April 2008 - Vol. 41

Inside this Issue:

• Northland College Interns Receiving Valuable Training
  
  
• Another Culvert System Restored
  
  
• PIT tagging Study Underway
  
  
• New Video for the Bad River Watershed Association
  
  
• Whittlesey Creek NWR Waterfowl Survey

Northland College Interns Receiving Valuable Training
The Ashland FWCO has partnered with Northland College, Ashland, WI to provide hands on training for 4 interns. Students are receiving valuable training in fish aging techniques, including scale and otolith interpretations; predator/prey studies analyzing stomach contents; net mending; developing computer databases, and other administrative functions of the office. The four interns have been working 8 – 10 hours per week. Their interest and class levels vary as they begin to look into various field and office aspects of the fisheries and wildlife programs to decide future employment goals.

Another Culvert System Restored
With funding from the Region 3 Fish Passage Program, the Ashland FWCO and its partners completed a culvert replacement on Wildcat Creek. This creek is part of the Bad River Watershed which is the largest on the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Superior. The Ashland FWCO purchased the new 6’ x 60’ culvert, and the Town of Lincoln supplied staff and funding to hire the Ashland County Highway Department to supply a large excavator. A pre-construction survey for the correct placement of the culvert was conducted by the Ashland FWCO and the Ashland County Land Conservation Department (ACLCD).

Plans for the culvert replacement were engineered by the ACLCD with assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. A pre-construction fishery survey was conducted with assistance from UW Stevens Point students. A segment of creek below the culvert was surveyed with a backpack electrofishing unit. All trout species received a lower caudal clip, were measured and then released. A segment above the culvert was also shocked. These fish received an upper caudal clip. Assistance for the recapture run was provided by Dr. Derek Ogle’s Fisheries Science and Management Class, Northland College. After culvert replacement the same segments below and above the culvert were electrofished and all trout species were collected. Results indicate that the culvert is allowing fish passage and the inhabitants are now able to assess the upper reaches (5.1 miles) of Wildcat Creek.

Coaster Brook Trout PIT tagging Study Underway
Biologists from the Ashland FWCO and Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are working cooperatively to examine tag retention, survival, and growth of yearling coaster brook trout implanted with a PIT tag. Results of this study will help guide future tagging and stocking efforts of coaster brook trout in support of a long-term experiment to establish a coaster brook trout population in Whittlesey Creek; a coldwater tributary to Lake Superior. Prior to releasing PIT tagged coaster brook trout into Whittlesey Creek, a remote PIT tag sensing station will be installed near the mouth of Whittlesey Creek to allow for the detection of emigration of stocked fish out of the creek and into Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay.

New Video for the Bad River Watershed Association
At the request of the Bad River Watershed Association (BRWA), Frank Stone created a slide-show video highlighting the goals and accomplishments of the BRWA. This 17 minute video, entitled Connecting People, Land & Water, is comprised of 250 digital images that are sequenced to music and narratives that help explain the fish passage (through culvert replacement) and water quality monitoring activities of the BRWA. The mission of the BRWA is to promote a healthy relationship between the people and natural communities of the Bad River Watershed by involving all citizens in assessing, maintaining and improving, watershed integrity for future generations. The video was first presented to the public (75 were in attendance) on March 29 during a fund raising banquet at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center.

Whittlesey Creek NWR Waterfowl Survey – 2007 Results
In order to assess waterfowl populations at the Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge, a waterfowl survey was initiated in 2005. Counts of waterfowl numbers and species both at the refuge and on Chequamegon Bay near the creek’s estuary are being conducted during the spring and fall migrations. The survey aids refuge managers in planning habitat activities which will benefit fish and wildlife populations that utilize this area. Surveys conducted once a week during the 2007 spring and fall migrations recorded 5,993 ducks, geese and swans. The numbers counted offer a weekly snap-shot of waterfowl populations in this small portion of the Chequamegon Bay area on a given day. A total of 19 species of waterfowl were observed, 11 species of divers and mergansers, 6 species of dabbling ducks, Canada geese and tundra swans. Historically, Chequamegon Bay and it’s wetland estuaries hosted spectacular numbers of migrating waterfowl, but according to local accounts, numbers are now a mere shadow of what they were prior to 1945. This survey and other work in the area will be important for the conservation of these species. Habitat restoration and protection efforts at the refuge, federal, state, tribal and other lands in the area, will hopefully help to boost populations of these and other waterfowl species which inhabit northern Wisconsin.