StructureSpot

Wisconsin Statewide general permit for fish habitat structures streamlined

FISH STIX

Statewide general permit for fish habitat structures ready to use

Weekly News article published: January 28, 2014 by the Central Office

MADISON – Lakefront property owners statewide can now more quickly and easily create “fish sticks” habitat near their shoreline to benefit fish and improve fishing, state fisheries and habitat protection officials say.

A new streamlined permit available from the state and an easy step-by-step guide for fish sticksare now available on the Department of Natural Resources website to help foster the projects, which involve placing trees in shallow water and anchoring them on the shore.

“”Fish sticks” projects are paying off in northern Wisconsin lakes by providing more critical habitat for fish and insects, birds, turtles and frogs,” says Scott Toshner, the Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist who worked with partners on “Fish Sticks” projects that placed hundreds of trees in the Eau Claire chain of lakes in Bayfield and Douglas counties.

“More people wanted to do this same kind of thing on their own shoreland property so DNR created this general permit and a step-by-step guide to make the process easier for them.”

Fallen trees provide shelter and feeding areas for a diversity of fish species and nesting and sunning areas for birds, turtles, and other animals above the water, Toshner says. “Nearly all fish species use woody habitat for at least one portion of their life cycle,” he says.

“But fallen trees have been removed from the water in many areas. “Fish sticks” add to the natural complexity of the near-shore area by restoring woody habitat that was removed during shoreline development.” More habitat articles at fishiding.com

Interest in Fish Sticks projects to restore this woody habitat has been growing throughout Wisconsin and the region, says Martye Griffin, the DNR waterway science policy coordinator. DNR responded by converting the existing general permits for fish habitat projects (Fish Crib, Half-Log, Spawning Reef, Wind Deflector and Tree Drop) to a statewide general permit, and added standards for fish sticks.

The new general permit allows property owners on lakes to have a streamlined permitting process to submerge groups of trees near their shoreline, Griffin says.

“The streamlined permit process is less costly and can be reviewed in less time,” he says. It also allows for fish sticks sites constructed in later years and by different property owners on the same lake to “add on” to an existing approved permit without a new application fee – something the DNR has never done before, he says. Even though an ‘add on’ site may not require an application fee, the sites are still reviewed the same way as a new site.

The general permit identifies the location, design, and other standards and conditions these beneficial projects must meet to qualify for the general permit and to ensure minimal impacts to public rights in the waterway.

Step-by-step guide

In addition, DNR created a new, step-by-step guide for landowners who are interested in developing a fish sticks project. “It provides instructions to plan and complete a project, including equipment needed, site suggestions, and potential funding sources.”

More information on the general permit and to access the fish sticks guidance documentis available by searching the DNR website for “Fish Sticks.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Toshner, 715-372-8539 Ext. 121; Martye Griffin, 608-266-2997

Why Fish Cribs Work and Why They Fail

Engbretson Underwater Photography

Why Fish Cribs Work and Why They Fail

This article by Eric is the most comprehensive list and overview of fish cribs and habitat

preferences utilized by most of the North American fish species I have ever come across.

His career spanning over 30 years in underwater fish photography has given him and now us,

a look beneath the waves to understand what he and his colleagues have been seeing for years.

In over four years of extensive study, I have not found anyone else who understands

fish behavior and has the photos to prove his findings like Eric. Groundbreaking

information never before available, will help us understand how to best construct,

place and revitalize new and existing fish cribs and why. Did you know fish preferred

to be able to swim under the crib, not to mention key points like density, height

and proximity to aquatic vegetation? More habitat articles at fishiding.com

Eric and I talk regularly about habitat, cribs and fishy stories surrounding this

underwater world which he is so familiar with. He has installed some of our

artificial habitat units in his own lake for long term monitoring as well as other

lakes in the area to see just how well they stack up. Although skeptical at first,

he has seen the aquatic growth, fry and predator fish utilizing our products and

find we meet most, if not all of his criteria for why our products work so well.

Sit back and read into the underwater world of Eric and his team as they share

their insight of how, why and where fish cribs work from the first hand account

of divers under the surface.

Take a look through his site and the thousands of images he has compiled

over his career under the water’s surface. This is only the start of fully

understanding and improving the fish cribs we install. The Fishiding pictures

he has taken and observed will only help us improve on how best to help our

fisheries. Throughout this diving season, Eric and his team will continue to dive

and document our cribs and others for all to enjoy and learn from. Preferred

crib color, fish abundance, water fertility/clarity and sunlight penetration are just

a few of the many unanswered questions we are beginning to understand with

Eric’s help. Watch for a new, taller model to come out soon!

 

Engbretson Underwater Photography


Why Fish Cribs Work and Why They Fail

By Eric Engbretson

 

When I encounter fish cribs in lakes where I scuba dive, I typically see one of two opposite things: cribs holding fish, and cribs attracting no fish at all. In years of first-hand underwater observation, I have noticed that the cribs with fish share certain characteristics. So do the cribs devoid of fish. I’ve concluded that there are two key aspects of cribs that succeed in drawing and holding impressive numbers of fish. Those two critical components are design and location. Let’s look at each one separately and see why some cribs succeed while other cribs fail.

Design:

Years ago, fish cribs usually shared a single design. They consisted of big logs lashed together to make a cube like a miniature log cabin without a roof. The interior was stuffed with brush or tree branches and they were weighed down with concrete, cinder blocks, or heavy rocks. Since these structures can be very large, heavy, and almost impossible to move, they’re built in the wintertime in northern states and left on the ice, where they sink into place in the spring when the ice starts to melt. The cribs are usually square but sometimes rectangular. They are typically four or five feet high and four to eight feet long.

