Brown County Northern Pike Habitat Restoration Project

[Hamilton Reef]

Pike project could pay off for anglers and Suamico landowners

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/app ... /GPGsports

07/12/07 By Kevin Naze Press-Gazette correspondent

Landowners in the Village of Suamico with streams or wetland areas on their property can help fish and wildlife — and earn some money, too — by signing up for a new project.

While known as the Brown County Northern Pike Habitat Restoration Project, it reaches far beyond pike.

Located at the southern end of Green Bay, the Suamico and Little Suamico River watershed has some of the most productive wetlands remaining in the Great Lakes and encompasses more than 50 percent of Lake Michigan's wetlands.

The small perennial and intermittent streams and connected wetlands provide high-quality fish spawning and rearing habitat for pike, walleyes and other species. Songbirds, waterfowl and other wildlife also benefit.

Larry Kriese, retired after more than 30 years working with the state's natural resources, said wetland loss and disrupted stream networks from development and agricultural practices threaten the bay's ecosystem.

He was so concerned he took on a part-time role as the pike habitat restoration project manager for the Brown County Land Conservation Department.

"I decided to get involved because I saw it as an opportunity to be associated with a project that has the potential to make a real difference in protecting remaining critical habitat where so much of that habitat has already been lost," Kriese said.

"This is a project that can truly help landowners with a broad array of interests — from developers to business owners to private homeowners — meet the goals they have for their property."

Developers and property owners wanting to sell lands at top dollar used to resist regulations, Kriese said. Today, many are responding to potential buyers' interests — natural settings — and need to have approved plans to avoid flooding. That works well with the project's objectives.

A federal grant and $200,000 from the Fox River Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration fund is fueling the project. NRDAR money came from companies identified as responsible for the release of PCBs into the Fox River.

Protect, enhance, restore

Many of the natural meandering streams and waterways along the bay's west shore have been lost in the last century as people sought to find ways to move water off the land quickly by digging drainage ditches.

The ones that remain are the target of the pike restoration project, a plan that will benefit forage fish species and, someday, perhaps the spotted muskies that are thriving on the bay.

"My job is to work with landowners, as well as local government leaders, to try to protect, enhance, and restore some of the targeted wetlands," Kriese said.

He noted Suamico village officials support the project and want to be an example to other communities on how to sustain rapid development, build a strong tax base and protect the areas valuable natural resources.

Establishing vegetated buffers on streams, restoring and protecting wetlands and reducing sediments, nutrients and pesticides entering the stream network are among the goals.

Buffers are strips of land located between cropped fields and a stream that are planted in grasses and/or trees.

Payments for eligible practices include $2,500 an acre for buffers 20 to 150 feet wide; up to $270 an acre for shaping and seeding; $1,300 an acre for critical care plantings; and $1,500 an acre for wetland restoration.

More than 70 percent of the wetlands on the western shore of Green Bay have been lost in the past century. That includes many roadside ditches that drain into Green Bay and allow pike to reach spawning habitats.

"There's no debate now," Kriese said. "The ditches that do remain must be protected to handle the runoff water. Why not improve them?"

[Hamilton Reef]

The first posting is a northern pike habitat project, but we understand the benefits for muskie habitat is included. I posted it as a project that grabs one of my favorite passions. Fisheries habitat restoration when done right can often surpass fish culture production or provide the opportunity for reintroduction fish culture projects to take hold. We have several Michigan wetland coastlines that can use the Green Bay project as a model. Thus, thinking ahead we should be considering such coastline fishery habitats and taking advantage of the grant opportunities. Our AOC lakes such as Muskegon and White Lakes with the lower river deltas that are impaired are examples of potential projects for the future.

[Hamilton Reef]

I found some more background data on the this project. Hope you don't mind, but I'm filing the links here before I lose them. We may get a chance to do such projects with some muskie habitats someday.

Appendix A - Ecological Project Summaries
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/fund/mining/apndxa.html
#67 - NORTHERN PIKE SPAWNING AND NURSERY RESTORATION
(FY1993 - GL995427-01, -02) GREAT LAKES FISH AND WILDLIFE PROGRAM
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Contact:
Greg Hill
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Water Resources Management
101 S. Webster Street
P.O. Box 7921
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 267-9352

Award Amount: FY1993 - $153,000
Dollars Leveraged: $8,000
Project Timetable: October 1, 1993 - October 30, 1996
GLNPO Project Officer: Phil Strobel
Project Location: West shore of Green Bay, Lake Michigan (local)
Great Lakes System: Coastal marsh

Stressors Impairing System: Development, alteration of stream flow, sedimentation

Partners: Wildlife Forever, Brown County, Oconto County, Town of Pensaudee, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Narrative: This project supports the fish community objectives for Green Bay where northern pike, an important top predator, has suffered from degradation of spawning and nursery habitat. Access to spawning sites is being restored in western Green Bay tributaries. Restoration sites will be monitored, pike production assessed, and a comprehensive plan for the western shore of Green Bay has been developed.

Status: Ongoing

Environmental Results/Products: Increased balance in Green Bay food chain

Economic Impact: Increased sport fishing opportunities
Acres Impacted: 20

ALSO:

Habitat Grant Summaries
http://www.epa.gov/ecopage/funding/gran ... 0SUMMARIES
Northern Pike Habitat Protection and Restoration Project Phase II
(GL985712-01: $130,000)
Recipient: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
GLNPO Project Officer: Karen Rodriguez, (312) 353-2690

This is an expansion of the successful Northern Pike Habitat Protection and Restoration Project completed in 1996. This grant will restore critical northern pike wetland spawning and rearing habitat within the western shore of the Green Bay coastal zone as identified in Phase 1. This project is in line with the fish community objectives for Green Bay. Success of this project will be quantitatively measured allowing the knowledge gained to be applied in similar systems across the northern pike species extent. The project and budget periods are from 10/1/97 to 9/30/99.

ALSO:

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/active/2001/jul01.html

Northern Pike Spawning and Nursery Habitat Restored
A final report was received from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, on this project. The goals of the project were: to restore northern pike spawning habitats in three identified areas along Green Bay’s western shoreline; to examine and document the amount of present and potential northern pike spawning habitats along the entire western shore of Green Bay; and to produce a comprehensive plan for northern pike habitat restoration for the western shore of Green Bay. During the second Phase of the project adult northern pike wetland habitat was restored, and the pike’s access to upstream spawning and rearing habitats was improved. An monitoring assessment using traps to estimate the restoration progress showed more pike were being born. The project was funded by a grant from GLNPO.

Contact: Karen Rodriguez, U.S. EPA - GLNPO (312) 353-2690