StructureSpot

Project aims to show crops, marshland can coexist for fish habitat and flood control

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

A flock of birds flies over the Yolo Bypass near Woodland, where conservationists hope to restore ancient floodplains.

Woodland, Yolo County —

Five acres of mud and rice stubble doesn’t look much like fish habitat, but the rectangular patch of summertime cropland is in the process of being converted to a teeming marsh filled with young salmon.

The conversion to wetland of the rice paddy at Knaggs Ranch, north of Woodland next to the Yolo Bypass, is an experiment that conservationists hope will eventually lead to the restoration of ancient floodplains all along the Sacramento and San Joaquin River corridors.

The small piece of soon-to-be-flooded cropland is an attempt to combine agriculture with habitat restoration, flood prevention with the creation of more floodplain.

“There is a real push to just build levees higher and bigger rather than really taking into account ecosystem functions,” said Jacob Katz, a biologist with the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis. “We are hoping to say, ‘Look, this is how you do it. You can protect against flooding this way, too.’ ”

Breaching levees

The experiment, which involves the breaching of levees protecting the lower 5 acres of a 1,700-acre rice farm, is one example of the kind of innovation that conservationists hope will be inspired by California’s first ever attempt to create a systemwide plan to manage floods.

The $4.9 billion FloodSAFE initiative, which was created by the Central Valley Flood Protection Act in 2006, involves an ambitious program to increase public safety, promote long-term economic stability and improve environmental stewardship in the areas that have historically flooded during winter rains.

The state Department of Water Resources will issue a draft of its flood protection plan on Dec. 30, to be followed by a public comment period and hearings. The Central Valley Flood Protection Board, a panel of experts appointed by the Legislature, will have until July 1, 2012, to adopt the plan.

Salmon and rice

The document will set guidelines for flood protection and funding along the Sacramento River and around the Yolo Bypass, which was built almost a century ago as a relief valve for Sacramento River flood water. The specific programs will be developed by local and regional governments and communities.

The Knaggs Ranch study is being conducted by UC Davis, the state Department of Water Resources and rice paddy owner John Brennan, with support from Cal Trout and Trout Unlimited.

The plan is to trap the floodwater over the next month and, on Feb. 1, introduce 10,000 to 20,000 juvenile chinook salmon captured from the Feather River. Marshland habitat, including native grasses, is being restored inside the 5-acre plot.

Biologists will study the fish, waterfowl and nutrients in the water to determine the health of the wetland and to see how well the rice straw breaks down. One concern, Katz said, is that too much rotting rice straw could suck the oxygen out of the water and kill the fish.

Testing the waters

The researchers want to determine the right biological mix and, in collaboration with the owner, expand the off-season wetlands project to cover the entire 1,700 acres.

The hope, assuming all goes well, is that access points would eventually be designed so that migrating salmon in the Sacramento River could enter restored floodplains throughout the 59,000 acres of agricultural land in the Yolo Bypass and elsewhere along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

It is important because the delta, built to funnel water through the 1,300-square-mile confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, is the heart of California’s vast water network. The system of levees, dams, channels and pumps funnels snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada to 25 million people in the Bay Area, Central Valley and Southern California.

The network was designed not just to provide drinking water, but also to prevent the kind of epic flooding that once occurred regularly in the Central Valley. Flooding was so bad in the winter of 1861-62 that the entire Central Valley became a vast lake.

Flooded rice farms

The Yolo Bypass was approved in 1917 as an outlet for floodwaters every couple of years when the Sacramento River overtops what is known as the Fremont Weir. The land beneath the bypass, which is reserved for agriculture during the summer, becomes an inland sea during heavy flooding.

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

Migratory waterfowl regularly visit the flooded rice farms and a small area of restored wetlands called the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. Sometimes juvenile salmon spill over the weir into the bypass, but the area is not designed for fish, which often become trapped, when the water subsides, and die in evaporating pools.

Staggering fish migration

It is one of many reasons fisheries biologists believe California’s once vast population of chinook salmon has been declining despite an enormous yearly infusion of hatchery-raised fish. Only about 5 percent of the original Sacramento floodplains still exist, Katz said.

