Two acres of newly created fish habitat at the Chapman Mills Conservation Area is up and fully operating as of late summer.

A channel was cut through to connect an existing backwater bay of the Rideau to the main channel. A separate shallow embayment was created featuring a picturesque and important habitat island adjacent to the main river. Final landscaping and cleanup was done over the summer and new interpretive signs have now been installed to explain the kinds of fish and aquatic animals people will see in the area.  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.

This new habitat project is expected to: improve water circulation through the connecting channel, create variable depths of water allowing more diverse aquatic vegetation, create spawning, nursery, rearing and food supply habitat for fish, provide new winter and summer refuge areas for fish, and improve the function of adjacent wetlands for aquatic species.

A five-year monitoring program is in place to measure habitat use by native fish species. The spring and fall surveys will also check on habitat integrity, makeup of the aquatic community and quality of the water with recommendations on how to improve any shortfalls in performance.

Steve Desroches, Ottawa Councillor for Gloucester-South Nepean and a Director of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, said “The city is proud of the partnership and cooperation that has gone into this project. All of the players – public and private alike – are to be congratulated on a good community-spirited job at Chapman Mills. It’s good for the river, it’s good for my community and it’s good news for Ottawa kids.”

This very welcome increase in the stock of fish habitat on the lower Rideau is in compensation for the partial loss of fish habitat on a tributary of the Jock River and another loss on Mosquito Creek.

Division’s work aims to help shore anglers

            This past week, the Ohio Division of Wildlife placed fish attractors in a popular shore fishing spot atMosquito Reservoir (Trumbull County). “From ice out to ice up, there’s always someone fishing along that stretch of shoreline. We hope our work will improve the fishing along there,” said Matt Wolfe, Fisheries Biologist, who oversees this project for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Plastic spools weighed down with stone were placed near the rip-rap break wall outside of the State Park Boat launch on the south side of the lake. Spools were placed along the outside and inside edges of both the Northern and Southern sections of the break wall. In total, 50 spools were placed in anywhere from seven to 14-feet of water. More importantly though, “the spools were placed within easy casting distance for anglers who fish this area,” added Wolfe.

An additional $9.8 million in partner contributions, over $13.2 million in total, will go toward restoring and enhancing stream, lake and coastal habitat, as well as improving recreational fishing and helping endangered species.  Continue reading “Fish Habitats Improved With $3 Million in Funding”

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.

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

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”