fish survey at Casey Springs IA 854A0029
The main reason I haven't retired from my job after 40 years is because I get to help with wonderful conservation projects like this one at Casey Springs. Winneshiek County Conservation, where I work, acquired this section of Casey Springs several years ago. Now Winneshiek County Conservation is partnering with the Iowa DNR and Trout Unlimited to improve the trout habitat in this cold-water stream. As a background, Casey Springs is one of a handful of streams in Iowa that support a population of Iowa native-strain brook trout. Brook trout were common in northeastern Iowa before the pioneers arrived back in the mid-1800s but quickly vanished as plowing the ground for farming soon clogged the streams with silt after rain storms and the trout couldn't handle that continuous silt load. Eventually, Iowa's native brook trout were confined to one stream located here in Winneshiek County. Their progeny were stocked here in Casey Springs several years ago as an insurance policy to protect those rare genetics and also to try and reestablish native brook trout to more Iowa streams. Right now, Casey Springs has some steep ten-foot high banks of legacy silt that have been deposited in the floodplain by 150 years of soil erosion in the watershed. The Casey Springs stream enhancement project will grade those steep banks back to gentle slopes and replant them with prairie grasses to prevent erosion and keep dirt from washing back into the water. Some fish weirs will also be built in the stream to focus the water flow and help scour out the stream bottom and keep sediment from smothering the natural rock substrate. In this photo, fisheries biologists are shocking the stream to sample the brook trout population and gather baseline data. Population surveys will continue annually for at least five years after the project is completed to see how successful it is at boosting the brook trout population in Casey Springs. By the way, after this photo was taken I was back in the bucket brigade where we took the trout netted by the lead crew and carried them along for a short while before we would stop to tabulate what we caught.
fish survey at Casey Springs IA 854A0029
The main reason I haven't retired from my job after 40 years is because I get to help with wonderful conservation projects like this one at Casey Springs. Winneshiek County Conservation, where I work, acquired this section of Casey Springs several years ago. Now Winneshiek County Conservation is partnering with the Iowa DNR and Trout Unlimited to improve the trout habitat in this cold-water stream. As a background, Casey Springs is one of a handful of streams in Iowa that support a population of Iowa native-strain brook trout. Brook trout were common in northeastern Iowa before the pioneers arrived back in the mid-1800s but quickly vanished as plowing the ground for farming soon clogged the streams with silt after rain storms and the trout couldn't handle that continuous silt load. Eventually, Iowa's native brook trout were confined to one stream located here in Winneshiek County. Their progeny were stocked here in Casey Springs several years ago as an insurance policy to protect those rare genetics and also to try and reestablish native brook trout to more Iowa streams. Right now, Casey Springs has some steep ten-foot high banks of legacy silt that have been deposited in the floodplain by 150 years of soil erosion in the watershed. The Casey Springs stream enhancement project will grade those steep banks back to gentle slopes and replant them with prairie grasses to prevent erosion and keep dirt from washing back into the water. Some fish weirs will also be built in the stream to focus the water flow and help scour out the stream bottom and keep sediment from smothering the natural rock substrate. In this photo, fisheries biologists are shocking the stream to sample the brook trout population and gather baseline data. Population surveys will continue annually for at least five years after the project is completed to see how successful it is at boosting the brook trout population in Casey Springs. By the way, after this photo was taken I was back in the bucket brigade where we took the trout netted by the lead crew and carried them along for a short while before we would stop to tabulate what we caught.