Page 6 Wisconsin Trout Winter 2021 Wisconsin salmonids: Past, present and future As a first installment in a new series of articles focusing on the past, present and future of Wisconsin salmonids, author John Lyons explores our beautiful native brook trout. By John Lyons ing northeastern Iowa, southeast- accounts relate that many streams the environmental impacts of Euro- ern Minnesota, and perhaps a tiny were full of brook trout and that set- pean settlement. “Brookie.” Just saying or reading piece of extreme northwestern Illi- tlers captured and ate prodigious First came agricultural develop- the word always gives me a happy nois. These populations represent numbers. By the 1850’s and 1860’s, ment, moving from south to north. little jolt. All salmonids are beauti- the westernmost extent of the brook market fisheries had developed for The prairies, savannas and wooded ful and fascinating, but the brook trout’s entire native range, and only brook trout (and many other spe- areas were cleared and cultivated trout is hands-down my favorite. in the Appalachians of the eastern cies), and large numbers were cap- and grazed with little regard for soil Brookies are gorgeous, particularly U.S. do brook trout occur further tured, processed, sold and shipped or water conservation. Massive ero- a male in bright spawning colors in south. to fish shops and restaurants in the sion and sedimentation were the re- the fall. They evoke images of the Brook trout were also numerous growing cities of the region. sults, choking streams and smother- Northwoods in a bygone era, when in the “Sand County” streams of Soon thereafter, well-to-do ing spawning areas with sand and all the rods were made of cane and a central Wisconsin, and the “North- sportsmen from these cities began silt. Wetlands were steadily drained three-wet-fly rig fished across and woods” of the northern third of the to travel to the countryside to catch and filled, lowering the water table downstream was the standard. state. Some scattered populations fish on their own, particularly in and drying springs. northern Wisconsin. Entrepreneur- The Driftless Area, with its high- ial locals began to provide rustic ly erodible soils and steep topogra- lodging and meals and guide ser- phy, was the hardest hit, and brook vice, and the Wisconsin “fishing re- trout nosedived there first. sort” was born. Many of these Dams were built almost every- resorts focused on warmwater spe- where, blocking spawning runs, par- cies such as largemouth and small- ticularly for fish coming out of the mouth bass and coolwater species Great Lakes. And finally the north- such as walleye, northern pike, and ern pineries were cut and then the muskellunge, but in the area near land was put to the plow in doomed Lake Superior, where large coasters agricultural attempts, again contrib- were plentiful, several resorts fo- uting to massive erosion and sedi- cused on brook trout. Most were lo- mentation and declines in spring cated on the famous Bois Brule flow. Efforts to float cut logs to mar- River in Douglas County. Early ket resulting in tremendous damage Wisconsin Historical SocietyWisconsin sport anglers absolutely did not to stream channels, and in some EARLY ANGLERS ON THE BOIS BRULE RIVER practice catch and release, and har- parts of northern Wisconsin natural “Limiting your catch” was a phrase yet unborn at that time. vests of hundreds of trout per day channel morphology has still not were commonplace. fully recovered more than a century Larger fish were the main target, after the last logging drives. Brook trout need cold and clean wa- occurred in a few spring-fed streams but brook trout of only 5-6” were Brook trout hit their low point in ter, and if a stream has a healthy of eastern Wisconsin, but the routinely kept, sometimes to spoil the early 1900’s. By then the species population, you know it’s in good streams in this region were generally and be discarded before they could was almost completely gone from shape. Occasionally, brookies can too warm. Lake Superior had nu- be eaten. the southern third of Wisconsin, un- be incredibly finicky, as all trout merous brook trout, including the All of this fishing pressure took common and localized in the central should be sometimes, but mostly famous “coasters” that lived in near- its toll, and by the late 1800’s an- third, and much reduced in the they are ready feeders, rewarding a shore areas. Lake Michigan also had glers were already complaining that northern third. Coasters were even- well-matched fly and a good cast coasters, but probably fewer than numbers and sizes of brook trout tually eliminated from the Wiscon- with a solid strike and a spirited Lake Superior because most of its catches were down. sin waters of the Great Lakes. fight. And if you’re so inclined, they tributaries on the Wisconsin side Whereas coasters up to five Stocking was ramped up to compen- taste delicious, especially when were not suitable for brook trout. pounds had been caught earlier in sate, but it was poorly focused, and cooked in butter over an open fire Native Americans are believed to the 