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Partners Working Together
By Pete Esser
News Release Sept. 2, 2004
The Harry & Laura Nohr Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Pete Esser
1245 Westhill Ave.
Platteville, WI 53818
Partners Working Together
When it comes to doing cold water trout stream restoration work a bit of leadership is required, volunteer help is necessary, and adequate funding is essential. Those elements manifest themselves in the current stream improvement project which is nearing completion on Southwest Wisconsin’s Blue River. Project leadership was the function of the Harry & Laura Nohr Chapter of Trout Unlimited, volunteer labor was provided by a host of local citizens and members of several Trout Unlimited Chapters, and funding was received from the following list of project partners:
The Larry Wolenec Family
Harry & Laura Nohr Chapter of TU
Blackhawk Chapter TU
Elliott Donnelley Chapter TU
Oakbrook Chapter TU
Lee Wulff Chapter TU
Garry Borger Chapter TU
National TU Embrace-A-Stream
Wisconsin State TU Council
The Besadny Foundation
The Madison Fishing Expo
Wisconsin DNR
Iowa County LCD
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Lands’ End
The Patagonia Corporation
This significant stream restoration effort would not have been possible without the financial support of those listed above; neither would the project have been successful without the hundreds of hours of volunteer labor donated by TU members and local citizens. Certainly a huge debt of gratitude is owed the Larry Wolenec family who own the property through which this stream segment flows.
The Blue River project is an effort to improve brown trout habitat through removal of a considerable amount of the overhead tree canopy, restoration of the riffle-pool-riffle sequence, installation of fish cribs for cover, and the reduction of bank erosion. The result of the work can be viewed from the County Highway I bridge between Highland and Montfort. The project starts at the County Highway I bridge and continues upstream (Eastward) for one-half mile.
The design and machine work on this project exemplify the current state of the art in stream improvement work. The design and project consultation were provided by Roger Widner of the Westfork Sports Club and Gene VanDyck of the DNR; Dave Roh of Muscoda is the skilled contractor who did the superior machine work in the stream and on the riparian.
In addition to reducing soil erosion, it is not unreasonable to expect that as a project result the trout population in the restored stream segment will increase 3 to 4 times over the next couple of years.
The Nohr Chapter is proud to have been the sponsor of this project and invites interested area residents who appreciate our cold water resources to contact us and join in our efforts.
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