Registration:
No registration is required to attend this event.
This is an in-person event that will take place in room 200 of the Agricultural Science building at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls.
Description:
Minnesota Sea Grant Fisheries and Aquaculture Extension Educator Amy Schrank will present "Dam Removal Effects on Trout in the Maple River Watershed" at a fall speaker event hosted by the University of Wisconsin - River Falls Ecological Restoration Institute.
Pre- and post-dam removal data on the fish community in the Maple River has been collected to better understand how dam removal affects fish communities in this and other river ecosystems.
Dam removal is becoming more common and necessary as smaller, aging dam structures become unstable and outlive their utility and the importance of connectedness in rivers for ecosystem health is better understood.
The Maple River, located at the northeastern tip of lower Michigan, has a relatively undeveloped watershed (i.e., little human development) with high quality native brook trout habitat (i.e., cold water temperature and a stream bottom of sand, gravel and pebble) in the upper reaches of the river, and rainbow and brown trout populations in the lower reaches.
Invasive sea lamprey is also a concern in this system because the Maple River, among a number of other rivers, is connected to Lake Huron, and sea lamprey run up these rivers to spawn. To keep sea lamprey populations down in the Great Lakes, there is concern about reducing their movement into streams to spawn. One strategy is to block their upstream migrations with small dams.
Presenter:
Minnesota Sea Grant Fisheries and Aquaculture Extension Educator Amy Schrank.
Contact:
Minnesota Sea Grant Fisheries and Aquaculture Extension Educator Amy Schrank.
Image credit: Amy Schrank