Since the classic wooden log-cabin style is the most popular kind of fish crib, my observations and comments focus on these specific types of cribs and in particular on the best ways to make them as effective as possible.

By their very nature, most fish cribs have a distinctly limited lifespan. When they’re fresh and their interiors are tightly packed with brush and tree limbs, minnows and juvenile fish will flock their way. The thick cover provides shelter and a place to hide from predators. The smaller fish penetrate deep into the cribs. Panfish will congregate outside or squeeze their way in where they can. Larger predator fish, such as bass and northern pike, will hang around the perimeter, attracted by the throngs of fish concentrated in this area.

The interior material of thick brush or tree branches gives rise to a problem that is endemic to fish cribs. The material provides dense cover that small fish need, but over time it disintegrates, leaving only the cribs’ outside skeleton intact. The center portion remains basically empty. Without brush and branches, the cribs can no longer protect small fish from larger fish. And once the small fish–a source of food–disappear, the crib also loses its appeal to the game fish, which no longer gather around the crib to enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet it once was. While these cribs might occasionally still draw a few larger fish for shade or cover, they lose their major attraction as a feeding center. Most people don’t understand that the secret ingredient that makes a crib design successful is not the frame or the exoskeleton, but the thick interior brush. If that’s not a central component from the start, or if it’s lost, cribs will stop attracting fish. The frame may stay intact and last for decades, but the brush deteriorates much more quickly. If there were some way to re-stock these cribs with interior brush, we could vastly extend their viability and lifetime.

The Vertical Dimension

Height is infinitely more important than length. The higher the walls of the crib extend from the bottom, the more attractive the crib will prove to fish. You want a piece of genuine structure, not something that is just an inconspicuous component of the floor of the lake. In fact, cribs should measure no less than four feet high. Fish want something well above the lake floor, and they like to choose the depth they want to hold while remaining close to the structure.

One of the best fish cribs I’ve ever seen was created entirely by accident. It was rectangular and four feet high, four feet wide, and 12 feet long. It was placed on the ice in 17 feet of water. When the ice melted in the spring, the rocks weighing it down shifted position, and the crib plunged to the bottom on its side. As a result, the crib towered 12 feet from the bottom. Underwater it looked like a skyscraper. Fish flocked to the crib and occupied various stories from top to bottom. A long, dark shadow fell on one side and served as a magnet for fish. In short, the structure turned into an amazingly effective accidental home. Another crib of the same dimensions fell nearby as originally intended but, since it ranged only four feet from the bottom, it attracted only a fraction of the fish the skyscraper did.

Complexity of Design

Since this is not an article about building cribs, I won’t go into the blueprints on how to construct them. The key element in one word is complexity. This refers to the guts of the crib, not the frame. The interior brush should be packed tightly enough to block out most light. Don’t worry about making it so dense that fish won’t be able to get inside. Pockets will form here and there, and fish are astoundingly adept at squeezing into the tiniest spaces. Long branches should extend from the crib on all sides and through all the slats. If possible, include some long branches stuck into the top of the crib to give it some extra dimension. The idea is to create as thick and complex a jungle as possible. The final result will resemble a thick mass of long branches extending from the dense pack inside the crib. The branches should reach from every depth of the crib in every direction and at every possible angle. If your finished crib looks even vaguely tidy, it needs more work.

View from Inside a Fish Crib (c)Eric Engbretson

Designs that Don’t Work from Day One:

Cribs that incorporate Christmas trees work adequately but for a very short time. Christmas trees deteriorate so quickly that in just a year or two, they no longer provide the complex cover that fish desire. In addition, fish will ignore cribs that are too small, too short, or too simple in design.

Examples of poor designs are cribs made of wooden pallets that rest only a couple of feet off the bottom, or cribs with huge spaces between pallets and no interior brush. Star-shaped cribs that resemble the obstacles used on the beaches of Normandy in World War II may look fascinating, but they lack the complexity, shade, and cover to attract fish well. Cribs containing white birch bark or white PVC pipe always fail. After all, fish refuse to be silhouetted against a white background that makes them too visible to predators. This list is scarcely exhaustive: There are many other design flaws in cribs that don’t attract fish.

Location:

Depth

When it comes to location, success depends largely on depth. When cribs are placed shallow enough to let sunlight reach them, they grow algae and other organic material. This serves as a food source for juvenile fish and also makes the cribs fuller and denser. When cribs are placed closer to the littoral zone, they’re much more accessible to the newly hatched fry that will quickly colonize them and provide the food that attracts larger fish.

When I’m scuba diving, I see fish cribs in deep water go largely unused most of the year. The water is colder here and may lack adequate oxygen. In general, these cribs receive visits by fish in fall and winter. On the other hand, fish in shallower water will use a crib virtually year-round. Some of the best fish cribs I’ve seen were ones that weren’t properly weighted. When the ice melted, they floated toward shore and ran aground. When allowed to remain in place, these cribs were quickly covered by algae and were populated immediately by juvenile fish and newly hatched fry. Despite their extremely shallow location, they attracted game fish year after year and even served some fish as a structure for spawning.

The Substrate

Cribs should always be placed on a hard bottom or substrate. If placed on a lake bottom with 12 inches of muck, let’s say, the crib will sink into the muck and you’ll effectively lose a foot of height. Since height is vital to fish, you don’t want to lose it. A muck bottom also eliminates the basement floor.

