Habitat

Fish need water. Building on this most basic premise, TU's conservation work ensures that trout and salmon have the cold, clean water they require, as well as the many other components that make up a healthy aquatic environment. Working with landowners, government agencies, Native American tribes and other conservation groups, TU repairs damaged fish habitat and protects the healthy habitat that remains.

Problem: Stream degradation resulting from timber harvest.

As with other traditional land uses, much of the timber harvest conducted through the last century has occurred with little foresight given to aquatic resource conservation. Clear cutting large stands of timber adjacent to fish habitat has inflicted incalculable damage, as do many of the hastily constructed and abandoned logging roads that carve up the Western landscape. Eliminating stands of trees near streams leads to erosion, which clogs those waterways and smothers habitat needed for fish spawning. Loss of tree cover leaves fish vulnerable to predators and loss of shade raises water temperatures and pollution levels, often with fatal results to fish.

Solution: Agreements with timber companies to reverse habitat damage and promote responsible land stewardship.

In 1998, TU embarked on an unprecedented partnership with big timber in northern California to restore habitat for once-prevalent coho salmon. The North Coast Coho Project is the product of years of negotiations among TU, the Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) of Calpella, Calif., and agencies.

Decades of logging, networks of access roads and clear cuts have left streamside habitat in northern California rivers unstable and subject to dumping huge amounts of sediment into rivers. Sedimentation can devastate salmon by clogging spawning areas, rendering reproduction nearly impossible.

By opening MRC-owned lands, North Coast Coho Project partners are approaching restoration on a watershed-wide basis, rather than the piecemeal approach often necessitated by multiple ownership checker-boarded across a river basin. The watershed-wide approach is critical because restoration confined to a stream bed and its banks is often literally washed away when unstable upstream habitat gives out during heavy rains and re-creates erosion problems.

The MRC will close damaging roads, provide scientific information, and help with restoration on six coastal rivers: the Garcia, Albion, Navarro, Noyo, Big, and Hollow Tree Creek in the Eel River watershed. In return, TU is developing and leading the restoration plans.

Problem: Water quality degradation caused by acid rain.

Trout habitat in mountain watersheds of southeastern states, such as Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, has long suffered from "acid deposition," or acid rain. The burning of coal and other fossil fuels, primarily by industrial power plants, causes acid rain. Acid rain increases the acidity of lakes and streams to levels toxic to fish, increases nitrogen levels and strips nutrients from forest soils.

In Virginia, recent research funded by TU and conducted by the University of Virginia (UVA) found that only half of the state's streams studied suffered no effects from acid rain. The research also found that 6 percent of those streams are "chronically acidic," and could not support native brook trout or other fish species. Worse, the number of Virginia streams too acidic to support brook trout is steadily on the rise.

Solution: Research, grassroots monitoring and education, and legislation to reduce acid rain.

TU has taken on acid rain on a number of fronts. In 1987, TU, UVA and state and federal agencies launched the Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study (VTSSS). Since that time, TU volunteers have helped monitor hundreds of brook trout streams in the state to better determine acid rain's impact.

VTSSS findings have continually shown that acid rain's effects on Virginia brook trout streams are on the rise. Despite amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990 to combat problems like acid rain, VTSSS research has found that the number of streams rendered unlivable for trout due to acid rain would likely rise from the current 6 percent to 22 percent by 2041 without dramatic reductions in the emissions that cause acid rain. In 2001, federal legislation was introduced to curb such emissions. With the support of TU staff and members, Congress may soon enact new, more stringent standards that will lessen the damage caused by acid rain in Virginia and other states.

TU volunteers in Virginia have also taken to the classroom, teaching children about stream monitoring techniques and the impacts of acid rain on the environment.

Problem: Lack of water for fish on private lands.

Water quantity goes hand in hand with water quality. Even the cleanest water is of little use to trout and salmon if there isn't enough of it for fish. A sizeable portion of coldwater habitat–especially in the West–lies on private land in parcels of timber holdings, ranches, farms and mining operations. Historically, much of the management of this habitat has been driven by its extractive or commercial use, that is, with little consideration given to conservation. Within traditional private lands management, much of the water critical to trout and salmon has been used or diverted elsewhere for consumptive purposes.

Solution: Collaborating with landowners and government water managers and enforcing water law.

In 1998 TU joined with WaterWatch of Oregon to launch the Western Water Project. The project's goals are simple: to restore and protect flows in Western rivers and streams for the benefit of fish and wildlife, water quality and river recreation. The means of accomplishing these goals are far more complex, however. With offices in Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, as well as staff in Arlington, Va., project attorneys navigate the intricacies of Western water law involving allocation and management through a variety of government and private channels.

In addition to their daily endeavors in individual states, staff have worked to improve the communication and coordination among water advocates throughout the West. They host an annual meeting involving representatives from upwards of 10 organizations from at least six states, engage in public outreach, provide technical assistance to other conservationists involved in water law, and publish a quarterly newsletter, Keeping Current.

Problem: Aquatic habitat degradation caused by smaller dams.

Tens of thousands of dams stand in rivers and streams all across the U.S. The vast majority is nowhere near the scale of the massive hydroelectric projects like Hoover or Grand Coulee dams. But despite their smaller stature, smaller dams can damage trout and salmon habitat by raising water temperatures, lowering water quality, altering flows and dissolved gas levels, and blocking fish migration.

Solution: Selectively remove smaller dams whose damage to habitat outweighs their value to people.

While many dams continue to provide useful societal benefits, thousands of small dams have become obsolete, no longer providing the services for which they were designed. These dams damage aquatic habitat, often become financial burdens on their owners, and can become public safety hazards. Their removal can provide lasting habitat benefits, while often also benefiting the dam owner and surrounding community.

For more than 110 years, Colfax Dam in west-central Wisconsin blocked Eighteen-Mile Creek near its confluence with the Red Cedar River. The 13-foot-high, 75-foot-long dam once powered a grain mill, but the structure prevented fish passage and degraded coldwater habitat. Over the years, the dam's impoundment became choked with sediment and created high water temperatures and low oxygen levels, making it inhospitable to trout. The area upstream of the dam had been described as "nothing but sand flats and mosquito habitat."

In 1996, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) ordered the dam replaced or removed for safety reasons. Dam repairs and pond dredging were estimated to cost over $1 million, a large sum for the Village of Colfax. After a series of public meetings, Colfax residents voted to remove the dam. TU's Ojibleau Chapter president, Duke Welter, attended community meetings and wrote to the local paper advocating for restoring Eighteen-Mile Creek. Welter also joined DNR personnel in presenting the economic and recreational benefits of dam removal to more than 150 Colfax residents at a town meeting.

The dam was removed in the winter of 1997-1998. Stream channel restoration, including bank stabilization and habitat enhancements, followed. The Ojibleau Chapter contributed $2,400 to cover the cost of notching the dam to draw down the water, enabling the project to go forward. TU volunteers also helped install instream structures for fish habitat and flow consistency, helped reseed exposed land and planted streamside vegetation. The DNR also stocked 600 wild brook trout to help establish a self-sustaining population.

The dam removal cost approximately $200,000, a significant cost savings over the million-dollar repair estimate. Since the dam was removed, native coldwater species have increased in abundance, including mottled sculpin, American brook lamprey and brook trout, which have increased from 12 trout per mile in 1997 to 108 trout per mile in 1999. The "sand flats and mosquito habitat" have become a living, thriving asset to the community.