In making our funding appeal, we promised you that we would use the funds you donated to support some excellent projects.  The Board took that responsibility seriously and made the following decisions at our March Board meeting.

Kittleson Valley Creek, DNR – $14,000
This project will occur upstream of Drammen Valley Road and is the second year of a five-year DNR restoration of two large, contiguous easements.  The problems are very steep, highly eroding banks, sedimentation, silt, lack of in-stream cover and spawning areas, and very difficult access and fishing.  Major stream re-shaping and stabilization, clearing of invasive or undesirable trees and brush, use of that material in the stream stabilization and in-stream, other in-stream devices, and planting of native vegetation will address those problems.

Black Earth Creek, DNR – $2,000
Dan Oele, DNR fish biologist, made an urgent plea at a Chapter meeting for help in purchasing stream temperature loggers/monitors at the end of his dire report on the current state of Black Earth Creek.  Dan needs these monitors to help him better understand the problems the creek faces and how best to plan additional projects.  After that meeting many members voiced their desire to have the Chapter meet Dan’s request.  This $2,000 does so.

Sugar River, Dane County – $5,000
The County is still deciding which project to use these funds for.  The most likely and needed project would be to address some dramatic stream bank erosion on one of the easements near Paoli.

Willow Creek, DNR – $2,500
This project is a very large and comprehensive restoration of Willow Creek below the confluence of Willow and Smith Hollow, using all the techniques to be used on Kittleson.  The chief difference will be more use of rock because that site has much less woody material than Kittleson.  Many of you have looked downstream of that bridge and wondered briefly, how about fishing it?  Then you looked at the high, soft, crumbling banks and the heaps of brush and decided to fish elsewhere.  Last summer Pat Hasburgh and I encountered two anglers who decided to fish it.  One was too exhausted to say anything; the other gasped, “Never again.”  Many anglers in the years to come are going to appreciate this project.

Blue River, Nohr Chapter – $1,000
We’re happy to help the Nohr Chapter continue its work on Sixmile Branch and the Blue River.  This year the work continues below the confluence of Sixmile and the Blue.  Early reports on last year’s work on Sixmile above CTH Q are extremely positive.

Tainter Creek, TU DARE – $1,000
Because of last year’s floods, TU DARE faces additional expenses on several restorations in the western part of the Driftless Area and has asked TU chapters for help.  This is the project closest to us and in a watershed that has a great farmer-led watershed coalition and local support of the work on Tainter.

Stream Easement Maintenance Crew, DNR/TUDARE – $1,000
This is our second year of supporting the summertime DNR crew that will clear brush and invasive vegetation – in particular painful poisonous parsnip – from DNR easements.  The crew is scheduled to work on streams in Dane and surrounding counties this year.

Grants make your generosity go farther
You may have noted that the projects total more than $7,700.  We promised to use the proceeds to obtain other grants and are doing so.  We were able to provide a cash match to State Council and receive an additional $2,000 for Kittleson.  We hope to use the same approach for an additional $2,500 for Willow.

In addition: A substantial $10K to make lasting impact
We also received some additional donations to help with projects.  The most extraordinary was $10,000, which went to the Kittleson project.  Until and unless we hear from the donor that they want to be publicly recognized, we are not publicizing their name.  In deciding how to use this money, we noted that the donor wanted the money to fund a project.  We chose one that is on an important stream and for which the donation will have a major impact.  In this case, after discussions with Dan Oele, this donation will be used to greatly advance vital habitat work that will benefit trout populations and fly fishing enjoyment for decades to come.

Because all of these restorations require the use of heavy equipment, the DNR and others believe the work can be done while the workers observe safe social distancing.  We also hope the pandemic has resided by early summer.  But we don’t know, of course; this and just about every other activity will be reviewed as the outbreak progresses.

Thank you again for your most generous response to our appeal. 

We hope that all of us are safely fishing these projects this time next year.