What's Happening
Conservation Issues
TGF Announces Beaverkill Tributaries Restoration Initiative
Theodore Gordon Flyfishers Inc. announces the launch of a large-scale initiative to restore spawning access to tributaries of the Beaverkill River. TGF is taking the lead role in this multi-year, multi-phase action to promote stream protection and self-sustainable salmonid populations.
Phase One of the initiative addresses the restoration of Horse Brook as a spawning tributary of the Beaverkill River in New York State's Catskill region. Historically Horse Brook provided important spawning ground for trout swimming up from the Beaverkill. Records show that three species of trout -- brook, brown and rainbow -- spawned in Horse Brook until 1996 when flood waters changed the riverbed and blocked the access of fish into the upper reaches of the tributary.
Horse Brook is the only tributary within a 6 mile span of the Beaverkill capable of sustaining spawning trout. According to Ed Van Put, a fisheries professional with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, restricted passage by spawning trout into this and other tributaries has contributed to the decrease of the population of wild fish in the Beaverkill.
The TGF initiative will replace a culvert located one quarter mile upstream of the mouth of the brook with a structure that will eliminate any aquatic barrier that exists. The new structure will allow passage not only for fish, but also for many other aquatic organisms necessary to complete the food chain, thus providing for a more functional aquatic ecosystem. Preliminary work on the Horse Brook Project has begun with an estimated end date in 2010.
For Phase One of the restoration initiative, TGF has partnered with Upper Susquehanna Coalition (USC). USC is a network of county and regional natural resource professionals working to protect the headwaters of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.
TGF is committed to the success of the restoration initiative and to the preservation of stream conditions as related to property and life along the river. Additional potential projects have been identified and are being researched for inclusion in the initiative.
For more information on the TGF Restoration Initiative, contact Bert Darrow at president@tgf.org.
“Delaware River Water Releases August 06” - link to a document.