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Considering my lifelong love of trout fishing and my passion for conservation, it was only a matter of time before I discovered the Continue reading “Workers work on building LUNKER fish structures near Bear Valley Creek”

Tightened federal and state budgets are affecting everyone in Vermont, including the conservation community. It’s getting harder to find funds to improve water quality, protect native plant and animal communities, or share nature with young people.

Alaska spends about $500,000 on approximately 10 projects a year for fish habitat and related work. Improvements of habitats are Continue reading “Essential Fish Habitat Funding Received”

Groundfish Essential Fish Habitat Review Committee to Hold Conference Call

Smith Mountain Lake State Park ranger, John Mitchell, above, inspects the first trailer load of fish habitat blocks to leave the park’s public boat landing Wednesday for their permanent locations at the 15-foot deep level of the Lake. Constructed of polyethylene piping, cinder blocks and concrete, the habitats resemble submerged tree limbs to fish, providing cover from predators, as well as places to rest and raise young. Youth Conservation Corps members, who left the park Saturday for home, constructed the habitats, some 150 of which were distributed in the Lake last week.

One hundred and fifty handmadefish habitats-looking very much like an army of extraterrestrials having a wild hair day–marched in stiff formation down a pier early Wednesday at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, tentacles of black polyethylene pipe crowning their heads and concrete-filled cinder blocks acting as footing.

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

Eight Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) high school crew members, three college-age YYC supervisors and John Mitchell, a ranger at the park, worked in tandem, transferring the soon-to-be-sunken assemblages from a flatbed trailer to the dock, then onto boats for distribution in the Lake. Their loads in place, boats piloted by rangers and filled with teens andfish houses sluiced through the water to various destinations, among them Smith Mountain Lake Community Park, across the main channel and within sight of the launching point at the State Park’s public boat ramp, docks at the park’s Discovery Center and beach, and possibly by some of the park’s lakefront housekeeping cabins if the crew didn’t run out.

Arriving at the park on July 25, the all-female YYC crew also constructed eight picnic pads.

“They dug out the sites level, fitted them with 4′ x 6′ timbers, then filled them with stone,” said Mitchell.

It took the crew almost two days to make the fish habitats in a design and with materials recommended by the Virginia Dept. and Game and Inland Fisheries.

“The girls have done a great job,” said Brian Heft, Smith Mountain Lake State Park manager. “This is something we’ve done for years to support fish structure in the Lake. Fish need assistance to hide from predators, rear their young, and rest. Docks are not necessarily fish structure. Structures come up from the bottom of the Lake. This is an ongoing process. We plan on continuing it.” REBECCA JACKSON

“High water levels on the Mississippi River are enabling more Asian carp to move farther into Wisconsin water,” said Bob Wakeman, who oversees the Wisconsin DNR’s efforts to control and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. Continue reading “Lower Wisconsin River Bighead Carp Catch”

When we talk about fishing and being in the outdoors, waste removal, disposal and recycling won’t come up much in the conversation. We enjoy the clean air and water which holds our quarry, not considering the orchestrated work taking place for fish habitat and the environment by waste recovery companies like K.Hoving companies in West Chicago, Illinois.

We toss our trash in the can or roll-off at work, or maybe that roof we recently had to replace got tossed in a dumpster. Off to a landfill right?  What about that old siding, doors, concrete, and windows we threw out? Or the old office building that got torn down, doesn’t that go to the dump anymore? Continue reading “K.Hoving Companies Going Green for Fish Habitat”

A late bird nesting season will not hamper work on a fish habitat restoration project that began on Colony Farm last week, according to a Metro Vancouver parks official.

A late bird nesting season will not hamper work on a fish habitat restoration project that began on Colony Farm last week, according to a Metro Vancouver parks official.

Frieda Schade, the regional district’s central manager for parks, said a thorough examination of the area turned up only one nest inhabited by birds that appear close to flying away. The nest has been marked and screened off from the rest of the site and construction crews will work around it, she said.

“There was some concern because everybody knew that the nesting season seemed to be late,” Schade said. “That may be the case in other areas but on the ground [at the work site], that did not bear out.”

Had more nests been found, Schade speculated that work could have been delayed.

Work on the Colony Farm Tidal Flow Restoration and Habitat Enhancement Project is taking place on an area of the park known as Wilson Farm. Excavators have moved on to the site to build several channels and two ponds, which will serve as a winter habitat for small salmonids.

The project is designed to restore tidal flows, enhance the ecosystem and create fish access to the area from the Coquitlam River. Native trees and shrubs will be added to the area, diversifying riparian and wetland habitat.

Work on the channels began last week and Schade said crews intend to complete the excavating before the rainy weather hits the region in early October. If the work is not complete by then, crews would have to wait another year after the next nesting season before completing it. Gary McKenna

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.