“Trout in the Classroom” Leads to Restoration of Local Trout Stream

Nestled in Calumet County, Stony Brook is enjoying a resurgence as a trout stream thanks to a concerted conservation effort and the active participation of area students.

Stony Brook lies in the headwaters of the Manitowoc River and eventually flows into Lake Michigan. A clear, hard-water stream, Stony Brook was routinely stocked with brown trout until 1999. The degradation of the stream, including sedimentation and channelization, negatively impacted the trout habitat and their ability to survive. With the fish no longer returning to the stream, the stocking efforts were halted. 

Through the Trout in the Classroom program, students raise trout in aquariums, assess the habitat conditions, and release them in Stony Brook.

A few years later, the county land and water conservation department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service began a targeted effort in the area to reduce the agricultural impact on groundwater. From 2002 to 2015, more than $1 million in conservation funding was directed to this effort. Turns out, what’s good for groundwater is also good for a trout stream.

In 2016, teachers in the Chilton Public School District were looking for a location to release brown trout fingerlings students reared in their classrooms over the winter. Stony Brook was selected after the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources confirmed the temperature profile should support trout although staff were concerned about continued sediment and nutrient impacts. 

The release was a success. DNR staff confirmed that the trout survived the first winter using PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags, which are small, durable microchips commonly used to track fish movement, survival and growth over time. Since the initial release, the DNR has consistently found large brown trout, including several over 15 inches, and surviving brook trout.  

Through the Trout in the Classroom program, students raise trout in aquariums, assess the habitat conditions, and release them in Stony Brook. The family of one of the initial students became the first landowner to allow access with an easement for fish planting and stream improvements. Since the program’s inception, each spring, 60-80 students spend a day at the stream releasing hundreds of brown and brook fingerlings. Project partners help make it a full field day by offering hands-on learning stations involving water quality monitoring as well as identifying aquatic invertebrates, habitat parameters and invasive species.

With the success of the Trout in the Classroom program, the school district, local landowners, the DNR, and the county land and water conservation department along with Fox Valley Trout Unlimited and the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership explored the potential for reviving the trout fishery. Several landowners donated conservation easements to allow habitat improvement projects. With support from the Fund for Lake Michigan, the first phase began in 2020 by replacing culverts and installing instream habitat, including wooden structures at the spring release site to create overhead cover and resting areas for the fish.

With the success of the first phase, the partners moved forward to formalize into the “Friends of Stony Brook” group in 2021 to continue the effort's momentum. A DNR grant helped launch the new watershed group by building capacity, developing a website, and hosting a field day to showcase the habitat projects. 

During the first field day in August 2021, the DNR fisheries discovered that Stony Brook is supporting natural reproduction. Although COVID-19 restrictions had prevented the program from rearing fish in the classroom the prior winter, young fish hatched that year were surveyed during the electrofishing demonstration. 

Current projects include installing an instream habitat along the remaining 500 feet of channelized stream at the release site as well as a complete stream realignment further downstream to remove two 90-degree angle turns and convert three acres of eroding cropland back into wetlands. 

One of the most significant and positive outcomes of this initiative will be heightened awareness in the local community regarding the impacts of adjacent land use on water quality. By engaging in one-on-one conversations with the landowners along Stony Brook, we will have a unique and invaluable opportunity to directly involve them in the restoration of this locally rare water resource. As relationships strengthen, it is anticipated that the project will foster opportunities to implement innovative conservation practices both upstream and downstream from the original project site.

To learn more about the project, follow the Friends of Stony Brook at facebook.com/friendsofstonybrook, or visit friendsofstonybrook.org. If you are interested in participating in future efforts, please contact Dani Santry at Danielle.santry@calumetcounty.org.  

Written by: Danielle Santry

Danielle Santry is a water resource specialist for the Calumet County Land and Water Conservation Department.