Trout Unlimited Field Crew Stream Surveys

by Kyle Dankert, Trout Unlimited Great Lakes Field Coordinator

The sun was rising high on a brisk September morning. Field crews were halfway through a survey on a northeast Michigan stream where Blue Wing Olives danced on the water’s surface near drying ironweed and seedling carex draped over the stream’s riparian zone. Trout Unlimited’s aquatic resource technicians carefully navigated around decaying wood from surrounding cedar, jack pine, and hemlock communities, searching for trout species populations within the stream.

The team members “shock” the water and collect stunned fish that includes western black nose dace, mottled sculpin, brown trout, and brook trout; astonishing to this survey, a surprise was identified as a tiger trout (shown in the photo above). An oddity, this rare species hasn’t been seen by TU field crews for the past few years. Tiger trout are a spectacle. Its occurrence is due to the hybridization of brown and brook trout (Salmo trutta × Salvelinus fontinalis). This phenotype exhibits pronounced vermiculations in the fish’s pattern evoking a tiger’s stripes.

Although TU completes several fish surveys throughout many Great Lakes watersheds where both brown and brook trout coincide, the presence of these hybrids is often unseen. The captured tiger trout anomaly and another individual were found in Silver Creek. This small coldwater stream is located in the northeast region of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and part of the Tawas River/Lake watershed. This stretch of Silver Creek is part of an old sand trap that caused a long reach to deposit excess sediment, becoming unnaturally shallow and wide. This covers up key habitats like wood vegetation for native aquatic species.

TU and the USDA Forest Service will be restoring the degraded stretch of Silver Creek, using large wood and whole trees to narrow the channel back to its natural width and embody that of an unimpaired section of the stream. TU and the Forest Service are working in partnership to restore and reconnect habitat in Silver Creek and other coldwater streams in this region.

TU collects pre and post fish data to help evaluate the effectiveness of the restoration project. This site required our team to hike half a mile with gear to the middle of the Corsair trail network to access the survey reach. The USDA Forest Service maintains the Corsair trail system and has excellent stream access. In the fall, this location housed the densest perennial and herbaceous plant communities of ironweed, Alexander goldenrod, and New England aster.

With no cellular connection and low traffic, this is a unique experience in the Lower Peninsula as it evokes a sense of wilderness and solidarity. Remote areas usually mean longer hikes to sites and additional effort, such as bushwhacking. However, it brings the unique experiences of wildlife and rich examples of thriving flora and fauna, which created deep streaks of yellow and purple up and down the water’s edge throughout the sample area of the survey. This watershed’s autumnal showcase of colors was superior.

Like any other conducted by TU, the Silver Creek electro-fishing survey is completed both above and below the intended road/stream reconstruction site. This standardized approach allows a study at both a controlled (unimpacted) and impacted section of a stream. The fish data is collected by completing three consecutive passes with a backpack shocker and a team of three-plus individuals in the water. Collected fish are then identified, weighed, and measured in length, making sure to keep individuals organized by the pass number in which they were collected. Soon after accounting for the number of fish, the team holds the fish in coldwater tanks maintained by bubblers, which oxygenate the water, before release back into the stream once the survey is completed.

Many hours were spent weighing large and restless fish, looking closely at the hundreds of minnow species to identify known species and find anomalies like the tiger trout. A single site, both upstream and downstream surveys, is notorious for taking an entire day. TU was fortunate to have additional hands on deck at this site to collect data, identify species, and haul gear. Forest Service employees from the Mio station helped complete fish surveys in this region, proving incredibly helpful.

The Forest Service and TU have become an efficient team for road-stream crossing reconstruction projects and fish surveys in national forests throughout the state, especially near the Tawas and Oscoda watersheds. TU and Huron Manistee National Forest have maintained a strong partnership working together to protect and conserve habitat. There is strong communication on both sides throughout the year for planning future surveys and restoration projects. Biologists, Forest Service employees, and TU staff meet in the field during the summer to lend a hand and carry out fieldwork.

TU field teams have benefitted significantly from the helping hands of the Forest Service from the Mio station, especially the local biologist of the region who oversees fisheries management in the Huron Manistee National Forest east zone.

As a long-time established team with similar goals in mind to conserve and restore high-quality habitat, TU and the Huron Manistee Forest Service plan to keep working together in this region of the South Branch Pine, Thunder Bay, and Au Sable watersheds for future projects. TU can increase the quality of work and reconnect more cold water through partnerships like this and looks forward to seeing more habitats like Silver Creek restored.