The creation of a statewide flood management plan is an opportunity to restore the floodplains where migrating fish historically rested, foraged for food and fattened up before returning to the river, Katz said. It would also stagger the migration over the course of the winter and spring season.

“Floodplains are important for foraging fish and for creating a more diverse portfolio of life histories,” Katz said. “By taking away floodplains and channeling them into rivers, we have taken that diversity away.”

The original idea behind the FloodSAFE initiative was to shore up the system of levees in the delta, which have failed 166 times over the past 100 years. The danger of flooding is now worse than ever, according to experts, who point out that the sea level is rising and land in the Central Valley is subsiding.

The state’s flood management plan, which could cost as much as $16 billion to fully implement, is expected to include a major expansion of the Yolo Bypass.

“By expanding the bypass we open the door for increased ecosystem restoration while getting the dual benefit of reducing flood risk,” said Michael Mierzwa, the supervising engineer and flood policy adviser for the Department of Water Resources. “The caveat that I put on that is that it is going to take decades to implement.”

Commitment in spotlight

The level of commitment to ecosystem restoration is the major concern among many environmentalists. Many local community leaders are vehemently opposed to converting farmland into wetlands. One big reason, Mierzwa said, is because both the agricultural land and the product grown on it are taxable. When you take a rice farm out of production, he said, you reduce the tax revenues which are, in turn, used to maintain the flood system.

The Knaggs Ranch experiment, Katz said, is designed to show how floodplain and habitat restoration can be accomplished without taking agricultural land out of production.

“We’re really talking about a paradigm shift in the way we push water around the landscape,” Katz said. “It’s going to be much cheaper to invest in a system that incorporates floodplain restoration now than it will be in the future. It will be better for ducks, better for fish and better for farms.”

E-mail Peter Fimrite at pfimrite@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

 Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/25/MNDK1MEG6S.DTL&ao=2#ixzz1hxOgl0e2

 Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/25/MNDK1MEG6S.DTL#ixzz1hxOTvmlR

Oregon habitat long term deal for fish and wildlife

Willamette River OR Conservation Easement Paves Way For Long-Term Fish & Wildlife Conservation

Oregon Department of Fish and WildlifeOregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Corvallis, Ore. –-(Ammoland.com)- Greenbelt Land Trust announced today the acquisition of conservation easements on more than 300 acres of Willamette River frontage property in Benton County that will benefit a number of species including chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, Oregon chub, Pacific lampreys, western pond turtles and red-legged frogs.

This project will permanently protect important habitat for fish and wildlife identified in the Oregon Conservation Strategy.

These purchases were made possible through a strong partnership with the existing landowners, the land trust, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and funding from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Meyer Memorial Trust.

Conservation easements allow for some traditional uses of the land, such as farming, by the landowner but permanently protect important wildlife habitat. They also allow conversion of farmland to restoration and conservation purposes as this project does.

They are particularly effective in the Willamette Valley where 96 percent of the land is privately owned. The 319-acre parcel includes Harkens Lake, a significant historic side-channel of the Willamette River that is critical habitat for native fish populations.

“This project is an integral part of creating opportunities for broad-scale floodplain habitat restoration on the Willamette River,” states Ken Bierly, Deputy Director of Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.

The conservation of Harkens Lake is made possible through a partnership with landowners Gary, Jenny and Steve Horning and Mark and Sherie Adams, a collaboration that will continue as the partners prepare to restore the property’s floodplain forests and riparian areas to their historic conditions. Restoration of these forests decreases erosion and flood damage from seasonal inundation throughout the 100-year floodplain. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

“Our family has worked and lived on the Willamette River for five generations, which is why we take such pride in showing we can work around the river sustainably. We know the health of our crops depends on the health of the river system. Our goal for restoration is to utilize important floodplain areas to improve water quality and protect the valuable farm land that our family farm depends on,” said landowner Gary Horning.

