Eastern Brook trout: Joint venture

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Eastern Brook trout Joint venture

• Editors
• M. Hudy, USDA Forest Service
• T.M. Thieling, USDA Forest Service, James Madison
  University
• N. Gnat Gillespie, Trout Unlimited
• Eric P. Smith , Virginia Tech

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Study Area 6th level watersheds

• Extirpated 21
• Predicated extirpated 8
• Reduced gt50
• 28
• Predicated Reduced gt50 7
• Intact gt50 14
• Predicated Intact gt50 17
• Absent Unknown History 5

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Key findings
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Trouts there be good store in every brook,
ordinarily two and twenty inches

• John Josselyn New England 1674

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Brook trout are extirpated from 29 of the
subwatersheds and reduced gt 50 in another 35

• The majority of large riverine habitats are gone

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Presence does not equal persistence
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Even with no further degradation many of the
Reduced gt 50 populations could become Extirpated.

• No connectivity or redundancy to reestablish
  populations after stochastic events
• Exotics fill in
• 330 subwatersheds highly vulnerable to extirpation

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I have given the matter considerable thought,
and frankly I can think of not one stream that I
would classify as predominately brook trout. This
state and neighboring states have spent most of
their time and money stocking brown trout in what
were good brook trout waters

• All about Brook Trout from Maine to California
  Bob Elliot 1950

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Exotics, Exotics, Exotics!!!

• Biggest non land use threat
• Rainbow trout in south east
• Brown trout in New York, New England
• Smallmouth bass in lakes
• Metric ??

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If you dont know where you are going any road
will get you there !
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Important quantitative data gaps exist for many
stream habitats (33 ) in large portions of
Maine, New Hampshire, New York with smaller gaps
in portions of Vermont, Massachusetts and West
Virginia.

• Need to validate the predictive models
• Quantitative needed for monitoring land use
  changes and exotics

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very large and nice trout were formerly caught
here but since the introduction of pickerel about
the year 1820 but very few trout have been
taken
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Lake populations have all but been eliminated
except for a few strong holds in Maine

• Vulnerable to exotics
• Vulnerable to land ownership changes

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While many extirpations and losses occurred at
the turn of the century, many documented losses
have occurred in the last ten years.

• 75,000 dams
• 2 million miles road
• 90 million people

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Land use metrics at the subwatershed level are
useful predictors of brook trout for land managers
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Core Metric Total Forest

• Land managers should be concerned as Total
  Forested in the subwatershed drops below 68
• Only 6 of Intact gt 50 subwatersheds have less
  than 68 Total Forest.
• 85 of Extirpated subwatersheds have less than
  68 Total Forest

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Core Metric Agriculture

• Land managers should be concerned if the
  Agriculture in the subwatershed is in the 12-19
  range or greater
• Only 17 of Intact gt 50 subwatersheds have
  greater than 19 Agriculture
• 74 of Extirpated subwatersheds have greater than
  12 Agriculture

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Core Metric NO3 SO4 Deposition (kg/ha)

• Land managers should be concerned if the
  Deposition in the subwatershed is in the 24 - 33
  kg/ha range or greater
• Only 23 of Intact gt 50 subwatersheds have a
  Deposition greater than 33 kg/ha
• 94 of Extirpated subwatersheds have a Deposition
  greater than 24 kg/ha

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Core Metric Riparian Mixed Forest

• Land managers should be concerned if the
  Riparian Mixed Forest in the subwatershed
  corridor is less than the 17-20 range
• Only 35 of Intact gt 50 subwatersheds have a
  Riparian Mixed Forest less than 17
• 81 of Extirpated subwatersheds have a Riparian
  Mixed Forest less than 20

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Core Metric Road Density (km/km2)

• Land managers should be concerned if the Road
  Density in the subwatershed is in the 1.8-2.0
  km/km2 range or greater
• Only 17 of Intact gt 50 subwatersheds have a
  Road Density greater than 1.8 km/km2
• 72 of Extirpated subwatersheds have a Road
  Density greater than 2.0 km/km2

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Next steps Brook trout populations 2015 ?
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