1800’s, now fish over 1-2 pounds most was of the “put and take” vari- after a long day on the water. have moved into Wisconsin as tran- were rare. Catches in inland streams ety, and consequently little re-estab- What’s not to love? sient hunter-gatherers soon after also dropped precipitously. Stocking lishment occurred. If not for the the ice age ended 8-10,000 years was seen as a solution, and the first introduction and spread of the more The past ago, although the earliest settle- brook trout hatchery, Nevin, still in tolerant brown trout, trout fishing ments excavated by archaeologists operation today, was built south of opportunities would have disap- Brook trout and lake trout were date back only 2-3,000 years. Inter- Madison in 1876. Other trout hatch- peared from most of the state. the only two trout or salmon species estingly, although brook trout are eries soon followed. originally native to Wisconsin, and likely to have been widespread and only the brook trout was regularly common during this entire period, found in inland streams and small there is no conclusive evidence that ponds. Brookies also have the possi- they were eaten by indigenous peo- ble distinction, along with the slimy ples until the era of European ex- sculpin, of being the fish species ploration and settlement. with the longest continuous resi- Numerous fish bones have been dence in the state. excavated at several pre-European Recall that tens of thousands to archaeological sites around Wiscon- hundreds of thousands of years ago, sin, indicating that fish were often most of what is now Wisconsin was an important part of the indigenous covered by glaciers during a series diet. of ice ages. Only the Driftless Area, Bones of many different species so named because of its lack of gla- have been found, including stur- cial drift, the material deposited by geons, gars, bowfin, many different overlying glaciers, remained ice- suckers, catfishes and bullheads, free. But it was no doubt a harsh, northern pike, muskellunge, basses, tundra-like place in those days, and sunfishes, crappies, yellow perch, only a few cold-loving, stream- walleye, sauger, freshwater drum, dwelling species could have possibly and, at sites along the Great Lakes, survived there when glaciers cov- lake trout, whitefishes, and ciscoes. Historical Wisconsin Society ered the surrounding lands. But brook trout bones are nota- The brook trout and slimy scul- ble by their absence. Admittedly, pin are the most-likely candidates. FAMOUS COON CREEK PHOTO the archaeological sites are located Note the rider on the horse, atop the eroded creek bank. Those soils had All the other 140-odd native Wis- along larger rivers and lakes, not consin fish species survived glacia- ideal brook trout habitats. But na- eroded from the hillsides in a matter of decades. tion in refuges further south and tive Americans undoubtedly visited had to colonize the state when the trout streams during their travels, so The earliest hatchery brook trout glaciers finally receded beginning the lack of evidence for brook trout in Wisconsin were derived from lo- First restoration project on 10,000-20,000 years ago. consumption is curious. But as the cal wild fish, but by 1887 brook trout Coon Creek Of course, to get beyond the saying goes, the absence of evidence from outside the state were being The road to recovery was slow. Driftless Area, brookies also had to is not evidence of absence, and fu- imported to try to increase hatchery The first-ever watershed restoration do some colonizing of their own, ture excavations may help clarify production. Brook trout were regu- project in the nation, under the and they did it well, reaching essen- whether brook trout were important larly brought into Wisconsin from guidance of Aldo Leopold, began in tially all areas of the state soon after as food for early native Americans elsewhere, often the northeast, to the Coon Creek Watershed in Ver- the glaciers were gone. in Wisconsin. bolster stocking during the next 100 non, Monroe and Lacrosse coun- Given what we know of the geol- In contrast, there is extensive evi- years. ties in the Driftless Area in the mid ogy of Wisconsin and the historic dence that the first European ex- Although overfishing was a seri- 1930’s. distribution of coldwater streams, plorers and colonists consumed ous problem, the existential threat Through trial and error, this the Driftless Area remained a brook trout in large amounts. Early to Wisconsin brook trout was from project and the many others that stronghold for brook trout, includ- Winter 2021 Wisconsin Trout Page 7 followed gradually developed and Lakes. In the lake, coasters tend to or migrating downstream to the implemented new agricultural prac- The current distribution of avoid deep open water, instead stay- lake during its lifetime is largely de- tices that reduced soil erosion, brook trout in Wisconsin streams, ing near shore in bays and river termined by the specific ecological slowed runoff and increased water about 6,500 miles, although impres- mouths not far from their streams conditions it experiences. But exact- retention