Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture Awards FY25 projects
Emory Creek, Pickens County, S.C. (Beech Bottom Falls – inset); proposed for habitat enhancement followed by reintroduction of native Brook Trout. Credit Amy Chastain, SCDNR, 2024.
The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) is pleased to announce the recipients of Brook Trout conservation project funding through the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) for FY25.
Five Brook Trout conservation projects and an EBTJV operational project were funded for a total of $370,000 in NFHP funding. These projects will bring $1.4M in other contributions. In a new collaboration this year, one project was supported in partnership with our neighboring FHP, the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP), demonstrating the connection between headwaters and coastal ecosystems.
These five projects will remove eight barriers to fish passage—including one dam and seven culverts—reconnect over 21 miles of priority brook trout streams, and restore nine acres of riparian habitat. Two projects will reintroduce brook trout populations in areas where they were previously lost. From the cool headwater streams of Vermont and Pennsylvania to the southern reaches of brook trout range in South Carolina, these projects reflect a broad geographic impact and focus on science-based restoration.
Congratulations to the South Carolina DNR, Trout Unlimited, Squat-A-Tissit Chapter of TU, and Somerset Conservation District.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who made this possible: the project leads and local partners who developed strong proposals; our state agency contacts who consulted with the applicants to ensure a good fit; the EBTJV and NFHP review teams; and our partners at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who work to execute award agreements and provide technical assistance.
Nationwide, NFHP and its 20 Fish Habitat Partnerships supported 53 on-the-ground fish habitat conservation projects in 29 states using $5.9 million in total funding this year. EBTJV was well represented in this competitive process. NFHP’s story is available at https://www.fishhabitat.org.
|
Name |
State |
Organization |
Amount |
Summary |
|
SC |
South Carolina DNR |
$ 50,000 |
SC DNR proposes to restore native Eastern Brook Trout populations in four streams in three patches totaling 14.6 km (9.1 miles) of habitat. This includes comprehensive restoration, including non-native removals (eradication) above barriers in 8.7 km (5.4 miles) of stream, physical in-stream habitat enhancement/restoration in all 14.6 km, followed by reintroduction of native Brook Trout in 14.6 km. |
|
|
Burke's Pond Dam Removal, MA |
MA |
Squan-a-Tissit Chapter of TU |
$ 50,000 |
Burke’s Pond Dam is the only remaining permanent barrier to the migration of fish and other aquatic species along Sucker Brook. Project will remove Burke's Pond dam, opening an additional 1.1 mile of Sucker Brook upstream (4 miles total reconnected), and also improve public safety, add large instream wood, restore 2-3 acres riparian habitat, relocate brook trout to the stream from nearby Gulf Brook. (Funded through ACFP) |
|
VT |
Trout Unlimited |
$ 50,000 |
This project proposes to replace two proximate culverts on the same unnamed tributary to the Waits River and reconnect the remaining two miles of upstream habitat. Supporting work by project partner Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department will also be restoring 3.2mi of in- stream woody habitat both in the tributary upstream and downstream of the culverts, but also on the adjacent stream network, amplifying the overall benefit to stream reconnection at this location. This will open 2 miles of headwater stream (reconnecting 5.7 mi total). |
|
|
NY |
Trout Unlimited |
$ 49,870 |
The Batavia Kill project will include the replacement of three culverts that will reconnect over 4 miles of high-quality headwater habitat for Brook Trout. Location chosen as the highest priority site for potential culvert replacement project as part of TU’s East Branch Delaware River Trout Habitat Improvement Project. |
|
|
PA |
Somerset Conservation District, PA |
$ 45,230 |
The proposed North Fork of Bens Creek (PA) large wood fish habitat and aquatic passage project is intended increase the brook trout biomass and promote genetic diversity in an allopatric brook trout stream in southwest Pennsylvania. This will be accomplished through the installation of strategically placed large woody material and upgrading two failing stream crossings in the upper basin. The project goals are to increase stream connectivity, encourage infiltration and groundwater recharge, and engage floodplain reconnection and protection. An additional project focus is to increase the diversity of aquatic and riparian habitats by increasing the floodplain water table, managing sediment deposition, creating side channels, fish refuge, floodplain wetlands and encouraging fine debris and leaf pack storage. |
|
Additionally, EBTJV's operations were funded at $126,000, to continue to serve as a hub for science, data, and communications on wild brook trout, and to promote and fund Brook Trout conservation projects in the Eastern geographic range. EBTJV will also continue to improve its Eastern Salmonid Assessment and tool. |
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