Stocking The Little Roaring Brook

The fish are part of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry study to determine survivability of different strains of Atlantic salmon. The fish were being cared for at the Morrisville State College hatchery. The salmon were transported from Morrisville to ESF on Friday night  in a cooler equipped with a battery powered aerator and kept in the cooler at the ESF lab overnight.

Wayne is a consulting forester, hired by Molpus to oversee logging operations.  Members met Wayne at the Hill Top Market in West Leyden then followed him to the parking area at the end of the paved portion of Michigan Mills Road. From here, it was a dirt road to the access to Little Roaring Brook.  The fish traveled well in the cooler and arrived in good shape. Wayne loaded the cooler on the back of his ATV and drove it to the brook while the rest of us walked in (a little over ¼ mile).

Chris and Justin measured and marked a 150m section of the brook for the stocking limits.  The fish were transferred from the cooler to pails and stocked throughout the marked section. The plan is to stock a separate section with another group of salmon (1000 +/-) in mid-September. Electrofishing of the brook will be conducted before the second stocking, then again next spring to determine whether summer stocking of smaller fish or fall stocking of larger fish produces better survivability. The results may impact how we stock our fish in the future.

Little Roaring Brook looks like a very good stream for future stocking. There were large numbers of aquatic insects under rocks in the stream, and with the East Branch of Fish Creek only ¼ mile downstream; the fish should get a good head start.

The Stocking Crew

Jason and Chris and the Atlantic salmon

The Little Roaring Brook

The Lab at ESF

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