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Driftless
Area Streams Receive Funding Through the National Fish Habitat Action
Plan
The following streams will receive additional funding this year:
Elk
Creek, Chippewa County, WI
Vermont Creek, Dane County, WI
Richmond Springs, Delaware County, IA
West Fork Halls Creek trib, Jackson County, WI
Smith Conley Creek, Iowa County, WI
Williams-Barneveld, Iowa County, WI
Hefty Creek, Green County, WI
Profile
of the NFHAP:
Funding
Request. Funding floor $10,000. Funding ceiling $40,000.
Cost
sharing by partners. A contribution of at least 50 percent of
total project costs is required from partners. Cost share may be in-kind
services or cash. Cost share may include monitoring. USFWS requires at
least a 1:1 cost share.
Eligible
expenditures. Expenditures of NFHAP funds are appropriate for
the following actions and activities:
(a)
Time spent for project planning, directing project activities (e.g.,
earthwork, fence installation), site assessments, travel to and from the
project, and project oversight
(b) Equipment (e.g. monitoring equipment)
(c) Earthwork (e.g., contracts for earth moving,
planting, structure installation, or other site preparation) materials
(e.g. rock, gravel, plants and planting supplies, materials to construct
habitat structures)
(d) Monitoring/evaluation. Funds may be used for
pre-post project monitoring of NFHAP projects to evaluate biological
and/or physical response to project activities. Long-term monitoring is
not eligible for funding
Deadline
for applications is typically mid-October.
Note:
NFHAP is not a federal grant program, therefore the cost
share may be federal or non-federal monies. The cost share must be new
dollars. (New projects cannot be matched with program/grant dollars and
in-kind service from previous year dollars on another project).
NFHAP
funds may be used for riparian and in-stream habitat work on:
Coldwater
streams
Coolwater river/streams
Warmwater rivers/streams
Project
ranking and selection will include criteria listed below:
· Adequately addresses the root
cause of the problem within the watershed
· Outlines anticipated benefits
to the larger restoration focus area
· Shows demonstrable benefits
to native fish species
· Probability of completion
within a 2-year timeframe
· Adequately explains pre and
post project evaluation/monitoring
· Generates the maximum in
matching funds and cost-sharing contributions
For more
information, please contact: Louise Mauldin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
Louise_Mauldin@fws.gov or
Jeff Hastings, Trout Unlimited jhastings@tu.org
» DARE page on National Fish Habitat Action Plan website
Orvis
pledges to match up to $100,000 in donations to TU
 Over
the past decade, Orvis has raised and donated $10,000,000 to conservation
efforts worldwide. Now, TU and Orvis have teamed up to support five Trout
Unlimited conservation efforts across the U.S. during TU’s 50th
Anniversary year. Orvis will match five grants up to $10,000 each with
four of the projects also getting matching donations from the National
Fish & Wildlife Foundation.
»
Make a donation today to the Driftless Area Restoration Effort and triple
your donation
Recently
Completed Projects and Their Partners
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Big Spring Creek, Iowa County,
WI Project Partners: NRCS, Iowa County Land Conservation
Department, WI DNR, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Elliot Donnelley
Chapter TU, Patagonia Corporation, Spring Creek Partners, Southwest
Chapter of Pheasants Forever, Dave Roh Excavating, Madison Fishing
Expo, and TUDARE.
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Blue River, Iowa County, WI
Project Partners: Steve and Susan Carpenter,
Alliant Energy, Dave Roh Excavating, Riverside Sawmill, Top Tie, Spring
Creek Partners, Madison Fishing Expo, Grant County Conservation Fund,
Trout and Salmon Foundation, Badger Fly Fishers, Blackhawk TU, Elliott
Donnelly TU, Harry and Laura Nohr TU, Lee Wulff TU, SW Chapter
Pheasants Forever, WI State Council TU, TUDARE, TU Embrace-a-Stream,
Grant County L&WCD, WI DNR, NRCS, Grant County, and USFWS.
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Trout Run
Creek, Fillmore County, MN
Project Partners: Hiawatha TU, MNDNR, TUDARE, USF&W, Twin
Cities TU, Kiap-TU-Wish, MNTU, and Laughing Trout Fly Tiers.