on the landscape, improv- sive by the debased standards of the or shoals of origin. After some time ly what conditions trigger migration ing the water table. Dried-up early 1900’s, is but a shadow of what in the lake, during which time they remain unclear. And with the major springs started to flow again, and it was before European settlement. grow much faster and larger than do habitat and biological changes that the land slowly healed. Habitat suitability models from the resident brook trout that remain have occurred in Wisconsin Lake Reforestation of the North- the DNR estimate that in 1820 in the tributaries for their entire Superior tributaries since coasters woods began. Scientific fisheries more than 20,000 miles of Wiscon- lives, many coasters return to the disappeared, especially the estab- management was initiated, includ- sin streams were probably suitable tributaries to spawn. lishment of non-native brown trout, ing standardized fish population for brook trout. Over 10,000 miles Usually, spawners return to the rainbow trout, and coho salmon, surveys, more rational stocking po- of these streams, mainly headwa- same stream where they were born. one wonders if the appropriate con- lices, effective regulations on fish ters, have since been so modified by Spawning is a stressful and energeti- ditions for brook trout migration harvest and efforts to improve trout agriculture, urbanization, forest cally expensive activity, and many could ever actually occur again. stream habitat. Early stream im- clear-cutting, ditching and straight- fish die during or soon afterwards, Experimental exclusion and re- provements were often poorly con- ening, pollution, or dams that they but some fish survive and are able moval of non-native salmonids from to spawn again in succeeding years. a high-quality brook trout tributary Although gone from the Wiscon- might help answer this question. sin and Minnesota tributaries of Thus, coaster brook trout potential Lake Superior, small coaster popu- may still exist in Wisconsin, but lations persist in a few streams of whether coasters will ever reappear the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, remains to be seen. Isle Royale, and the north shore of Ontario. Wild versus domestic The largest remaining popula- tion, although substantially down As mentioned earlier, the stock- from its heyday 100 years ago, is in ing of “wild” versus domestic brook the Nipigon River, Ontario, the trout by the DNR has contributed source of the world record brook greatly to the current expansion of Wisconsin HistoricalSocietyWisconsin trout at 14.5 pounds in 1915. There brook trout populations. Recent ad- has been great interest in restoring vancements in our understanding of EARLY ATTEMPTS TO STEM EROSION ON COON CREEK the genetic make-up of Wisconsin Farmers used willow branches to stem bank erosion in those earliest attempts coasters in Minnesota and Wiscon- sin, but efforts to date have been brook trout populations have been at erosion control. unsuccessful. used to improve the wild stocking In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, it program. ceived, ineffective and short lived, no longer can support any trout, de- was thought that coasters might be a When the program began, the but much was learned from these spite the improved land use and res- distinct strain of brook trout, sepa- choice of donor streams for wild failures, and habitat techniques toration efforts of the past decades. rate genetically from the stream res- brook trout for use in the hatchery steadily improved. But perhaps up to 3,000 miles of idents they coexisted with. With this was driven mainly by which streams By the 1970’s and 1980’s, more larger streams that currently lack in mind, offspring from some of the had enough adults to provide suffi- than 40 years of rehabilitation had brook trout have perfectly adequate remaining coaster populations were cient eggs. However, there was al- begun to yield fruit. Stream hydrol- habitat and water quality condi- raised in hatcheries and then ways a question of what genetic ogy and water and habitat quality tions. In these streams, the reason stocked into new waters, including strains of brook trout were in these had improved to the point that ma- for the absence of brook trout ap- Whittlesey Creek near Ashland, donor streams. Ideally, the goal was ny formerly degraded streams could pears to be the non-native brown Wisconsin. But this approach to stock wild Wisconsin-, or at least once again support self-sustaining trout. proved ineffective. Upper Midwest-genome fish, rather trout populations, at least for brown Brown trout grow larger and are Subsequent genetic analyses than strains that had evolved else- trout. more aggressive, and they are capa- have indicated that each coaster where and then been introduced in- Groups like TU and local fishing ble of displacing brook trout in ma- population is somewhat unique and to the state. and conservation clubs worked with ny situations. Particularly in the probably adapted to specific local The thinking, backed by results the DNR to improve