The Brook Trout Coalition

10/30/2024

The BRCS did (probably) its last cleanup starting on October 21 and ending on October 28. It was project number 40 for 2024. Not our best year but still not bad, either.

2 two man tents and a car filled with garbage with a lot more strewn around the area.

Here's the full report with all the photos.

http://www.brcleansweep.org/2024_1021_StrombolliRd.html

04/03/2022

Hi:
I'm Norm Fred who leads the Boardman River Clean Sweep that did the cleanup at the Goodwill Inn last year.
A group was there in full force and did a fantastic job to clean out 14500 pounds of trash and litter out of those woods along the river.
That project got the Goodwill Inn, Garfield Township and the CITY to make a real effort to keep it the way we left it and they have almost succeeded.
On *APRIL 16th* this year. We will go back there to do some more work to make it pristine again. It is nowhere as bad as last year.
If we can get just 15 to 20 people there, we will have it done in a few hours.
The group that came last year was great and I hope we can get some more of you to join in to keep this combined property clean.
It really is a beautiful place and it deserves to be kept that way.
For more information, look here:
https://tapc.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=4002...
I hope to see you there.
Norm Fred
http://www.brcleansweep.org/

04/30/2021

Pretty cool!!

04/27/2021

Who is catching brookies already this spring?

04/26/2021

Get to Know Your Native Brook Trout. Check out this cool poster!

LOOK at this GORGEOUS Brook Trout Poster http://www.fishhabitat.org/news/eastern-brook-trout-joint-venture-releases-new-brook-trout-poster
Over 500 posters have been distributed to states, and federal partners within the Brook Trout range in the U.S. National Fish Habitat Partnership Trout Unlimited, Beyond the Pond and Rep Your Water were proud sponsors with the development of this poster. Stay tuned to Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture for highlights from this poster and ways you can get your own copy!

07/18/2020

Norm Fred here:

I started a page today to encourage the making and wearing of masks in Michigan. Note the TROUT masks that I am making for my fishing friends. This can fun as well as healthier. Take a look and share with your sewing friends.

https://www.facebook.com/Michigan-Mask-Of-The-Day-MMOD-101273195009924

Michigan and out of state people can post their novel and unusual Covid-19 masks on these pages. Co

07/09/2020

BTC board member Bob Garvey brought this recent article about trout and water temperature from Hatch Magazine to our attention: https://www.hatchmag.com/articles/trout-and-water-temperature-how-hot-too-hot/771553 For those of you who are catch-and-release fishermen, our recent spate of torrid temperatures has raised the water temperature in the Boardman, Upper Manistee and Lower Manistee rivers to dangerous levels for trout that you don’t plan to keep.

As the story points out, brook, brown and, less so, rainbow trout experience stress when the water temperature reaches 68 degrees. Currently, according to daily fishing reports posted by Orvis, the water temperature at mid-day on the Boardman is 68 degrees. In the Upper Manistee, the mid-day temperature is 70 degrees and the temperature is 73 degrees at mid-day on the Lower Manistee.

The story concludes with this advice: “On days when temperatures soar, and especially during extended periods of high temperatures, the catch-and-release fisherman should pay specific attention to stream temperatures throughout the stream he or she is hoping to fish. When temperatures in moving water exceed 68°F (20°C), it's best to call it and return another day.”

With vast swaths of the country currently in the grips of what seems to be an interminable heat wave, countless cool flowing freestone trout streams have turned into something altogether different. Even freestone streams with strong cold water influences and spring creeks that normally remain temper...

07/02/2020

The Record-Eagle ran a nice feature story on the Brook Trout Coalition's onion litter bag project on the cover of today's "Go" section. Thanks again to the Rotary Club of Traverse City for awarding us a grant for this project:

TRAVERSE CITY — It’s not so uncommon for river users to drop something in the water, whether by accident or apathy.

06/14/2020

We're sharing with you in its entirety a thoughtful and heartfelt letter written today by attorney Grant Parsons to Traverse City commissioners:

Dear tired Commissioners,

I’m sorry you find yourself in this fix.

At tomorrow’s City Commission meeting, you apparently intend to approve FishPass because you can't delay fixing the Union Street Dam. For years, the City staff didn’t want to fix that dam. Now the same City staff tells you it must be fixed immediately, and there is no time to study the risks associated with the fix. We’ve all read the engineering studies; the dam has needed fixing for years at a cost of $400,000 - $600,000.

We — concerned and active community members — haven't asked for a final rejection of FishPass. We’ve asked for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate FishPass: 1) What toxic materials will be released by excavation; 2) What method of of lamprey screening will be used; 3) What fish species will be passed upstream; 4) How much will the City be obliged to pay for future maintenance and operation of FishPass; 5) What downtown flood risks are posed by FishPass.

The City staff that's telling you you have to act now is the same staff that avoided the relatively small cost of repair for years while FishPass planners met, dithered, and pulled political strings, but utterly failed to answer fundamental answers about cost and function. Have any of you asked the City staff why they didn’t ask FishPass planners to do an EIS and a cost analysis during the years they discussed FishPass?

Can you understand the public perception that the City staff wants to spend $16,000,000 to build a parking deck, but won't spend $400,000-$600,000 to repair the dam and buy time to do an EIS and ensure the protection of the Boardman River and the downtown? $16,000,000 to park a couple hundred cars, but not $400,000-$600,000 to buy time to ensure the protection of this magnificent river?

Have you ever sat down and established priorities for City staff? Ever say, “Listen folks, Traverse City lives and dies by our environment, not by cars and commercial claptrap”?

I’m sorry to hector you with questions, but I think you understand my deep, despairingly-heartfelt concern for the river that you are about to alter forever, don't you?

Sincerely,

Grant Parsons