“This important work can only be accomplished through partnerships with private landowners, non-profits, foundations and state and federal agencies,” said Michael Pope, GLT Executive Director. “We’re facing a monumental task in fish recovery and riparian restoration in the Willamette Valley, and we must all work together. We are extremely pleased to be able to complete this transaction, and grateful to all our partners who work with us to protect and restore environmentally sensitive lands.”

Funding from this project was dedicated through:

  • Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board through its Willamette Special Investment Partnership (SIP). The goal of the Willamette SIP is to identify and implement high-priority land conservation, fish passage, and habitat flow restoration projects that contribute to the enhancement of resident and migratory fish populations in the mainstem and tributaries of the Willamette River.
  • The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program which was created to manage the funds dedicated to the State of Oregon by the Bonneville Power Administration for wildlife habitat mitigation in the Willamette Valley. The agreement requires a substantial investment in wildlife and fish habitat restoration over the next 15 years.
  • Bonneville Power Administration funding helps fulfill an agreement that the State of Oregon made in 2010 to protect nearly 20,000 acres of Willamette Basin wildlife habitat. The agreement dedicates stable funding from electric ratepayers for 15 years to safeguard Willamette habitat for native species, supporting state efforts to protect the Willamette Basin and fulfilling BPA’s responsibility under the Northwest Power Act to offset the impacts of federal flood control and hydropower dams.

Iowa…the place to find Efficient Pond Management and fish habitat

That’s right, Iowa…not the first place that comes to mind when we’re talking fishing. Usually it’s whitetail deer, farming and the like. Did you know that Iowa has tons of lakes, ponds and streams?

Fish of all species abound in the public and private waters throughout the state. When managing these waters, professionals like Ryan McCaw help achieve clients goals, be it  a small pond or large lake/waterway system. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

Weed control is a major part of any lake or pond owner’s concerns. What about swimming, fish stocking and water clarity? Can I get a fountain or one of those aerator things? These guys have the skills to enhance your property in ways most of us can only imagine. We are proud to announce the newest addition to our network of dealerships.

Logo JPEG.jpg

Rooted in Iowa, LLC
Efficient POND Management

About Efficient Pond Management

Efficient Pond Management was founded in efforts to educate and assist pond owners in how to manage the valuable resource they have. Government agencies would come out if time permitted to consult and advise, but they could only do so much for the private pond owner. Mail order and internet companies are always more than happy to consult over the phone and sell their products, but most times it takes a professional on site to really get to the heart of the matter. Efficient Pond Management was designed to fill that void for you. We provide a live person on site to assess your pond to determine #1 what condition the pond is currently in with any problems diagnosed and #2 offer solutions that can correct those underlying problems. Our level of involvement is dictated by you, the pond owner, as we devise a plan that fits into your goals and budget.

We are proudly partnered with All Things Water out of Elkhart, IN. A company with over 11 years of experience in all facets of pond and lake management including large scale aquatic plant harvesting and dredging. We have the knowledge and resources to complete any job when it comes to lake and ponds and will provide you with our best efforts and results that will please you with a beautiful pond.

We also have a network of service professionals in related fields that may be very useful in your project. Heartland Habitat from Princeton, Illinois is one such company. They specialize in land management and food plots to enhance biodiversity increasing the beauty and attracting wildlife. Typically, stable and densely vegetated land surrounding a pond leads to a more stabile and healthy pond.

An active member of the Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society. The mission of MAPMS is to promote sound and appropriate technologies for the management of aquatic vegetation, provide opportunities for the educational advancement of its members and encourage relevant scientific research. Among others.

Please feel free to contact us at:
563-370-6608
ryan@efficientpondmanagement.com

Services:

  • Aeration
  • Aquatic Herbicides
  • Dredging
  • Enzyme Bio-augmentation
  • Fishery Management
  • Pond Assessments
  • Pond Repairs
  • Services Overview
  • Water Garden
  • Weed Harvesting

Efficient Pond Management was founded with the goal of assisting private pond owners in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois with on site personal service. We will work with you to achieve your goals and provide you with a well managed pond for you to enjoy for years to come.