trout streams Driftless Area, a healthy brown in an effective manner. Trout stock- trout population usually eliminates ing began to incorporate fish of wild brook trout or restricts them to tiny origin (i.e., eggs and milt collected tributaries and headwater areas from wild fish) rather than just do- with icy cold water. mesticated fish, which had been Where water temperatures are raised in the hatchery for many gen- especially low, the brown trout’s ad- erations and had lost much of their vantages are lessened. There is natural wariness and “stream some suggestion that some types of smarts.” stream habitat improvement, partic- As a result, survival and estab- ularly increases in deep undercut lishment of stocked fish jumped banks, tilt the scales in favor of markedly. Brook trout began to re- brown trout. Although the newly produce again in the headwaters of created habitat is suitable for many streams. Strict harvest regula- brookies, it is even more favorable tions protected newly emerging for browns, and the high densities populations. By the late 1990’s, of brown trout that result drive brookies in southern Wisconsin brook trout away through antago- were doing better than at any time nistic behaviors and the threat of in the previous 100 years, and predation. Northwoods brookies were on the If brown trout are excluded and upswing as well. removed, as has been done in Seas Branch in Vernon County, brook COASTER BROOK TROUT NO LONGER IN BOIS BRULE The present trout numbers rebound quickly, and The Bois Brule River in Douglas County is a northwoods river with excellent they readily occupy the deep under- brook trout populations in the headwaters and tributaries. The main channel, Although exact numbers are cut areas. Brown trout suppression hard to determine, as of 2020 self- of brook trout seems to be less of a shown here, is now dominated by brown trout, rainbow trout and coho sustaining brook trout populations problem in northern Wisconsin, salmon. Formerly this river was known for producing large coaster brook trout, occupy about 3,500 miles of streams where perhaps brook trout are bet- but they no longer occur here. statewide. Populations supported ter able to deal with the longer and partially or completely by stocking harsher winters. conditions. Coasters from a single cover another 3,000 or so miles of or several nearby streams are more from other stocking and restoration stream. efforts elsewhere in North America, Coasters closely related genetically to the res- Most of these streams are in the ident brook trout of those same was that Wisconsin or Upper Mid- Northwoods, but there are also ma- The coaster brook trout of Lake streams than they are to the coast- west fish would be better adapted to ny good populations in the Driftless Superior have drawn substantial at- ers of other streams further away. In local conditions and more likely to Area and the Sand Counties, and a tention and research during the last other words, the resident and the persist going forward. But recall few scattered brook trout creeks in 25 years. coaster brook trout of a particular that fish from outside Wisconsin eastern and southeastern Wiscon- Coasters get their name from stream or set of nearby streams are and the Upper Midwest had been sin. Additionally, there are over 100 their habit of staying close to shore the same genetic entity. Indeed, it is stocked here regularly since 1887, brook trout “spring ponds,”— cold, during their time in the lake, where thought that both stream-residents and that hatchery fish had long been spring-fed ponds of a few acres or they can be caught from shore or and coasters might be produced by domesticated. It was unknown less, almost exclusively in the small boats in relatively shallow wa- the same parents. whether the original “native” wild Northwoods, particularly in and ter. They typically spend their first This implies that all of the brook strain still existed or whether it had around Langlade County. 1-4 years in the tributary stream trout in that stream or streams are been replaced or diluted by hybrid- Some of these spring ponds have where they were born before mi- potential coasters (or residents), ization with domesticated or non- the potential to produce large fish grating downstream to the lake, al- and rather than being hard-wired native strains. of two or more pounds. However, though some fish spend their entire genetically, the likelihood of a par- Finally, within the last 15 years coaster populations remain extir- lives in the lake, spawning on near- ticular fish remaining in the stream or so, sufficiently sophisticated ge- pated from the Wisconsin Great shore gravel shoals. netic tools became available to ad- Page 8 Wisconsin Trout Winter 2021 dress this issue. A collaborative most inevitable, there are things Examples include protecting and early in their development, wooded multi-state effort determined that that can reduce the losses. restoring wetlands, grasslands, for- streambanks may be dominated by there was still a distinctive wild First and foremost, we must ests and other naturally, permanent- dense