Browsing by Subject "Brook trout"

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    Conserving Brook Trout in Southern Appalachia: A Case Study in Building Public-Private Partnerships
    (2008-04-24T22:44:16Z) Bounds, Joanna
    As with many of our natural resources, Brook Trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, are in need of protection on private lands. Increasing development and poor agricultural practices have removed or degraded much of this species’ habitat in western North Carolina. In order to protect remaining Brook Trout habitat in this region, the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project held the Brook Trout Summit with the purpose of promoting public-private partnerships between private landowners and government conservation agencies. Specifically, this summit introduced farmers and developers to conservation easements and the conservation incentive programs that would allow them to preserve and restore riparian habitat. This research used a survey to assess the Summit’s effectiveness in 1. attracting private landowners, 2. increasing participants’ knowledge of the conservation programs and partners that they can become involved with to conserve Brook Trout habitat, and 3. encouraging the formation of public-private partnerships. Analysis of survey results showed that the Summit was effective in increasing participants’ knowledge and encouraging the formation of partnerships, but was unable to attract sufficient numbers of private landowners. Suggestions for improvement of the summit format are explored and recommendations for future endeavors, including a second Brook Trout Summit, are discussed.
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    Restoring Brook Trout to North Carolina's National Forests
    (2008-04-22T21:07:03Z) DiBacco, Sara
    Stream systems in the Southern Appalachian Mountains represent the southern limit of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) distribution in the eastern United States and are home to the region’s only native salmonid, the Southern Appalachian Brook Trout. Currently, the species occupies only 25% of its former range in the region, but in North Carolina, opportunities exist to restore brook trout to high quality National Forest watersheds. The purpose of this project is to provide the information necessary to design a watershed-specific restoration strategy for the Fires Creek Watershed, Nantahala National Forest and to develop a model that predicts natural migration barriers within a stream network. A geographic information system (GIS) is the primary analysis tool used to derive, interpret, and display relevant data. In the Fires Creek Watershed, migration barriers are identified and characterized to delineate potential brook trout reintroduction sites. The watershed is also assessed as a target for brook trout restoration according to five criteria. These are the historical presence of brook trout, the current distribution of trout in the basin, the genetic identity of potential donor populations, site accessibility, and current and future habitat suitability. Barrier data are also used to develop a classification and regression tree (CART) model to predict barrier locations. Results show that numerous opportunities exist to restore brook trout to the Fires Creek Watershed. The most effective restoration strategy combines the availability of protected habitat, as delineated by migration barriers, with information extracted from the comprehensive assessment. The model provides the framework for a tool that improves the efficiency of completing restoration projects, but results suggest that higher resolution data is necessary to increase prediction success. Overall, this work contributes to the development and implementation of brook trout restoration projects in North Carolina’s National Forests.