Don’t assume that your pond is to big or too small for us to handle.
We have the equipment to fit your situation.
Pond Jumper Work Boat

Our network includes a close partnership with All Things Water who has over a decade of experience in all aspects of pond management and specialize in large scale aquatic plant harvesting and dredging using the Aquamog pictured on the right. This unique dredge can reach many areas not available to long reach excavators, removes solid material with very little water and only needs one access point to complete the work while leaving 99% of the shoreline untouched.
An active member of the Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society. The mission of MAPMS is to promote sound and appropriate technologies for the management of aquatic vegetation, provide opportunities for the educational advancement of its members and encourage relevant scientific research. Among others.

We also have a network of related businesses such as Heartland Habitat. Specializing in terrestrial land management that naturalizes an area to increase the beauty and draw in wildlife. This will make your pond even more attractive and stabilize the land surrounding the water. Dense plant growth around a pond absorbs nutrients before they even enter the water and reduces aquatic plant growth and algae blooms. Pictured below are examples of how their services tie in with ours.

Fishery Management

Ponds provide some of the best fishing opportunities but need to be maintained and managed to keep them at optimal operational level. Whether it is a new pond that needs fish introduced or a an older pond that needs evaluated and possibly adjusted, we can provide you with assistance.

Fish Habitat

A good fishery must have habitat contained within the water at various levels. The fish of North America overwhelmingly use various structures throughout their lifecycle from berth to death. Lack of structure seriously limits the ability of a body of water to produce quality fish. Young fry need a place to hide and grow so at least some have a chance to become adults to replace the aging portion of the population that will eventually die off naturally. This habitat also provides a place for the base of the food chain, the microphytes, to grow to feed the zooplankton which in turn is food for the forage fish and so on to the apex predator of that pond. So as the fish grows and matures, it will return to this structure repeatedly for foraging opportunities to grow large and strong.

We offer FisHiding fish structures. Use our special Code found on our site when ordering from the FisHiding website for our exclusive discount.
FisHiding

Fish Survey

We are permitted in the state of Iowa as Scientific Collectors which allows us to perform fish surveys on your pond to determine the overall health of the fish contained. With this knowledge we can create a plan to follow to manage the existing population to create the fishery you prefer.

Fish Stocking

We carry an aquaculture license in the state of Iowa to provide fish stocking services should that be necessary to rejuvenate an old pond or get a new pond up and running. We will tailor the mix of fish introduced to maximize your fishing enjoyment.

Nuisaance Species – Rotenone

We are licensed to apply Rotenone in Iowa to a pond should you find that an exotic or undesireable species has overrun your waters. This application will terminate all fish life in the pond removing the nuisance species and allow you to stock the pond again with desired native fish species for your enjoyment.

This should give you some idea of the types of services Ryan and his crew provide. Visit the website or contact Ryan with any questions you may have.

Iowa has been in the news for getting kids involved in the outdoors and fishing. Take a look at this story posted just a few days back:

https://structurespot.com/conservation/urban-areas-among-sites-for-new-habitats-some-lakes-get-keeper-trout-for-the-kids/

 

Healthy Streams for TN

Fish Habitat Restoration Initiative –

  
   

JOIN THE COUNCIL IN CREATING HEALTHY STREAMS FOR WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE

The Council’s Watershed Support Center takes challenges and turns them into opportunities for Tennessee rivers and streams and waterways and the wildlife and people who enjoy them.  Thanks to a grant from the Dan and Margaret Maddox Charitable Fund, we will continue and expand our watershed support work in Middle Tennessee.  A watershed is an area of land that drains into a specific body of water.  Our work includes:

~ Planting trees to reforest the stream banks and planting live stakes to stabilize the soil and help improve water quality.

~ Installing rain gardens.  Rain gardens add beauty to the landscape and reduce flooding by allowing storm water to be absorbed by the plants and infiltrated into the ground. 

~ Installing revetments (cedar timbers wrapped in coir mat) on to the eroded bank to prevent further deterioration of the stream bank. 

~ Fish habitat restoration initiatives in the streams

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

We schedule volunteer events each month. If you would like to join us on one of these projects visit our Events Calendar.  You may come and join our group.  We also encourage your business, youth group, or other organization to join us on one of our volunteer events.  We would be happy to schedule a special workday for your group.  Call us at 615-248-6500 or email tec(at symbol)tectn.org to schedule an outing.