The Basement Level

Another reason a hard bottom matters is that you want about a foot of clearance between the lake bottom and the base of the crib. If fish can swim underneath your crib in this basement level, you’ve really got something to brag about. Walleyes and bass, by the way, are two species especially drawn to cribs that let them swim underneath.

Plants

If the crib rests in shallow water where plants can grow, it’s often possible to extend the life of the crib almost indefinitely. As multitudes of fish congregate around the crib season after season, their feces can accelerate a lush growth of plants. This patch of vegetation is denser than the surrounding area and creates desirable habitat all by itself. In time, after the interior brush decomposes, it’s possible that tall aquatic plants will replace it, a process that prolongs the lifespan and effectiveness of the crib. If the crib sits in water that’s too deep for plants to grow, none of this growth will take place.

Multiple Cribs in One Location

Cribs located close to each other always outperform single units. Fish will often travel back and forth in a cluster of cribs. Even if they are built alike and placed at the very same depth, they form individual identities, and multiple cribs will be used by different species in various ways. For example, one crib may attract many more rock bass than another that is just a few feet away and populated mainly by sunfish. The differences in the cribs are largely indiscernible to our eyes, but the fish notice subtle distinctions that drive their preferences. The rule, then, is simple: Multiple cribs offer multiple choices and greater numbers of fish.

Regulations

The regulations on the placement of fish cribs are mandated by Natural Resources Departments in many states and other jurisdictions. In my state, Wisconsin, permits for fish crib construction and placement explicitly instruct builders to place them with at least five feet of water over the top of the structure. Since the cribs themselves are typically four or five feet high, the minimum depth for placement is nine or ten feet. The concern here is understandable. Cribs can create hazards for boaters, who may be unaware of their locations. However, if I were placing cribs on my own private lake, free from regulations, I would place them shallow enough so that only two or three feet of water covered the top. This way, I might be able to replenish them with new brush from time to time as the older material disintegrated. This would greatly extend their natural lifespan.

The Future of Artificial Fish Shelters

In recent years, fish-crib makers have gotten very creative and used a variety of materials. Most popular of the new wave of materials are things normally destined for the junk pile or landfill. Today it’s not unusual to see fish cribs made of stacked wooden pallets, plastic, or PVC. They feature clever designs, and I’ve seen some of them underwater in lakes that I frequent. But the truth is that they don’t seem to fare well. While they may be lighter, easier, and cheaper to make, their main drawback is that they lack the size and complexity to prove attractive to fish. The best ones take up the most space and most effectively mimic trees, sunken timber, and other natural elements.

An example of a poorly constructed fish attractant.  Notice the lack of complexity and the large open spaces that provide shade, but nothing in the way of cover. @Eric Engbretson Photo

Fish Cribs as Fish Habitat

Let’s get one thing straight. Fish cribs are definitely not fish habitat. They’re artificial constructions designed to concentrate unusually large numbers of fish in a very small area so fishermen can catch them. Fish cribs do not normally provide the elements fish need for spawning or nesting. At their best, fish cribs merely impersonate fish habitat. In fact, in lakes with an abundance of excellent fish habitat, even the best- made and best-placed cribs will go ignored by fish in favor of superior natural structure. In sum, fish cribs work best in lakes where there is little or no natural structure for fish to use.

Traits of Effective Cribs:

·They reside in relatively shallow water (10 to 15 feet)

·They receive ample sunlight and they support algae and other organic growth

·They are in water that is shallow enough to let submergent plants grow nearby

·They sit on a hard bottom

·They are at least four feet high

·They have a space at the base that lets fish swim under the crib

·They are thickly packed in the center with various sizes of brush and branches

·They have long and complex branches on all faces extending away from the crib

·They have a complex design

·They are placed together with other cribs

·They are in lakes that contain little or no natural structure

Traits of Ineffective Cribs:

·They sit in water that’s too deep (or too shallow if the water’s too warm for fish)

·They sit too deep to receive ample sunlight and support organic growth

·They are in water too deep for plants to grow nearby

·They sit on a mucky bottom

·They are less than four feet high

·They have no space at the base where fish can swim under the crib

·They contain Christmas trees or have little or no brush packed into their center

·They have a design of limited complexity

·They are placed alone

·They are in lakes with abundant natural habitat and structure

Conclusion

As with any set of guidelines and suggestions, there are always exceptions. My observations and conclusions come from years of scuba diving in the northern lakes of the upper Midwest. While complexity of design is universally important, in other parts of the country, many of my suggestions on placement may ignore local conditions and require adaptation. For example, in large southern reservoirs, water temperatures can soar into the 80s and force fish to spawn and live in far deeper water, where lower and more comfortable temperatures prevail. In very clear lakes, sunlight may penetrate 30 feet or more, and plants can grow at greater depths than in other locales. In lakes like these, specific local conditions must be taken into account. Because of such variables, it’s important to have a good understanding of your lake’s ecology and other characteristics. Understanding the specific dynamics of any given lake will help immeasurably when you decide on the best locations for a crib. By Eric Engbretson

At work on the North Fork

AGFC projects under way on riverbed, overlook

North Fork River projects
North Fork River projects: Overlook and fish habitat improvement underway

Written by
FRANK WALLIS
Mike Cantrell, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission coordinator of Regional Maintenance, points to the North Fork River while standing on an overlook now under construction on a bluff above the river. The new overlook is near the city of Norfork.More habitat articles at fishiding.com

Mike Cantrell, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission coordinator of Regional Maintenance, points to the North Fork River while standing on an overlook now under construction on a bluff above the river. The new overlook is near the city of Norfork. / Kevin Pieper/The Baxter Bulletin

watch it online

See a related video
on the North Fork River projects online atwww.baxterbulletin.com.

