We know that protecting and preserving local fisheries and creating more opportunities for you to fly fish closer to home and have better fishing, starts with local boots on the ground. Conservation starts small but has a large impact. From Trout Unlimited: Conservation happens on the ground, and we’re as comfortable getting wet and muddy as we are in a classroom. Below is a list of just a few of the projects TU staff and volunteers are working on. If you’re interested in a project near you, considering contacting your local chapter or state council.

Use Trout Unlimited's Project Finder Today to Find a Conservation Project Near You.

Here are few examples of ongoing projects:

Upper Delaware Watershed Home Rivers Initiative.

The Upper Delaware Watershed is home to many of New Jersey’s best trout fishing waters, including the Musconetcong River. Here TU has removed barriers to aquatic organism passage and strategically restored over 6 miles of habitat in degraded areas to increase available habitat, food, and water quality for trout, especially native brook trout.

The success achieved in the Musconetcong River has provided TU the opportunity to expand its area of influence in the Basin. This recent expansion is being fueled by a watershed-wide approach to restore, reconnect, and reintroduce native brook trout patches in Lopatcong Creek, a high-quality spring creek, the Paulins Kill and Pequest River, as well as Flat Brook, a brook trout stronghold in the northern most part of the state.

Pipeline Impacts in the Delaware River Basin

TU is in the midst of a once-in-a-generation build-out of major interstate pipelines to move natural gas from the Marcellus shale region to markets, other transmission lines, and export terminals on the East Coast. If not properly managed, this construction boom could have major impacts on the streams and forests of the Delaware River Basin states, and the fish and wildlife that live there.

TU works with partners in government agencies, the conservation community, and industry to find ways to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts from pipeline construction. For this project, we identified overlapping areas of ecological concern in the Delaware River Basin states. Using GIS datasets, we plotted locations that are critical to the protection of important coldwater fisheries, high water quality, intact lands, and biodiversity, including wild trout streams, waters with special regulatory protections, state Natural Heritage Program sites, and public lands.

Driftless Area Restoration Effort

Since it was conceived in 2004, TUDARE has worked to ramp up restoration work across the unglaciated, or “Driftless” area of the upper Mississippi River Basin.

This 24,000-square-mile area lies in southeastern Minnesota, northeast Iowa, northwest Illinois and western and southwestern Wisconsin. It offers over 6,000 miles of cold spring creeks in 600 watersheds, one of the largest assemblages anywhere.

The science-based approach to helping these streams back to health after decades of hard land use has brought together strong partnerships with federal agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), state departments of natural resources, and county conservation departments. In addition, many projects involve local schools, colleges, and community and conservation groups which have never had an opportunity to see watershed restoration in action.

TUDARE has developed manuals for best management practices for non-game species, and cooperated with prairie restoration and other wildlife groups.

Get involved today!

About Trout Unlimited

Trout Unlimited is the nation's leading organization dedicated to conserving and restoring coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. Through science-based programs, advocacy, and education, Trout Unlimited works to ensure healthy and sustainable fisheries for future generations.

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