Protecting the Biodiversity of Middle TN Streams
We are partnering with Harpeth River Watershed Association, municipal stormwater organizations and other non-profit organizations to complete our work and expand our reach.   The Fish Habitat Restoration initiative will take place in Middle TN including Sumner, Wilson, Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson, and Murray counties in the Duck River, Harpeth River, Stones River and Old Hickory Watershed.

National Geographic magazine recently named the Duck River in Tennessee one of the most biologically rich places in the world.  This is an important recognition bringing worldwide attention to one of our natural treasures in Tennessee, and it makes our Watershed Support work even more important.

The Duck River includes 151 different species of fish – more different types of fish than all of Europe.  The river is also home to over 50 types of mussels. The health of these amazing and diverse populations is indicative of the health of the ecosystem, and a thriving ecosystem means clean air, clean water and a healthy environment for communities.

The Harpeth River is 125 miles long with over 1,000 miles of tributaries.  The river passes through agricultural, forested and suburban areas of six counties in the greater Nashville region until it joins the Cumberland River. The Harpeth River watershed is  870 square miles.  The Harpeth is also one of the unique freshwater river systems of the Southeast which contains a greater variety of aquatic life than anywhere else in the world.

Sediment is the most common pollutant in rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and all Middle Tennessee streams and watersheds are impacted by this problem.

A Healthy Fish Habitat Means Health Drinking Water and Food Supply for People  
Urbanization and agriculture are causing degradation of fish and wildlife habitat in middle Tennessee. Our region continues attracting people and businesses who develop areas previously used for wildlife or farming. The most valuable of this habitat for fish is located in stream side areas that protect water quality and fish habitat from sediment and habitat destruction.

Roof tops and parking lots preclude the land from absorbing precipitation, and leads to increasing flooding and decreasing summertime flows by limiting groundwater recharge. Urban stormwater moves more quickly than normal because of smoother surfaces and less vegetation to capture and slow down the rain run off. This runoff also carries more trash, debris and pollutants and has a higher temperature. These traits contribute significantly to the degradation of fish and wildlife habitat in streams.  A healthy stream contributes to the health of the community through cleaner drinking water, increased biodiversity, improved recreational opportunities and more.

Success Stories
In 2009, the Duck River Opportunities Project received the Tennessee Governors Environmental Stewardship award, because of work to protect this most valuable natural resource.  Click here for more information.  In 2011 we carried out 9 volunteer restoration events, planting over 1,000 trees and stabilizing close to 1,000 feet of creek bank, reducing sedimentation, the leading cause of water pollution.

The Council also works in conjunction with Friends of Henry Horton State Park to educate 5th grade students about the Duck River Watershed training them to be stewards of the river.  Click here for more information.

The Fish Habitat Restoration Initiative is made possible through your generous donations to the Council and by a grant from the Dan and Margaret Maddox Charitable Fund and another grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the U.S. EPA.

MAKE A DONATION TODAY TO SUPPORT OUR WORK.  CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

Pictured Above:
1.  5th Grade Students from Chapel Hill Elementary plant trees as part of a watershed education project sponsored by Friends of Henry Horton State Park and presented by The Council.
2.  Kevin Burke inspects revetments designed to protect the stream bank and encourage re-vegetation and prevent further erosion.
3.  A group of volunteers from Mars Petcare at Jerry Erwin Park in Spring Hill planted hundreds of trees to improve the health of the Duck River Watershed in October 2011.
4. This crawfish is a great example of the biodiversity found in the Duck River Watershed.

Click here to see more pictures.

25% Off Fish Habitat Year End Blowout!!

Fishiding artificial fish habitats are coming to a lake or pond near you. With fish attractors, more is usually better and that is good for the fish and the fisherman alike.

With continued growth and products in over 40 states, we need to clear the shelves of remaining inventory in order to expand. Most models are still available with no limit on quantities purchased. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

The 25% off sale ends December 31st 2011 so order your habitat today!