NORFORK — The North Fork of the White River and the scenic valley that cradles it are expected to offer some new accommodations for fish and humans by the summer’s end.

An award-winning team of biologists is set to begin work in the riverbed, strategically placing a series of boulders and root wads in the stream for fish habitat and bank stabilization.

Meanwhile, an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission construction crew is building a new scenic overlook on the east side of AR Highway 5 to the north of Norfork.

Fish habitat

AGFC Biologist Tim Burnley told The Bulletin the river work is a second phase of the North Fork River Habitat Project that began in January 2012.

The work involves about 1.5 miles of riverbed and riverbanks from the head of Cooper’s Island downstream to waters fronting River Ridge Inn. Burnley said the stretch of river below Cooper’s Island — known to anglers and biologists as The Flats — hasn’t contained many objects to create holding places for fish, also known as “lunker bunkers.”

“We plan to come in with in-stream cover — mostly rocks and rootwads,” Burnley said. “With that and new water from minimum flow, we expect to have some good fishing in this area of the river.”

Burnley heads up the $100,000 project with AGFC biologists Tony Crouch and Eli Powers.

A series of large boulders is planned for placement at the head of Cooper Island to offer some floodwater protection for the natural island structure and, at the same time, create new holding places for fish.

A similar series of boulders was placed on Charlie’s Island in the first phase of the project.

Overlook project

Mike Cantrell, coordinator of AGFC’s Calico Rock Regional Maintenance, leads an AGFC team in construction of a new public overlook on the east side of Highway 5 just north of its intersection of AR Highway 341.

Cantrell said the overlook will offer a much broader view of the river valley than can been seen from an unmarked pull-off to the north of the new overlook site.

A platform is planned for sightseers with disabilities.

A second viewing site higher on the ridge is planned for hikers. Parking for up to eight passenger cars or trucks is planned, but not for buses due to a relatively steep grade to the parking area, Cantrell said.

The material cost for the overlook is about $27,000, Cantrell said.

Both projects are funded mostly through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sport Fish Restoration Fund administered by AGFC. That fund matches $3-to-$1 a contribution of $25,000 for the fish habitat project from the the state’s Overlook Estates Settlement Fund held jointly by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and Trout Unlimited.

Award-winning work

Burnley‘s group and an array of contributors including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Explorer Scouts, Trout Unlimited, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Friends of the North Fork Fish Hatchery, are 2010 recipients of the American Fisheries Society’s Sport Fish Restoration Project of the Year Award.

The project included substantial stream-bed and bank stabilization for Dry Run Creek with major access for anglers with disabilities.

What Exactly Is Fish Habitat and Why Must We Care?

Forward Post: AFS Journal
What Exactly Is Fish Habitat and Why Must We Care?
Mon Jun 3, 2013 2:29pm
What Exactly Is Fish Habitat and Why Must We Care?Thomas E. Bigford
Office of Habitat Conservation, NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
E-mail: Thomas.bigford@noaa.gov

“Fish habitat” is a
simple term. We can easily
imagine a fish languishing
under a log or in
a kelp forest, and we can
picture a school of forage
fish zipping through the
water column. We can
also grasp that the preferred
space for many species might change as the seasons change and
the years pass by. But the rest of the story is not quite so simple,
mostly because life is more complicated and knowledge is often
limited. This month’s “Fish Habitat Connections” seeks to demystify
those details so we can appreciate the intricacies in the
fish habitat world and become more emboldened to serve fish
not just as a meal but as they deserve.
Let’s begin with semantics. Each fish occupies its preferred
niche in the ecosystem. The environmental conditions of that
space define the fish’s preference at each life stage—water
temperature, depth, salinity, flow, bottom type, prey availability                                                annual cycles, and much more. It is important for us
as professionals to place those variables in proper context so
that individual fish can survive, fish stocks can flourish, fishery
management can succeed, and society can benefit from our nation’s
waters.
That simplistic summary reflects our hopes, which are
complicated by the reality that we know very little about our
most basic habitat questions. With luck, we know where fish
live throughout their life cycles. But oft times we have few
insights into the shifting preferences of each life stage. Even
that knowledge is elusive unless we have close observations
from multidecadal stock assessments or the insights offered
by a healthy fishery. Almost universally, we rarely understand
the relationships between fish and their habitat.

If a wetland is
dredged, how will the local fish populations change over the
short and long term? If a dam is breached, will the new hydrological
regime support native species or invite invasive species?
If an acre is protected or restored, how will the population respond?
Will harvests increase?
These issues read like the final program at many an American
Fisheries Society (AFS) conference. They have vexed us
as a profession for decades. We must manage fisheries with the
best available information, scant as it might be. And we must
identify our primary needs so that gaps are addressed.
COLUMN
Fish Habitat Connections There is also the still-new concept of ecosystem-based approaches.
Habitat must be an essential variable in stock assessments,
but those analyses must be conducted with an ecosystem
in mind. Those perspectives can be as important as data. Without
that challenge, we won’t even know we have a data gap.
Considering how complex this simple topic can be, and
how it reflects human pressures from our coasts to the mountains,
it is probably no surprise that we continue to lose habitat
function at alarming rates. Along our oceans, marine and estuarine
wetland loss was three times higher between 2004 and
2009 than in the previous 5 years (Stedman and Dahl 2008;
Dahl 2011). Inland wetland loss is not as severe, but hundreds of
rivers representing thousands of river miles are compromised by
blockages that prevent fish movement upstream or downstream.
The first-ever national fish habitat assessment found that 53%
of our estuaries are at high or very high risk of habitat degradation
(National Fish Habitat Board 2010). Given those numbers,
it is unfortunate that those places provide vital nursery habitats
for many of our favorite fish.
As fishery professionals from all disciplines, our assignment
is to combine our skills to protect important habitats and
restore those that are degraded. Our mission will be slightly
less daunting if we and our partners can set a pace to match
the steady pressure of human population growth and looming
challenges such as climate change. AFS represents an incredible
knowledge base. If anyone can analyze our habitat knowledge,
fill our priority gaps, apply lessons learned, and improve habitats
for the benefit of all, it is us.

