Several groups that work to improve habitat for endangered fish have been awarded more than $1 million for projects in Cowlitz County. Clark County projects on the Lewis River total $925,383 and money for work in Wahkiakum County totals $361,505.

The grants announced recently by the state Recreation and Conservation Office come from federal and state funds dedicated to fish recovery. The money for the grants comes from the federal Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and from the sale of state bonds.

The level of fish funding for most parts of the state has decreased over the past few years. The statewide total of $30 million recently awarded compares to $32 million in 2010 and $42.8 million the year before, said Susan Zemek, communications manager for the RCO.

In addition, grants for fish habitat work in Puget Sound total $13.5 million this year, compared to $33 million a year ago.

Cowlitz County

• Reshaping Abernathy Creek, $486,305. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe will use this grant to remove an abandoned roadbed on the east side of the creek that inhibits full connectivity between the creek and its floodplain, and place logjams in the creek to increase habitat. The tribe will excavate channels through the former roadbed and place logjams in the main channel, allowing the river to meander. The work is on state land.

The tribe will contribute $85,819 in donations of cash, labor and materials.

• Removing an Abernathy Creek Bridge, $204,000. Cowlitz County will use this grant to remove a bridge on an abandoned portion of Abernathy Creek Road. The bridge is 6 1/2 miles up the creek, near Brentwood Road. The bridge constrains the channel and limits the creek’s ability to meander and connect with its floodplain. The county will install logs and tree root wads in the creek and replant its banks after the bridge is removed

Cowlitz County will contribute $36,000.

• Restoring Andrews Tree Farm waterways, $177,401. The Cowlitz Conservation District will use this grant to restore portions of the Coweeman River and a tributary, Turner Creek, on the Andrews Tree Farm. The district will install logs and whole trees in the streams to slow the river, encourage gravel accumulation and create places for salmon to rest and hide from predators. The district also will plant trees along stream banks to shade and cool the water.

The conservation district will contribute $40,000 from a state grant and donations of equipment, labor and materials.

• Restoring Nesbit Tree Farm stream, $89,100. The Cowlitz Conservation District will use this grant to restore a portion of the Coweeman River on the Nesbit Tree Farm, which is about 8 miles up Rose Valley Road. The conservation district will place logs and whole trees in the river to trap sediment on exposed bedrock to improve salmon habitat and cool the water.

The conservation district will contribute $20,000 from a state grant and donations of equipment, labor and materials.

• Restoring the Coweeman River, $124,000. The Conservation District will use this grant to place logs and whole trees in the Coweeman River on the Baxter and Andrews tree farms about 6 1/2 miles up Rose Valley Road to improve habitat for salmon. The logs and trees will slow the river, encourage gravel to accumulate and create places for salmon to rest and hide from predators.

The conservation district will contribute $24,500 from a state grant and donations of equipment, labor and materials.

Clark County

• East Fork of the Lewis River, $212,753. Clark County Public Works will use the money to grade the outlets of two side channels of the river, install logs and root wads that act as juvenile fish habitat, and remove invasive plants and replant with native species. The project will expand side channel habitat by 3,500 square feet. Clark County will contribute $61,891 to the project.

• North Fork of the Lewis River, $401,730. The Cowlitz Tribe will use the money to place logs and jams into two side channels of the river, remove invasive plants along the bank, and replant the area with native trees and shrubs. The tribe will contribute $91,400 from a local grant and donation of labor and materials.

• East Fork of the Lewis River at Daybreak Park, $143,900. Fish First will enhance two side channels of the river, install wood structures in the river for habitat, and replant streambanks with native trees and shrubs at the park. Fish First will contribute $26,100 in cash, labor and materials.

• Eagle Island-North Channel Restoration Project, $167,000. Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group will use the money to design a project to restore optimum water flows in the north channel of Eagle Island, which is located in the North Fork of the Lewis River near Woodland. Optimizing the water flow will improve 2.2 miles of high value fish spawning and rearing habitat below Lake Merwin. Pacificorp and the state departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife are partners.

Wahkiakum County

• Grays River, $226,180. The Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group will install wood structures on Columbia Land Trust property in the Grays River to reduce water velocity, create habitat diversity and collect sediments against the toe of eroding stream banks. The structures will create pools, collect flood debris and stabilize the river channel. Additional structures will be placed along more than a half-mile of shoreline to protect important chum salmon habitat in nearby Crazy Johnson Creek. The enhancement group also will remove non-native plants and replant the area with native trees and shrubs.

The enhancement group and Columbia Land Trust will contribute $76,300 in donations of equipment, labor and materials.

• Elochoman River, $135,325. The Wahkiakum Conservation District will use this grant to place logs and tree root wads in the Elochoman River, to slowing the river and creating places for salmon to rest and hide from predators. The logs and root wads also help stabilize the channel by reducing erosion and protecting young trees on the riverbanks. The work will improve salmon habitat along more than a half-mile of the river and create a streamside forest on 4.5 acres.

The conservation district will contribute $39,500 from federal and local grants and donations of equipment and labor.

A major step toward getting approvals to dredge Lake Gregory was achieved Dec. 21 when representatives from regional agencies visited the lake for an orientation tour.

On hand for the tour were representatives from California Department of Fish and Game, Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, Lake Gregory Improvement Committee and county Regional Parks Department. A representative from the Army Corps of Engineers was scheduled to attend, but canceled at the last minute. 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 meeting was an excellent first step in terms of our working to get Lake Gregory dredged,” said Keith Lee, county regional parks director, who was present for the tour. “The different agencies’ representatives were incredibly helpful in providing solutions.”