growths of box elders, wil- “Upper Midwest” strain, possibly work to reduce the concentrations ly vegetated areas that allow lows, alders, and other shrubs. descended from those brook trout of greenhouse gases in the atmo- precipitation to be absorbed into Shade from these shrubs may keep that may have survived the ice ages sphere. These gases drive global the ground. the water cool, but this shade also in the Driftless Area, and that it was warming, and as they continue to in- Other examples include adopting eliminates the understory vegeta- still present in Minnesota, Wiscon- crease, so too will global tempera- and expanding regenerative agricul- tion that anchors and stabilizes the sin and at least parts of Michigan. tures. tural practices that avoid exposing stream banks, leading to wide shal- However, some self-sustaining If the 2060 projections are bad, and compacting bare soil and that low channels that provide little populations were derived from do- then the projections for 2100 will be reduce runoff such as rotational brook trout habitat and are difficult mesticated hatchery strains that even worse unless greenhouse gases grazing, no-till cultivation, and use to fish. might include genetic material from are brought under control. We must of cover crops during fallow periods; The shrubs also often attract the Northeast. Indeed, one of the advocate for and implement policies minimizing impervious surfaces, beaver, whose effects on stream original wild brook trout program and actions that both decrease gas such as roads, parking lots, side- temperatures and brook trout popu- streams, Ash Creek in Richland emissions, such as reduced burning walks, building roofs, in future de- lations are sometimes negative, al- County, contained the domesticated of fossil fuels and increase uptake of velopment, and routing of runoff though in other cases may be hard strain. gases already in the atmosphere, from existing impervious surfaces to predict. The distribution of Upper Mid- such as restoring forests, grass- into infiltration areas. Also, we need Consequently, many currently west and domesticated stream pop- lands, wetlands and other vegetated to continue reconnecting stream applied Wisconsin stream habitat ulations has now been mapped, and areas. channels to their floodplains, which improvement techniques remove going forward, only the Upper Mid- Without aggressive action, the slows and spreads out flood waters, shrubby riparian vegetation and west strain will be used in the wild brookie’s days in Wisconsin are allowing them to better soak in. “open up” stream banks in order to brook trout stocking program. numbered. Because groundwater inputs are narrow and deepen the channel, dis- While we work to reduce green- sometimes derived from areas far courage beaver, and improve fishing The future house gases in the atmosphere over afield, land-use management must access. Yet this opening up elimi- the long term, we also need to ame- be done broadly at watershed scales nates shading, potentially leading to Unfortunately, prospects for liorate the effects of a steadily and cannot be limited just to areas warmer water. brook trout in Wisconsin are grim warming climate on our brook trout along streams. New ideas and perhaps new tech- because of climate change. If the cli- streams in the short term. Besides groundwater, the other niques are needed to manage ripari- mate warms as expected and noth- Habitat suitability for brook factor that can help deal with water an vegetation to reduce water ing changes in terms of watershed trout in Wisconsin is driven by temperature rises during increasing- temperatures while still insuring land use and stream management, groundwater. More groundwater ly hot weather is shade. Wisconsin good-quality habitat and fishability. DNR projections are that Wisconsin means greater flows and colder studies have shown that a heavily And these new ideas must come will lose about two-thirds of its summer water temperatures and shaded stream reach may be more quickly, as the clock is ticking for brook trout stream mileage by 2060. more resistance to drought and hot than 5 degrees cooler than a similar Wisconsin brookies. These losses will be episodic and weather. reach open to the sun on a hot sum- abrupt rather than gradual, and they Watershed and riparian land-us- mer day. That 5-degree difference John Lyons is Curator of Fishes at will be driven by periodic droughts es that promote greater infiltration may be literally a matter of life and University of Wisconsin Zoological and hot periods. All parts of the of precipitation into the soil and the death to the brook trout. Museum and a member of the South- state will be vulnerable, and popula- water table will ultimately maintain But promoting shade is tricky. ern Wisconsin Chapter of TU. tions that are marginal now will be and improve groundwater flows, off- Forested stream corridors that the first to disappear. setting the impacts of warmer block the sun may be desirable but Although significant reductions weather. can take decades to develop. And in brook trout populations are al-