More habitat articles at fishiding.com
Next month we will shift from the nuances of semantics
to the harsh realities of the challenge before us. It is imperative
that we engage now! Economic and ecological facts urge AFS,
its units, each of us, and our home institutions to accept the challenge.
We will explain the opportunities before us and how our
collective skills are needed for success.
REFERENCES
Dahl, T.E. 2011. Status and trends of wetlands in the conterminous
United States 2004-2009. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish
and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. 108 pp.
National Fish Habitat Board. 2010. Through a fish’s eye: the status of
fish habitats in the United States 2010. Association of Fish and
Wildlife Agencies, Washington, D.C. 68 pp.
Stedman, S., and T. E. Dahl. 2008. Status and trends of wetlands in the
coastal watersheds of the Eastern United States 1998 to 2004. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine
Fisheries Service, and U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. 32 pp.

Hooked for life – by Bruce Kania

Hooked for life – by Bruce Kania

May 30, 2013
posted by Anne
IMG_0604Fish Fry Lake may be the best fishing hole in Montana…at least for kids!  The lake is only 6.5 acres, but the water’s invitingly clear and it is extremely easy to catch yellow perch, crappie and bluegills.  Even some Yellowstone Cutthroat trout happen here…which may be their easternmost extension.  Fish grow fast in this lake at Floating Island International’s headquarters 25 miles from Billings, Montana.  Fish Fry Lake is a test site for BioHaven® floating islands as well as other embodiments of BioHaven technology.Last year over forty kids (and a couple adults) caught their very first fish on the lake.  For most of these fisher people it was as simple as attaching a piece of nightcrawler onto a small jig head, then flipping the baited hook into the crystal clear water and watching their line for some indication of a bite.  Typically the line will twitch when a fish picks up the offering, and then it’s a straightforward process.  Lift the rod tip and reel in a scrappy panfish.  Some kids start off with a cane pole, just like I did way back when.  Today there’s even lighter fiberglass extension poles and it’s pretty easy for little guys, and gals, to swing the offering over open water, wait a moment, then pull up a seriously exciting fish!The pond is also home to painted turtles, leopard frogs, bullfrogs, tadpoles, blue herons, mallards, wood ducks, teal, spoonbill, widgeon, yellow and red headed blackbirds, woodpeckers, garter snakes, the occasional bull snake, crawfish, salamanders, Canada geese, osprey and even the occasional Bald Eagle, all of which tend to be of great interest to kids.  As I was growing up there was a similar wetland within walking distance…and kid tracks along the shoreline evidenced fascination with critters and plants, and pretty much everything wild.  Episodes with poison ivy notwithstanding, kids and water and fields and wildlife, they used to go together as naturally as water flows downhill.  Today though, computers seem to have taken over some of that space, some of the territory that used to be reserved for kids and nature to get to know each other. 

We are not against computers!  The advances associated with the huge strides in information transfer technology that we’ve experienced in the last twenty years are life changing, and mostly positive.  But wouldn’t it be ideal if we could retain some connection with nature?  And certainly not just on a computer screen, but in person and up close!  Catching a fish, splashing after a leopard frog, or sneaking up on a big old gander goose is the stuff of childhood, and I don’t think it’s a good thing to miss out on.

I remember a troupe of kids passing by with fishing rods in hand one day last summer, when one of the boys, lagging behind, complained about the sun being “too hot!”  A young gal in the group suggested he “man up”, at which point the young lad was pretty much forced by the amazing power of peer pressure to deal with conditions.  Not sure if those kind of life lessons happen frequently in front of a computer screen.

And kids don’t catch fish automatically.  Not even on Fish Fry.  They must learn the process, think it through, and then connect the dots.  Along the way, with a bit of patience, they are rewarded.  This is good stuff for kids.

There was a young gal that could not handle touching a worm.  When it came to touching a fish, that was at least as bad as the idea of touching a worm.  An hour later she was independently doing both.  Real life lessons, and a new connection with where food comes from.  More good stuff!

Today the majority of fresh water lakes in the U.S. are so nutrient rich that they are at risk of running out of dissolved oxygen, without which fish die.  Fish Fry Lake has turned this condition on its head.  We have learned how to cycle those same nutrients into fish, instead of algae.  Catch rate on Fish Fry is a fish every two minutes on average.  The 6.5 acre lake yielded 5,168 fish last year, which translates to 210 pounds of fish per acre.  And along the way the water in Fish Fry was kept within Cutthroat Trout temperature requirements.  A nearby public lake, with conventional management, yielded about ten pounds of fish per acre.  And those fish were stocked, while Fish Fry’s are wild and naturally reproductive.  In late summer, the bottom half of the public lake is devoid of breathable oxygen.  Trout that were stocked in that lake in the spring have a choice…they can cook in the warm water on top, or suffocate in the stratified cooler water below.  The same conditions repeat themselves in thousands of U.S. waterways every summer.  But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

What if we focussed on our public waterways, especially in cities and villages?  What if we took that water and cycled the nutrients that are already there, into fish?  This is a very real prospect.  We do have the science, and we have the tools.  Dive into our website and keep this vision in mind…of kids catching fish hand over fist.  This is a new vision of abundance, and it’s within reach.  We can concentrate nature’s wetland effect and the result is an upward spiral that leads to both clean water and huge abundance of healthy, vibrant and edible fish.

