Trout and Trees: restoring Michigan’s streambanks

By Matthias Bonzo Last year TU began to implement a project we’re calling “Trout and Trees.” Funded by a grant from the USDA State and Private Forestry – Landscape Scale Restoration Initiative, the project seeks to improve near stream (riparian) habitats coupled with instream habitat work to provide as complete restoration to a degraded site…

Restoration drives advocacy in the Great Lakes, thankfully

Many conservation organizations are great at on-the-ground habitat restoration. Others excel at policy advocacy. Trout Unlimited is one of the few that shine at both. Our recipe for success is simple. We take the results and good will generated by the partnerships, relationships, and in many cases, friendships created through our restoration work, and use…

TU completes first phase of Tippy Dam site bank restoration in Michigan

By Matthias Bonzo  Trout Unlimited was part of a multi-partner project this year at an eroding stream bank located along the Manistee River below Tippy Dam in Wellston, Mich. The site, known as the Tunk Hole, was eroding severely due to intense foot traffic from recreational use. This area receives some of the highest angler pressure in…

TU helping to deploy Mayfly Sensor Stations

By Jake Lemon  Scientists and anglers throughout the country rely on USGS gaging stations for real-time streamflow and water quality data. Often these stations are located near the mouth of larger rivers forcing data users to extrapolate to understand what is happing in smaller coldwater trout streams.  Now, rapidly emerging technologies in open-source electronics are allowing volunteer groups to collect valuable real-time…

Volunteers in Wisconsin collaborate on stream monitoring effort

By Jake Lemon  The Central Sands region of Wisconsin encompasses 1.75 million acres and parts of eight counties in Central Wisconsin, boasting 800 miles of trout streams.     With the headwaters of these streams facing a variety of stressors, Trout Unlimited chapters in the region are joining forces in a new initiative to strengthen TU’s efforts…

TU completes road-stream crossing projects in Mich.

By Matthias Bonzo  In 2019, TU worked with its partners to complete two road stream crossings in the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan. The crossings were on Boswell Creek, in Manistee County, and on Hinton Creek in Wexford County. Boswell Creek is a tributary of Bear Creek and contains a healthy population of brook trout.…