-powered saw mill, but the pond and dam would have prevented easy movement within the river for both resident brookies and migrating salmon. Needless to say, local anglers and the Sebago Chapter of TU are ecstatic. including the restrictive regulations we imposed to protect older fish, our stream restoration program, and the genetic work we've done. Finally, the website will include links to Registered Maine Fishing Guides and accommodations to assist anglers in fishing these waters. On another front, we've received funding to do additional work on the upper Sandy River and on South Bog Stream, both in the Rangeley area. We'll also be conducting our annual monitoring for the sites we've already completed. Dr. Stephen Coghlan and of the University of Maine will again be monitoring the Sunday River chop and drop research effort and will be moving captured wild brook trout upstream into now-fishless reaches to determine their impact on native biota. Forrest Bonney Fall fishing on the Crooked River Photo by Dave Bowie by Dave Bowie Maine s ongoing EBTJV Projects (2008 activity Reports) Restoring Stream Habitat Connectivity in a High Conservation Success Index Subbasin WB Machias Primary contact: Steven Koenig skoenig@salmonhabitat.org Project SHARE is working with a Private Landowner and the USFWS Maine Fishery Resources Office (MEFRO) to restore aquatic habitat connectivity in the W.B. Machias River. In a recent Fisheries Journal, this subbasin attained the highest Conservation Success Index score among all Downeast Maine Rivers (Williams, Haak et al. 2007). Wild Brook Trout Web Site We're working with a number of agencies and organizations to develop a wild brook trout web site to let people know that Maine has about 97% of all of the wild brook trout lakes and ponds in the eastern United States. We'll have map-based information about each of these 700 waters, as well as information about the different programs we have underway in the state to protect this resource, Photo by Scott Craig USFWS MEFRO www.easternbrooktrout.org Page 3
Maine continued Our goal is to restore unhindered aquatic connectivity while maintaining free public access to people who hunt and fish in the privately owned WB Machias River. Each project (6) will reconnect approximately 0.25 miles of habitat upstream in tributaries that solely support brook trout. However, the primary benefit will be in restoring ecological stream function within streams that are highly degraded by culvert constrictions that impact brook trout habitat- both up and downstream of the road crossings. by Scott Craig Assessing the Efficacy of Remediating Episodic Low ph (and High Aluminum) Concentrations In Headwater Brook Trout Streams With Clamshell Additions Primary contact: Steven Koenig skoenig@salmonhabitat.org This study will determine if clean-dried clam shell additions could help remediate episodic ph (low) events and therefore decrease the amount of toxic organic aluminum in brook trout tributaries. Two tributaries included in this study currently do not sustain fish, even though they contain high quality habitat for fish. The likely reason for fish absence is thought to be low ph and subsequently high aluminum. The clamshell industry in coastal Maine currently pays for discarding shells shucked at processing facilities; so in essence, we would be using a waste product to help remediate low ph and subsequent high labial aluminum issues in brook trout streams. Project SHARE, MEFRO, and MDEP will work together to place clamshells (and if necessary, limestone gravel on approach roads) and monitor water quality within the project study area. We have already collaborated on a project that added limestone gravel upon approach roads in the Crooked River. Data sonde results have indicated that ph levels were higher below the treatment sites in the much larger sized Crooked River. by Scott Craig Chop and Drop in the Sunday River, ME: Androscoggin River Watershed Council Primary contact: Jeff Stern sternjm@hotmail.com We are proposing to evaluate the effects of the large woody debris additions of 2007 in low order streams for attenuating flows. We recognize that, if this experiment proves successful, additional sites will need to be treated to achieve basin-wide flow moderation. We also anticipate that pool creation and nutrient-trapping will enhance brook trout habitat in the immediate treatment area as well as downstream. Hence, the importance for intensive project monitoring is paramount to the future plans for continued habitat conservation efforts in this subwatershed. In addition, this procedure, if deemed successful and economical, may very well provide many watershed managers with a relatively simple strategy for attenuating flashy flows. Work completed in 2008: Geomorphic monitoring of a chop and drop project on two tributaries of the Sunday River, Maine in 2007 and 2008 has documented a weak aggradational response to the addition of wood to the channels. Cross sections and www.easternbrooktrout.org Page 4
Maine continued longitudinal profiles show a tendency for aggradation to occur upstream of log jams, although not all aggradation is closely associated with the wood. Ground photographs repeated in the same location both years show that small logs have moved slightly, while anecdotal evidence suggests larger trees have also moved" The repositioning of the wood should over time, lead to the formation of larger log jams and result in a more pronounced aggradational response, increased step-pool spacing, greater pools depths, and a narrowing of the channel. Water level logging was initiated upstream and downstream of the treatment sites to determine if the presence of wood leads to an expected decrease in peak runoff and an increase in flow duration. Initial results suggest the wood may have a weak influence on runoff characteristics but several other factors are also likely involved. Continuation of the monitoring will further document the location, magnitude, and rate of these geomorphic and hydrological adjustments, which could prove useful in planning future chop and drop projects elsewhere. Relocation of a Unnamed Coastal Stream Primary contact: Robert Van Riper Robert.VanRiper@maine.gov The project seeks to remove obstructions to fish passage and rehabilitate 110m of associated riparian area. The original scope of the project was to relocate 110m of stream channel to its historic location. Since the inception of the project, one of the formerly cooperating landowners has decided against excavation of his property. Since the proposed relocation would have followed a property line on which he is an abutter, the project partners re-evaluated rehabilitating the stream channel in place. Belfast, Maine: Unnamed Stream, existing culverts (downstream of dam) Photograph: W.L. Woodward, Oct. 5, 2006 www.easternbrooktrout.org Page 5
Maine continued The new scope will remove a 4 high headwall and two adjacent culverts, and calls for the construction of 6 drop pools to correct the vertical alignment of the stream over 40m of stream length. Additionally, an access roadway will be abandoned, resulting in a single access to two shore-side rental units. The replacement access will terminate in a constructed cul-de-sac. The stream channel will be planted with native vegetation, similar in quantity in composition to that found upstream for a distance of 110 m. Work completed in 2008: May: Scope of work modified from rehabilitation of relocated stream channel to rehabilitation of channel in the existing location. June: Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) fisheries staff electro-fish several reaches of the stream; 1) Upstream of US Rte. 1 (BKT currently resident), 2) Downstream of US Rte. 1 to upper culverts (fish passage restored during 2006 culvert retrofit, BKT currently resident have utilized formerly fragmented habitat), 3) Downstream of upper culverts to dam spillway low numbers of BKT captured, and 4) Below dam spillway to limit of high tide No BKT captured. July: MDIFW met with Maine DOT and the property owner to explain project and develop construction scheduling. August: Property owner completes work permit allowing Maine DOT and MDIFW an easement to work on the property and perform post project monitoring and maintenance. September: MDIFW and Maine DOT developed preliminary design for stream channel rehabilitation. Only minor modifications to design necessary. Cooperative agreement between USFWS and MDIFW completed. October: Contact initiated w/ Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine DOT can complete work under its culvert exemption, which includes any ancillary work associated with culvert retrofits. Final design complete. November: Contact with Maine Historic Preservation Office for Historic\Archeological concerns. by Scott Craig Scott D. Craig U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Project Leader Maine Fishery Resources Office 306 Hatchery Road East Orland, Maine 04431 Office: 207 469-7300 ext 226 Cell: 207 240-3172 Fax: 469-6725 www.easternbrooktrout.org Page 6