Following are a few Thank You notes by kids who’ve fished here on Fish Fry:

Dear Ms. Anne and Mr. Bruce.

Thank you for letting us go to Floating Islands.  It was a lot of fun. I loved catching fish.  It was fun.  I like your dogs.  I think the picnic was fun, too.  I think I learned a lot about fishing.  You made my day.  Thank you for everything.
Thank you for letting us fish and play with the dogs.  I caught four fish.  It was awesome!  The floating islands are really cool and I hope to come back again.
I liked….. fishing, seeing the fish.  Thank U.
Thank you for letting us fish for different kinds of fish.  I enjoyed fishing.  I also caught a ton of fish within the small amount of time I spent fishing.  I also enjoyed walking on the floating islands.  I really enjoyed throwing frisbees for the three cute dogs….. I thoroughly enjoyed going to Floating Islands and I hope to come again.  Thank you very much.

– See more at: http://www.floatingislandinternational.com/2013/05/hooked-for-life/#sthash.iT9q5opN.dpuf

Floating Islands Southeast is offering a free webinar

Our first Webinar for 2013, BioHaven® Floating Island Technology Overview & Update, will be Friday, March 15 at 11am EST.

This is a FREE Webinar.

This session will provide an updated, general technology overview, and will include:

  • BioHaven® Floating Islands technology (Floating Treatment Wetlands)
  • Leviathan – adding circulation to increase results
  • BioCoral – increasing surface area
  • BioSwale – “in ditch” treatment
  • Living Shoreline – alternative to conventional solutions

We recommend/encourage inviting scientists, engineers, facility/municipality managers, and anyone interested in improving water quality, creating habitat and or preserving shorelines.

More habitat articles at fishiding.com

To join this free webinar, send an email requesting “log on” information to: info@floatingislandse.com.

You can invite as many others as you like, but they must also send a request for “log on” information.  Each “log on” is unique and they will not be able to use yours.

Please note – you must have the “log on” information that is provided by the webinar software ilinc.  About 24 hours prior to the session, you will get an email from the ilinc software that will provide you with your unique “log on” information.  If you have any questions, please call us at (888) 660-3473.

For ilinc technical support, please call (800) 799-4510.

BioHaven Floating Islands

Technology Overview & Update

Free – Webinar

Friday, March 15

at 11:00am EST

Submit your request to join this free webinar to:info@floatingislandse.com

24 hours prior to the webinar, you will receive the log on information and password to join this free webinar.  For ilinc technical support, please call (800) 799-4510.

BioHaven® Floating Islands biomimic nature and provide a “concentrated wetland effect” that can help solve many environmental problems challenging our water and wildlife. Unlike natural or constructed wetlands, they can be launched in any depth of water and are unaffected by varying water levels.

Floating Island SE

(FISE) is an exclusive and licensed manufacturer of BioHaven® Floating Islands and this proprietary technology.  FISE works with universities, municipalities, government agencies, engineering firms, private parties and various environmental strategic partners to design and sell customized solutions that leverage the BioHaven® Floating Island technology.

Phone: (888) 660 3473          Website: www.floatingislandse.com          Email: info@floatingislandse.com

Volunteers complete fish cribs

This series of fish cribs is awaiting warmer temperatures on Brevort Lake before they take their final plunge to the bottom. The artificial reef should draw finicky walleyes, marauding northern pike and tasty panfish with newly-published maps designed to lead angler directly to these hot spots — provided they can figure out how to work their GPS units. 

This series of fish cribs is awaiting warmer temperatures on Brevort Lake before they take their final plunge to the bottom. The artificial reef should draw finicky walleyes, marauding northern pike and tasty panfish with newly-published maps designed to lead angler directly to these hot spots — provided they can figure out how to work their GPS units.

Mackinac County  —  Using volunteers, 100 cords of hardwood, more than 2,500 cement blocks and 418 Christmas trees, the Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club (SASC) and Brevort Lake Association put the finishing touched on an 11-year project designed to improve fish habitat.

“It’s been rotten this year,” said SASC President Louis Colegrove, “Real bad conditions — a lot of slush.”

Dozens of unique habitat models at fishiding.com

Colegrove added that was especially tough on the core group of volunteers.

Dutch Bill Creek Fish Habitat Restoration Funding

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Dozens of unique habitat models at fishiding.com

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California and the Gold Ridge and Sotoyome Resource Conservation Districts have teamed up with a number of local government agencies, nonprofit groups, agribusinesses and landowners to improve fish habitat in five northern California watersheds. The goal is to increase salmonid populations while also sustaining productive agricultural operations.  California is one of three western states included in this program.

James Gore, NRCS Assistant Chief from Washington, D.C., attended a special event in Camp Meeker to provide information on the programs during a walking tour of the Dutch Bill Creek restoration project that has been in process since 2009. This work included removing an old fish barrier dam, constructing a new pedestrian bridge, installing rock wiers for fish migration, and other stream and habitat restoration efforts.

Funding for these projects is available to landowners in watersheds along the Russian, Lower Eel, Big River, Navarro& Garcia rivers, Gualala and Salmon rivers. These funds will be used for barrier removal, streambank stabalization and restoration, and off-stream ponds to store water for irrigation and frost protection. Landowners are not required to participate, but are encouraged to become involved on a voluntary basis. Gains in fish habitiat because of private landowner participation is evident in the current Dry Creek Habtat Restoration Project and the Biological Opinion Project progress.