More and more lake and pond owners and fisherman are utilizing the long term benefits of artificial fish structure like the products made by fishiding.com

Made from reclaimed PVC, all the various sizes and textures of habitat are made here in the USA. The textured surface allows exceptionally fast algae growth and the models with wide limbs create shade unlike any other self installing fish structure.

Each unit comes ready to sink in it’s own black PVC, weighted “stump” of a base. The rigid yet flexible limbs, can be bent out on any/all angles and creased to retain their shape and position.

When you like the shape of the habitat unit, simply toss it in the lake and it sinks standing upright. The habitat will cover in algae and begin the fish holding potential.

Get a group of fishiding habitat today and begin to hold fish where you want them. Provide cover to grow your forage fish fat to feed those hungry predator fish.

Lake Fork sportsmen and state work together to help create fish habitat

Members of the Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association partnered with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division staff in making fish habitat improvements at Lake Fork last week.

They took advantage of drought-induced low water levels that have exposed shorelines and they planted 400 buttonbush plants around the lake.

Buttonbush is a native woody shrub commonly called “buckbrush,” and it was chosen to establish woody cover for fish.

When covered by water, it helps provide great bass fishing, a TP&W press release said.

Michael Rogge, president of the Lake Fork group, said approximately 15 members of the association and 15 members of the TP&W, spent approximately three hours planting 400 of the plants in two separate locations.

Rogge said the shrubs are adapted to “wet environments” like willow trees and that they will grow to about six to eight feet and be quite “bushy.”

“They will sprout new plants as seeds drop off,” in the future, and “become pretty dense,” which in turn creates fish habitat, he said.

Rogge said 200 of the plants were introduced in Glade Creek and another 200 in Big Caney.

According to a parks and wildlife spokesman, Lake Fork has had a long history of relatively stable water levels. This has been advantageous in that it has mostly translated into stable aquatic habitat and fish production. However, during the recent drought the disadvantage of this stability became evident. The lake elevation has dropped to an all-time record low, exposing shorelines and reducing cover which provides young fish shelter from predators. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

The state said Lake Fork will likely be subject to more water level fluctuations in the future as the City of Dallas increases pumping operations on the lake, especially if the current drought persists.

In lakes where there are prolonged draw-downs, plants will grow in the newly expanded shoreline.

These include aquatic plants such as smartweed, sedges and rushes, along with a variety of other plants including shrubs and trees. Woody plants such as willows will grow rapidly along the shore, and when it rains and the lake elevation rises enough, the plants can become partially or totally covered.

The plants provide shelter for fish and for the establishment of many organisms that fish eat.

Some of the woodier plants are persistent and will survive for many years and provide benefits to the ecosystem.

The first step in this habitat enhancement plan materialized in March when the association purchased 1,000 bare-root buttonbush plants from a local tree nursery and planted them at selected locations throughout the reservoir. Survival of these small plants, most less than two feet in length, was low. At some of the planting sites they were trampled by feral hogs.

The second stage in the Lake Fork organization’s habitat project began to take shape this past summer. The opportunity to purchase larger plants presented itself when a fish farmer in Columbus, Texas, approached TP&WD looking for potential customers for 400 two-year-old buttonbush plants.

The TP&W press release said these larger plants should experience better survival. The LFSA agreed to underwrite the majority of the $1,900 purchase price, and TP&WD contributed $650. Bushes were planted at different elevations to hedge against future water-level changes.

$550,000 in grants for 25 native fish rehabilitation projects state-wide

 

NATIVE fish across the state are set to benefit from almost $550,000 worth of grants for on-ground fish rehabilitation projects, New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, announced today (Tuesday).

Ms Hodgkinson says Habitat Action Grants (HAGs) will be provided for a range of projects across NSW using funds from the NSW Recreational Fishing Trusts.

“Twenty-five HAGs have been allocated this year to recreational anglers, community groups, landholders and local councils to restore and rehabilitate freshwater and saltwater fish habitats,” Ms Hodgkinson says in a statement.

“The HAGs are another great example of how money raised from the recreational fishing fee is being used to support the improvement of fish populations across NSW.

