During fishing and boating week, enjoy and conserve wild brook trout
photo by Brett Billings, USFWS, showing stream, creel, fly rod and reel, box of flies.
We are in the middle of National Fishing and Boating week, and we at the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) encourage you to discover wild brook trout, a beautiful, native fish, and learn about our efforts to conserve the waters it calls home.
Wild brook trout are found in only the coldest, cleanest water, in some of the most pristine natural settings of its native range: from Georgia to Maine, and into the Great Lakes and Canada. Visiting those places and fishing for brook trout might be good for your mental health, and who doesn’t need a stress break? Depending on where you live, wild brook trout might be more accessible than you think, with populations within or relatively close to major metropolitan areas from Maryland north. In fact, they are found in cold water ponds, lakes, and even coastal streams, growing to different sizes and taking on different coloration by location.
Wild brook trout face many challenges and have disappeared from many of their historic streams. The EBTJV was formed in 2004 by organizations, agencies, and concerned citizens, all looking to reverse that trend through partnerships and the best science-based strategies.
Unfortunately, wild brook trout face many challenges and have disappeared from many of their historic streams. The EBTJV was formed in 2004 by organizations, agencies, and concerned citizens, all looking to reverse that trend through partnerships and the best science-based strategies.
We help bring together local and federal funding - notably, via the National Fish Habitat Partnership - to support actions such as removing in-stream barriers to movement, adding large woody material to streams and streambanks to diversify habitats, adding trees to shade the water and buffer pollution, and removing invasive species to reduce competition.
What’s more, many of these same actions also help protect groundwater, drinking water sources, and destinations for recreation. Drinkable, swimmable water is a resource that everyone needs, and when brook trout are present and abundant, you can be sure that healthy water is flowing downstream.
According to Nat Gillespie, EBTJV Chair, "the ultimate prize for us is fishable populations of wild brook trout. It's the reason we came together and is the reason we are working so hard ".
You can help by supporting conservation in your own community by working with watershed groups to plant streamside trees. But you can also help just by fishing: a portion of tackle sales help fund the Sport Fish Restoration Program, which benefits our nation’s waterways and fisheries. Additionally, when you purchase gear, sandwiches, and even fish-themed beverages (yes, some beer and liquor sales help the environment!) you help generate local support and interest in conservation.
The mission of the EBTJV is to secure resilient populations of wild brook trout by protecting, enhancing, and restoring aquatic habitats and increasing human connections to, and stewardship of, our natural environment. Operations of the EBTJV, from Maine to Georgia, are funded by the National Fish Habitat Partnership through the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The EBTJV’s sponsor is the Canaan Valley Institute, a 501 c(3) nonprofit that works to create healthy communities, vibrant economies, and clean watersheds across Central Appalachia. For more information or to donate to EBTJV, visit www.easternbrooktrout.org or visit us at www.facebook.com/ebtjv.
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