Applications will be accepted at the Petaluma NRCS office until mid-March. Funding will be made available to landowners through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program – a federal cost-share program, through the Farm Bill, to help landowners implement on-farm conservation practices.

For additional information, eligible producers in these counties are encouraged to contact their local NRCS Service Center. Service center locations and more information on the programs can be found at www.ca.nrcs.usda.govNRCS office located at 1301 Redwood Way, Suite 170, Petaluma, CA 94954.

In late 2012, a diverse set of more than two dozen government agencies, nonprofit groups and other stakeholders assembled to expand restoration efforts of salmonid habitat and historic salmon runs throughout Northern California. The Russian River Compact Executive Committee will explore a number of steps that local groups and landowners can take to improve salmonid populations to benefit both the species and local agricultural production.

Dutch Bill Creek BridgeThe story of the Dutch Bill Creek Restoration Project is available with a slide show, video documentary, and project documents the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation Site website. As part of the Dutch Bill Creek Restoration Project, a new footbridge was installed across the creek. Watch the YouTube slideshow. You can stay tuned to updates at the Camp Meeker Community web site: www.campmeeker.org

Additional information about the program, progress, and people involved can be found at the OAEC Water Institue web site: www.oaecwater.com The WATER Institute has been involved with many projects in the Dutch Bill Creek watershed such as landowner outreach and education workshops, first flush water quality monitoring, coho recovery efforts, watershed road signage installation, watershed divide display construction & installation, active membership in the Dutch Bill Creek Watershed Group and numerous watershed friendly land management projects on our own 80 acres property in the headwaters of the Dutch Bill Watershed.

Also, be sure to check out the Dutch Bill Creek Watershed Council’s website at www.dutchbillcreekwatershed.org – and the Russian River Coho Water Resources Partnership.

Volunteers, schools and more throught the adjining communities have been taking part in this ongoing restoration for the past several years. Students at Guerneville School took part by raising hatchlings then rleasing them into the creek as part of the fish restoration project. As of January 2012, endangered coho salmon, which had taken a fifty-year hiatus from spawning in Dutch Bill Creek, were spotted in the creek, and a snorkel survey of the creek in August if that year recorded a small school of wild coho on film, and the observers on the Russian River have counted at least 87 adult coho returning to that river and its tributaries (including Dutch Bill).

Dutch Bill Creek Watershed Map

In December 2012, Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) announced that the Russian River watershed was selected as California’s Habitat Focus Area within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) Habitat Blueprint.  NOAA’s habitat conservation experts felt that the Russian River offered the greatest opportunities for NOAA-wide collaboration on habitat conservation among the 17 candidate areas identified by the staff this fall.

This designation recognizes the Russian River watershed as one of the most promising regions in the nation for improvements in fish habitat. Efforts by volunteers at river clean-up days, adopting fish-friendly farming practices or creating habitat on private property is part of what made this region attractive to for funding and support.

The Russian River drains 1,485 square miles, including much of Sonoma and Mendocino counties and is home to three fish on the endangered and threatened species lists: coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead trout.

The habitat enhancement work includes supplementing cold water releases by providing the shady, complex habitat critical for young coho and steelhead, along with other habitat restoration and enhancement projects are being done throughout the Russian River watershed. These efforts are accompanied by extensive monitoring in order to measure success and to continually improve projects and programs.by Vesta Copestakes

Forest Turns Into Underwater Housing

A forest for the fishes

A forest for the fish

If you look through the ice on a winter day, or peer into the water during a rare summer moment when the wind is calm, you might glimpse the tips of the trees that make up Ocean Lake’s underwater forest.

Below the surface is a Christmas tree forest “planted” by sportsmen and Wyoming Game and Fish in an effort to enhance fish habitat. In more than two decades some 8,000 trees have been left on the ice of Ocean Lake, tied to cement blocks to sink to the bottom providing fish habitat. It is an effort that began in the early 1980s by four friends who loved to ice fish on the lake and noticed the fish population dwindling. It has grown into a Fremont County community event where more than 500 Christmas trees are donated to the project each year.

Kelsey DaytonKelsey Dayton

The result? Healthier fish populations and happier fishermen.

Howard Johnson of Riverton, always loved ice fishing. It’s a sport that takes little gear as long as one person has an ice auger. No boat is needed to catch as many fish as you would in the summer. And the cold adds a challenge and bonding experience.

“You just have to weather the weather and that’s the fun part of it,” he said.

In the early 1980s he started ice fishing with Bob Wilczewski and Scott Stanley of Riverton, along with Bob Baumann of Shoshoni  at Ocean Lake.

They’d gather with their families and campers, playing cards and games and baking biscuits to go with the fresh fish they’d catch on the ice.

After a few years of bountiful hauls they noticed their catches diminishing. They knew the history of the lake, and it didn’t seem right. Dozens of unique habitat models at fishiding.com

Christmas trees are left on the ice of Ocean Lake. Each year recycled Christmas trees are left on the ice to sink to the bottom of the lake where they provide fish habitat. (Photo courtesy Wyoming Game and Fish).

Until the 1930s, Ocean Lake was basically a pond, about 225 acres in size, known as Dry Lake and surrounded by sagebrush and rocks, said Nick Scribner, a habitat biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish. The Riverton Reclamation Irrigation project started in 1922.When new irrigation systems were developed in the area, water started draining to the low spot in the area, where the pond sat, covering the weeds and willows with water and making the pond more of a lake. It kept rising until the Bureau of Reclamation built an outlet off the east side to drain to a creek, stabilizing the water level, Johnson said.