“Rehabilitation of fish habitat will provide long-term sustainable benefits for native fish stocks, which will ultimately provide a substantial benefit for anglers and provide more opportunities for rural and regional communities to promote local tourism.

“Recreational angling is the backbone of many local communities, stimulating the local economy and bringing jobs and investment.

“The ultimate outcome of these projects is more fish in our waterways,” Ms Hodgkinson says.

The 25 projects to receive funding cover popular fishing spots in NSW, including:

Opening up almost 100km of habitat for fish through the remediation of three fish passage barriers in the Hunter and Central West catchments;

Enhancing in-stream habitat through river bank stabilisation and the installation of woody habitat such as the construction of snag complexes in the Macquarie Rivulet and the Hunter, Talbragar and Queanbeyan Rivers;

Restoration of fish nursery areas such as significant coastal wetlands at Tomago Wetland in the Hunter Estuary, Belmore Wetland in the Macleay catchment and Tambourine Bay Wetland on the Lane Cover River; and,

Salt marsh and mangrove rehabilitation in a number of coastal estuaries.

Further information on HAGs at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries.

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

The Radford Becomes a Reef Creating fish habitat

What was once a 553-foot Navy destroyer has become the East Coast’s largest artificial reef. This summer, as tourism and natural resources officials from Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland looked on, the new “reef,” slowly sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The Del-Jersey- Land reef, (named for the three states involved in the project) took about four hours to make its 138-foot descent.

The USS Arthur W. Radford’s final resting place is roughly 28 miles northeast of the Ocean City inlet, midway between the Indian River and Cape May. The Del-Jersey-Land reef is a cooperative venture between the three states to enhance fisheries habitat through decommissioned and retired ships, and railway and subway cars. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

“It’s going to be a huge economic boost for Ocean City,” says Erik Zlokovitz, the artificial reef coordinator for DNR. “It is expected to attract bluefish, sea bass, weakfish, sharks and tuna, and that will attract charter fleets.”

The Radford was commissioned in 1977 and held a crew of more than 300. It patrolled Venezuela, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Oman, Bahrain, the Azores, Nova Scotia, Italy and Turkey. One of its final missions was deployment during Operation Enduring Freedom. The Radford’s homeport was Norfolk, Va.

The ship was named for Admiral Arthur Radford who served in three wars. He was onboard the USS South Carolina during World War I, in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations during World War II and was Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at the outbreak of Korean hostilities.

Taking nearly four hours to sink, the USS Radford is the largest ship to become a reef.

Jill Zarend-Kubatko is the Publication Manager in DNR’s Office of Communication.

Hoping to lure a new generation, Iowa restocks its fishing holes

 

ISU student Dan Taylor shows off two rainbow trout he caught near the dock at Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake in Ames after the Iowa Department of Natural Resources stocked about 2,200 11- to 13-inch rainbow trout from a hatchery in Decorah, Iowa, on Friday November 19, 2011, in the north basin of the lake.
ISU student Dan Taylor shows off two rainbow trout he caught near the dock at Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake in Ames after the Iowa Department of Natural Resources stocked about 2,200 11- to 13-inch rainbow trout from a hatchery in Decorah, Iowa, on Friday November 19, 2011, in the north basin of the lake. / David Purdy/The Register

A whole stringer of folks are working to make sure Iowans can catch fish close to home.After all, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources figures, people are busy.

Gas prices are high. And if someone doesn’t get kids interested in fishing, and by extension, water quality, who will lead the push to clean up Iowa’s already troubled waterways in the coming decades?

The DNR has joined local and federal agencies and fishing clubs across the state to install new fish habitat in many lakes, some of which also are being stocked with keeper trout. Such urban fishing spots as Big Creek Lake, Easter Lake in Des Moines, Blue Heron Lake in West Des Moines and the pond at Des Moines Area Community College’s Ankeny campus are getting dredged, protected by siltation basins, or dotted with artificial reefs, for example.

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

The state also is stocking trout in lakes near cities, and hybrid bass in gravel pits.

DNR surveys show most people fish within 20 miles of their homes, if they fish at all.