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Coldwater
Creek, Winneshiek County, IA
Project Partners: Trout Unlimited, Iowa DNR Fisheries, NRCS,
Winneshiek SWCD, Iowa Dept of Ag & Land Stewardship, North East
Iowa RC&D, Palisades Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, US F&W
Service and Winneshiek Pheasants Forever.
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Bigpaint
Creek, Allamakee, IA
Project partners: NRCS and IA DNR.
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Upcoming
Workshops
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WI DNR Fisheries
Biologist John Sours explains a fish habitat project.
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Through a
grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and a Wisconsin
State Wildlife grant, Trout Unlimited will conduct three workshops in
Wisconsin, working with DNR officials (Waters & Regulations,
Fisheries and Endangered Resources), county and federal conservationists,
and private contractors. Workshops will be conducted during the
construction of a stream restoration project so that conservationists and
contractors will see first-hand how to install the various habitat
improvements.
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Installation of
turtle hibernacula on Gordon Creek.
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Time will
be allotted for participants to ask questions and for agency staff to
discuss details of the installation of both trout and non-game habitat.
All participants will receive a free meal and a copy of the new non-game
habitat guide for amphibians and reptiles of the Driftless Area. As soon
as the dates are known they will be posted on the homepage of the
Driftless Area Restoration Effort webpage, www.tu.org/driftless.
» Check our website soon for dates
Coming Soon - Stream Restoration Guide for Other Critters
Each year, non-profits and federal, state and county conservation
agencies spend millions of dollars to stabilize streambanks and create
habitat for trout. However, past stream restoration projects in the upper
Midwest have often failed to incorporate habitat for non-game species
such as snakes, frogs, turtles, and birds, primarily because of a lack of
knowledge about those species’ habitat needs. Developing habitat for
other non-game species at the same time that construction equipment is
being used for trout stream projects is efficient and cost-effective. Not
combining habitat for these species is a missed opportunity. This guide
is an attempt to compile information about the amphibians, reptiles and
birds that utilize the riparian corridors in the Driftless Area and
provide examples of habitat practices that would benefit these species.
By integrating one or more of these practices into a project, you will be
able to make a positive contribution to protecting, preserving, or
increasing habitat that is a limiting factor for reptiles and amphibians.
Many of the suggested practices will be helpful for both reptiles and
amphibians. This guide reflects all of the input we received from the
“Wild & Rare Committee” that met several times a year for the past
three years to tour projects, develop the monitoring plan and provide
input to this guide. This guide will also be available in an electronic
version on our website.
» Guide will be
avaliable soon at tu.org/driftless
Driftless
Area Featured on TU's TV show, "On the Rise"
Trout Unlimited's television program "On the Rise" airs on
the Outdoor Channel each week. Hosted by Colorado fly fishing guide,
Frank Smethurst, the show features some of the best fly fishing around
the country. Traveling in an Airstream trailer painted in trout patterns,
Frank travels to rivers and streams where TU has made a difference and
takes the viewer on a fish-filled journey across America.
"On
the Rise" made its way into the Driftless Area on April 21-23.
The four person crew spent three days filming streams in SW
Wisconsin. Frank was accompanied by two Driftless anglers, Steve
Carlton from the Twin Cities Chapter and Henry Koltz from the Southeast
Wisconsin Chapter. Dan Wisniewski from the Southern Wisconsin
Chapter and Mat Wagner from Driftless Angler both helped put the anglers
on fish.
Several
side trips were made, one with Dave Vetrano’s crew doing a stream
shocking demo (Frank 2 fish, shocking crew 38+ fish), the Nohr chapter
hosting a LUNKER building demonstration and a brief interview with TUDARE
Project Manager, Jeff Hastings at the outlet of Big Spring.
The show
airs at the following times (all times are Eastern): 11 a.m. Wednesday, 8
a.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday.
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Host Frank
Smethurst takes a breather before entering Bohemian Valley Creek.
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"On
the Rise" will begin its new season on the Outdoor Channel beginning
this week. The schedule is as follows:
Week of
May 13: Mc Cloud, CA
May 20: Little Truckee, CA
May 27: Guadelupe, TX
June 3: White River, AK
June 10: Little Red, AK
June 17: Driftless, WI
June 24: Pere Marquette, MI
July 1: Ausable, MI
» Learn more about "On the Rise"
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