Fish stocking began in the 1930s, bringing black crappie, bluegill, burbot and largemouth bass to the lake, Scribner said. Walleye stocking began in 1954 and became an annual practice starting in 1972.

Old-timers told stories of the incredible fishing in the area, especially walleye and perch, Johnson said. As the plants on the bottom began to thin and decompose, the smaller fish had no place to hide, the bigger fish had easy feasts and thrived. Fishermen caught fish “by the washtub full,” Johnson said.

For several years Johnson and his friends found Ocean Lake’s fishing bountiful. Then a few years later the fish stopped biting.

On a particularly slow day, the four men lay on the ice, put their coats over their heads and peered down to the bottom. There was nothing but mud.

“It was just like a carpeted floor down there,” Johnson said.

Ocean Lake sits northwest of Riverton in an open area exposed to Wyoming’s wind.  The gusts create waves, which stir up the silt in the bottom,  Scribner said.

The silt makes it hard for plants to grow and there is little natural vegetation on the bottom of the lake, he said. Small fish have little cover to hide from predators.

With no place to hide, the small fish population was decimated by the larger fish, whose population then suffered because there wasn’t enough food.

Most of Johnson’s fishing group came originally from the Midwest, where using old Christmas trees for fish habitat is common. They decided to see if they could help the fish of Ocean Lake. That winter they wandered alleys and picked up about 50 Christmas trees they hauled to the lake, tying on cement blocks and letting them sink to the bottom. A strong believer in that anyone who fishes should donate at least one day a year to projects to that helps habitat, Johnson and the group continued to collect and “plant” Christmas trees each year.

The effort became an annual event and now, with the help of the Fremont County Solid Waste Disposal District, Wyoming Game and Fish and about 20 volunteers, about 500 trees are planted in Ocean Lake each year. Johnson estimates they’ve planted about 8,000 trees since they started the project. One year, when an area business sold trees where the needles fell off quickly, they received about 1,000 trees — too many for the small number of volunteers, Johnson said.

Volunteers bundle Christmas trees at Ocean Lake. Each year recycled trees are gathered and planted in the lake to help fish habitat. A date for this year’s event hasn’t been yet. (Photo courtesy Wyoming Game and Fish).

The trees are tied together in bunches and attached to concrete blocks and left on the ice. Eventually they drop through the ice, settling on the bottom- about 15 to 25-feet below the surface, where for three or four years they’ll provide fish habitat before decomposing. The trees provide cover for small fish and perch spawn in the branches, Scribner said. Other species, like tadpoles use the habitat as well, he said. The cement blocks are left on the lake bottom, but don’t cause any environmental harm, Scribner said.

The trees come in all shapes and sizes from small “Charlie Brown”-like ones to the full and tall that would dominate a room. All of the trees break down quickly once submerged, Scribner said.

While the practice of using Christmas trees isn’t common in Wyoming, similar efforts have been done elsewhere in the state, Scribner said. In Boysen Reservoir cottonwood and pine tree stumps are put in into the lake.

While Game and Fish monitors the area and knows the trees benefit fish habitat,  it’s hard to quantify the impact of the project on fish populations, Scribner said.

Johnson doesn’t need numbers. He knows the fishing is better. They are seeing more age groups of walleye. The locations the trees are dropped are tracked by GPS and those areas have noticeably improved, if a fishermen knows the lake — when and how to fish it.

“It’s all how you do it, where you do it and when you do it,” he said.

And that information, he added like any good fishermen, is a secret.

Get involved:

A date hasn’t yet been set for this year’s tree “planting.”

To volunteer with the project, contact Howard Johnson at (307) 856-1145, or contact Wyoming Game and Fish Lander office at (307) 332-2688.

To donate your Christmas tree, recycle it at no cost at the Lander landfill, Riverton bale facility or the Dubois landfill.

— “Peaks to Plains” is a blog focusing on Wyoming’s outdoors and communities. Kelsey Dayton is a freelance writer based in Lander. She has been a journalist in Wyoming for seven years, reporting for the Jackson Hole News & Guide, Casper Star-Tribune and the Gillette News-Record. Contact Kelsey at kelsey.dayton@gmail.com.

Sardis Fish Habitat Day


Sardis, Miss….. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District (Corps) will host the annual Sardis Lake Fish Habitat Day, Saturday, 9 February 2013. Volunteers will assist Corps biologists and rangers in the creation of new fish habitats using stake beds and donated Christmas trees.

As reservoirs age, flooded timber and brush deteriorate, leaving aquatic life with less protective cover. Replacing the cover and bedding areas are important in maintaining healthy fish populations. This event also gives fishermen an opportunity to become familiar with the locations of these structures around the lake.

Volunteers are asked to report to the new Sardis Lake Field Office location at the north end of Sardis Dam Saturday, 9 February 2013 at 7:30 a.m. Volunteers are encouraged to wear outdoor work clothing and gloves. All terrain vehicle (ATV) use is allowed with proper riding gear to include helmets.

A hot stew lunch at the Corps of Engineers maintenance shop will be available for the volunteers. For further information, please contact Hayden Sullivant at the Sardis Lake Field Office 662-563-4531.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public lands offer an array of safe recreational opportunities that include fishing, boating, camping, hiking, bicycling, swimming, and photography. The four Corps lakes in Mississippi draw approximately 5.5 million visitors per year, support approximately 1,500 jobs and contribute more than $130 million to regional tourism. Dozens of unique habitat models at fishiding.com

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