“We want kids to be able to walk or ride their bikes somewhere to fish,” said state fisheries biologist Ben Dodd.

Local fisherman Dave Merical of Ankeny has worked on many of the projects. “People don’t want to drive forever to fish,” said Merical, a leader in Central Iowa Anglers, a private group helping with the work. “We want people to have a good experience close to home. Kids are the future stewards of the resource. If they don’t enjoy fishing they aren’t going to want to take care of the waters.”

Joe Larscheid, who runs the state fisheries bureau, said fishing is one way to lure Iowans outdoors.

“It’s a nationwide epidemic,” Larscheid said. “It’s the Xbox generation. Kids are comfortable sitting in front of a computer and doing Facebook.” He’s working with health officials on a program called “Take It Outside” to encourage outdoor activities.

“Our initiative is to get people outside,” Larscheid said.

“Fishing is a gateway. When people are outside, they are more engaged with the environment and they are more likely to support conservation.”

There’s some ingenuity in the new initiative. Central Iowa Anglers and other groups are helping the cash- and staff-strapped DNR by providing materials that can be placed in lakes for fish habitat, giving catfish and other species somewhere to spawn.

So discarded pallets become makeshift underwater teepees, Merical said. Plastic pipe is formed into the shape of a tree. Cedar trees growing where they don’t belong are cut down, weighted down with cinder blocks, and dumped in the lakes to shelter fish. Barrels, too.

“The cost is insignificant because we use volunteer labor to do work the DNR approved and wanted done anyway, and the materials generally are donated,” Merical said.

The Des Moines area is getting the most attention in the early going, with work at Easter Lake , Blue Heron Lake, Lake Petoka in Bondurant and Big Creek and Saylorville near Polk City.

The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service and local soil and water conservation districts help by persuading farmers to conserve soil and carefully target chemicals they want kept out of waterways

One of the most popular parts of the program is the stocking of 10- to 12-inch rainbow trout in 16 lakes around the state.

The DNR announces when the 1,400 to 2,200 trout will be released in each spot, often drawing hundreds who hope to catch and eat the fish before anyone else does. The fish are raised at the Decorah hatchery.

It isn’t exactly shooting fish in a barrel, but the trout are very easy to catch, Larscheid said.

Usually, anglers catch all the released rainbow trout within two months, Larscheid said. It’s supposed to be easy. The idea is to get kids interested in fishing, and excite urban-dwellers about a sport that has produced flat license sales of about 300,000 a year.

Iowa has naturally reproducing brown and brook trout in some of the cold-water streams flowing through northeastern counties. But lakes contain only stocked trout. If they aren’t caught before temperatures rise, most of them die.

Ice fishing is big in Iowa, particular at places such as Clear Lake in north-central Iowa and the Iowa Great Lakes in Dickinson County in northwest Iowa. In the Des Moines area, biologists will release trout in both Lake Petoka and Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake in Ames through the winter ice this season.

Iowans need a $12.50 trout stamp in addition to a fishing license to fish for trout. A resident fishing license costs $19. Children under age 16 can fish for trout without a license or stamp if they are with an adult who has both.

Dodd said the state also is experimenting with stocking hybrid striped bass, known as wipers, in gravel pits and ponds near cities.

They’ve been stocked at Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines for years, but have a reputation for being hard to catch.

They also don’t reproduce, and often get flushed through the spillway during floods. So it’s hard to keep the population up, Dodd said.

 Find where and when to fish for trout in Iowa: 
www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/TroutFishing.aspx

Montana gets $131,000 for fish habitat projects

Montana is among the states receiving funding for improving fish habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will provide more than $3.3 million to support 68 fish habitat projects in 36 states. An additional $9.9 million in partner contributions will go toward restoring and enhancing stream, lake and coastal habitat, as well as to improving recreational fishing and helping endangered species. The funding is provided by 15 Fish Habitat Partnerships. In Montana under the Western Native Trout Initiative, the state will receive $61,000 in Service funds and $70,000 in partner funds to restore 9 in stream miles in Four Mile Creek to benefit Yellowstone cutthroat trout. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in  science based, proven, fish protection.

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