Watershed Restoration

Since Trout Unlimited (TU) was founded in 1959, on-the-ground restoration of streams, watersheds, and fisheries has been our hallmark. Throughout the country our active volunteers work through their TU chapters implementing restoration projects within their home watersheds. These volunteers have done everything from installing habitat improvement structures and fencing out cattle to replanting stream banks and educating children about aquatic conservation. Each year TU chapters and councils invest over 125,000 hours and more than $1,500,000 in restoration work. The National office administers the Embrace-A-Stream grant program, established in 1976, to provide matching grants to TU chapters and council to aid their on-the-ground conservation efforts.

Since 1994, Trout Unlimited national staff has complimented these local efforts by implementing an impressive array of large-scale watershed projects. The national office of Trout Unlimited launched its first comprehensive watershed restoration project on the Beaverkill-Willowemoc River system in New York State. TU initiated this program based on the premise that everything in a watershed is related and connected, and that watershed restoration requires far more than site-specific treatments. Trout Unlimited's Watershed Programs have grown impressively since and now consist of several different programs. These include the Home Rivers Initiative, which focuses primarily on private lands, and Bring Back the Natives and Strategies for Native Trout, both partnership efforts with federal agencies on public lands. As we have become more experienced and adept we have applied the watershed principals to regional efforts that encompass very large or several river systems. In addition, TU has several productive partnerships with federal agencies which enhance out ability to restore rivers and fisheries across the country. All of the programs are dedicated to using sound science to guide management decisions, working collaboratively with partners and local communities, and using the watershed as the appropriate scale for tackling river and fishery conservation issues. One of the primary functions of TU's large-scale watershed programs are to demonstrate innovative restoration techniques that both improve the condition of the watershed and fishery, but also serve as a model for other similarly affected drainages.

For more information:

Laura Hewitt
Director, Watershed Programs
222 S. Hamilton St.
Suite 3
Madison, WI 53703
608-250-3534
Contact Laura Hewitt