Batten Kill Browns and Brookies
Vermont’s outgoing independent Senator James Jeffords appropriated $200,000 in federal funds for the work, and the Orvis Company is running a fund-raising effort with a matching program, with a target of raising $90,000.
This small area required countless hours of paid and volunteer help and $90,000, but if successful, it will serve as a springboard for getting more landowners and more organizations involved in similar projects. It will require years of patience and hard work to make a difference throughout the river. There are no shortcuts to repairing the widespread, creeping habitat damage that took at least 30 years to come to a head.
When the plan was originally disseminated as a proposal, the fourth action item actually recommended stocking 1,000 triploid rainbow trout in the Batten Kill to improve interim angling quality while the habitat restoration was ongoing. This proposal was a lightning rod that attracted widespread opposition.
More than 50 people attended a meeting to discuss the proposal and while 28 spoke on the subject, only 5 were in favor of stocking the river.
Orvis president Perk Perkins threatened to withdraw funding from the Batten Kill restoration project, stating: “If we stocked the river, my business would probably do better, but that’s not what this is about. I’m very worried that if we stock the trout, it will be a slippery slope. I’m afraid the decision on whether to remove the trout [in the future] will be political, not scientific.”
Not only did it seem wrong to stock genetically modified trout into a historic wild-trout stream, there are practical arguments against it. Studies show that hatchery trout compete aggressively with wild trout for habitat. Because the stocking was planned for an area close to the habitat restoration, it would be impossible to evaluate the success of the project. And because the Batten Kill is open to bait fishing, what would have happened to the wild trout when crowds descended on the river in an attempt to catch hatchery trout?
A few local fishermen portrayed the stocking issue as a class struggle, and some argued that stocked rainbows would provide angling opportunities for children. I’m not sure what kind of values they teach their kids, but I don’t want my kids to expect a government handout when they go fishing. Are we going to tether tame whitetails to trees for those kids during deer season as well?
Luckily the proposal to stock rainbows in the Batten Kill was not adopted into the final management plan. The final form pledges to manage the Batten Kill as a wild trout fishery and designates two critical spawning tributaries as no-harvest during October.
If, after digesting all this, you’re reluctant to fish the Batten Kill, don’t be. At almost any time of year, the possibility of catching a wild brook trout in a medium-sized river still exists. The big browns are still there, and there were reports of more small browns in 2006.
The river is still great, and I am convinced that the Batten Kill is on its way to recovery. A plan is already in place to remove a shallow impoundment on the East Branch to improve summer water temperatures and open up some magnificent spawning gravel to fish from the lower river.
In the past five years Trout Unlimited and the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance have planted thousands of trees and bushes in the riparian zone. Hopefully, the Twin Rivers Project will be successful and open up possibilities for improvements on many more river miles. With strong community support from such groups as Southwestern Vermont Trout Unlimited (tuswv.org), the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, and local river users—plus good science and clean water—the river can mend itself, but it will take time and patience. For more information on the state’s Batten Kill Trout Management Plan, go to vtfishandwildlife.com and under “Fisheries Programs,” click on “Batten Kill Management Plan.”
If you’re interested in helping, send donations to the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance at:
BKWA Wild Trout
Department FFM
P.O. Box 798
Manchester, VT 05254
Every dollar contributed will be matched by Orvis and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. For more information on the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, visit the organization’s web site at battenkill alliance.org.
Tom Rosenbauer is the marketing director of Orvis Rod & Tackle in Sunderland, Vermont. He is the author of the newly updated Orvis Fly Fishing Guide (The Lyons Press, 2007).
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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