EBTJV supports NJ DEP and partners in a grant to accelerate Brook Trout conservation in the Delaware Watershed
Sunset over the Catskills, Brandtbolding, Getty Images via Canva
The EBTJV congratulates the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on securing a $3.5M America The Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) grant to restore Brook Trout habitat in the Delaware River Watershed. The newly funded program is a collaboration between NJ DEP, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Trout Unlimited, Wildlife Management Institute, the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Eastern Brook Trout is a recreationally and culturally important species and an icon in many states. However, due to degradation of the cold, clean, forested waterways the species need to survive, Brook Trout are now only found in a fraction of the waters of their native range, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region. This ATBC award will support conservation projects such as replacing undersized or failing culverts, removing derelict dams, enhancing habitat with large wood addition, reconnecting floodplains, and reforesting riparian buffers to reduce erosion and polluted runoff. Importantly, this award supports a new collaboration in the Delaware River Watershed to improve effectiveness of conservation across state lines, and develop a conservation strategy to ensure future investments in Brook Trout conservation, their cold water ecosystems, and local communities.
A prior grant awarded in August 2024 to WMI through the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund will fund project managers in the watershed.
The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture is proud to assist in the coordination of this initiative, and is grateful to the state, federal, and NGO partners who will provide critical project planning, management and oversight, administration, and pre-and post-project monitoring.
“We are excited to be part of this multi-state conservation effort that will enhance habitat for the region’s only native trout species,” said NJDEP Fish & Wildlife Assistant Commissioner Dave Golden. “This collaborative approach will help achieve conservation goals across state lines, which will benefit not only Eastern brook trout but also a diverse array of aquatic species.”
“This initiative is fundamentally about aligning implementation resources with identified projects to help conserve a priority species for all three states and our partners,” said Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Executive Director Tim Schaeffer. “In so doing, we are affirming a commitment to landscape-level conservation that capitalizes on unprecedented partnerships here in the Northeast.”
“The work that will be accomplished under the America the Beautiful Challenge Grant marks a new phase for the already successful joint venture, as states will now use the knowledge compiled over the past 20 years to collectively improve upon the habitat brook trout depend upon in the Delaware watershed,” said Steve Hurst, Chief of Fisheries for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.
These three agencies, as well as the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Trout Unlimited, are on the Steering Committee for the EBTJV. We are grateful for their hard work in securing the funding, and to NFWF for the opportunity. About EBTJV: The EBTJV is a network of fisheries managers, scientists, nonprofits, state and federal agencies, regional and local governments, businesses, conservation organizations, academia, scientific societies, and Tribal organizations that is working to conserve healthy populations of Brook Trout in the eastern native range. We work collaboratively with partners at multiple geographic and jurisdictional scales to reverse the declining trend for wild Brook Trout, and are one of the twenty members of the National Fish Habitat Partnership.
NJ DEP’s award was one of 61 awards announced by NFWF on December 2, 2024. For more information about the America the Beautiful Challenge Grant program, visit the NFWF ATBC webpage.
Other awards under this round of ATBC to benefit Brook Trout habitat include:
"Monitoring and Outreach for Supporting Adaptive Restoration of Aquatic Resources in the southeast National Forests." (Colorado State University) - $605K
"Collaboration across Cultures and Generations to Reconnect Relations in the Penobscot River Watershed (ME)" (Penobscot Nation) - $5M
"Assisting Private Landowners with Aquatic Habitat Enhancement in Southwest Virginia" (Canaan Valley Institute) - $500K
"Aquatic Barrier Removal and Assessments to Benefit At- Risk Species in Western North Carolina" (North Carolina WRC) - $2.03M
Related media:
WHYY-Philadelphia reporting with Trout Unlimited December 2024
NJ DEP Press release - January 8, 2025.
Philadelphia Inquirer - N.J., Pa., N.Y. join forces to protect dwindling brook trout January 9, 2025
EBTJV, PA, NY, NJ, TU, and WMI partner to increase capacity for brook trout conservation - EBTJV, Sept 2024
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