The group assembled in the North Shore parking lot at 1 p.m., where Phil Krause, county park planner, started the tour with a briefing on past dredging efforts. He explained how silt and debris flowing into the lake from the silt basin near the new county library building has created large sand bars in the swimming area, limiting visitor access.

Another source for the silt is storm drains, especially those near the ball field.

After the briefing, the members walked over to the silt basin to see the area, then moved on to other areas around the lake, including areas near the Leisure Shores Community Center and the ball field where silting is a major issue.

“I think we’re moving along in a good way,” Lee added. “We won’t be able to get away from doing some California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) work, but we’re looking for ways to work together to dredge the lake and get it back to the condition that I think many in the community would like it to be in.”

Members of the Lake Gregory Improvement Committee who were on hand for the tour included Aaron Creighton, Rick Dinon (who leads the committee), Mick Hill and John Short.

“We have continually emphasized to the regulating agencies that Lake Gregory is not just a county asset, but an important asset to the Crestline and Lake Gregory community,” said Dinon. “The good news is that we’ve encountered a lot of cooperation.”

Committee member Aaron Creighton said he also was pleased with the response from the Fish and Game and Lahontan representatives who took the tour.

“We now have a vastly greater view of what needs to be done,” he said.

Creighton said that in order to get permitted by Fish and Game and Lahontan, the county has to be in compliance with CEQA.

“One of the tricky parts under CEQA is that if we remove habitat, we will have to mitigate the removal,” Creighton said. “There are two areas at Lake Gregory that need to be dredged, and the two have quite a lot of habitat.”

Part of the talk during the tour centered on creating separate habitat areas, and how it might be possible to make habitat areas protected. Other ideas included creating fish habitat areas in the deeper parts of the lake by depositing used Christmas trees weighed down by cinder blocks.

Creighton said one of the comments included that by pulling silt out of the lake, it would help improve the water quality.

“We will need an environmental impact report, and probably have to have a biological report,” he said. “We have heavy-duty problems at this lake.”

By Mike Harris, Reporter

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.

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.

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

One of the best things about living in Tennessee is the year round fishing opportunities that are available to anglers. And one of my favorite spots to fish is from our dock. However as part of the lakes management is a controlled winter drawdown. As you can see this does give homeowners time to do maintenance on their docks and their sea walls as the water recedes. A drawdown will also control some of the unwanted shallow water vegetation that can become a nuisance around docks. What about the fish during this time? How does a draw down affect the fishing? In this post I will share some tips for surviving a winter drawdown.

In the winter as the water temperature drops, only a small percentage of bass are active through out the day. However once the water levels are drawn down, the bass are concentrated even more as they seek the comfort of deeper structure and cover. This gives anglers a cold-water advantage for catching bass.  Another advantage to anglers is that during a drawdown period the lake will get much less fishing pressure. With most ramps closed many anglers will not launch in the soft sedimentary mud of the newly exposed shoreline. This will give a great advantage to canoe and kayak anglers willing to face the cold and get out on the water.

Winter bass relate to structure, and nothing is more suitable for them that steep banks. The structure of a steep bank gives the bass quick access to feed in remaining shallow flats. Keying in on depth ranges from ten to twenty feet for winter bass during a drawdown can be a productive approach. Much of the wooden cover that the bass relate too normally is now above the water, this makes fishing any remaining wood cover a must for the winter trophy hunter.

Jerkbaits produce cold water bass very well, and perhaps jigs are the best all around bait for winter bass fishing in a drawdown period. Jigs with trailers pitched to stumps and any remaining cover work well for many anglers. Large Texas rigged worms have also produced many cold-water bites in a drawn down lake.

Time spend on the lake in the periods of low water can make you a better angler all year. Even better than structure scan and side imaging this is the time to study the topography of the lake. Look for bedding areas and cover, make notes of potential hot spots. Look at the water line and imagine if the level was up to vision the places that a bass would make his home. Isolated cover with quick access to deep water is always a good place to start. Return to those spots in the spring and you will be a local fishing legend.

Winter drawdowns have both good and bad points for anglers, but it is not the end of fishing. The controlled lowering of the water level helps lakes to be more fertile and protects the shoreline from winter erosion, and aquatic weed control. Drawdowns also limit ice damage to docks and loading ramps. One of the best things about a drawdown in the chance to greatly improve the habitat for fish. Spawning benches are a relatively new type of fish attractor for smallmouth bass.

Unlike tree attractors or stakebeds, spawning benches have the potential to enhance smallmouth populations by providing more spawning habitat.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency  biologists construct different types of fish attractors that can be placed in reservoirs. These devices do not normally enhance sport fish populations, but do provide structure around which fish can aggregate. Bass, crappie, and sunfish utilize these attractors and anglers may key on these sites to increase their fishing success. The most common type of fish attractors used are sunken trees which can be weighted down to the bottom of a lake.

TWRA’s Christmas tree habitat project in east Tennessee is a great example of how the Agency partners with anglers to build fish attractors. Stake beds for crappie are also used in lakes with dense crappie populations and the right combination of bottom slope and composition. Like, tree attractors, stake beds are marked by TWRA so that anglers know where they are located.

A drawdown can be a great way to gain an education about a specific body of water for a fisherman. Take advantage of the change to better your understanding of the lake structure, it will pay off. This is also the time to cash in as you find stray lures lost by others underneath docks, on stumps and laydown trees.

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

For more information on habitat enhancement for fish, visit the TWRA website at:
http://www.tn.gov/twra/fish/fishmain.html

And now I will share some of the pictures of our drawdown improvement projects of dock repair and sea wall maintenance.