Title: Characteristics of Whittlesey Creek Brook Trout Redds.

Student: Tony Young

Advisor(s): Derek Ogle

Collaborator(s): Henry Quinlan (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Ashland National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office).

Abstract: Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge was established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to protect and restore the lower portion of Whittlesey Creek and coastal wetlands along the lakeshore of Chequamegon Bay in Lake Superior. In Whittlesey Creek, the USFWS hopes to reestablish the coaster brook trout, and my senior capstone project was to assist that goal. For the project, my focus was on brook trout redds. My objectives were to find out when and where the redds would appear in the creek, determine which species of fish was responsible for the redd, determine if there was any superimposition amongst the different species, and to find out how long the redds remained observable. I concluded that the redds began appearing between October 19th and October 26th, but I was unsure of when the activity stopped because I observed redds on my last day in the field. There was no direct evidence of superimposition, although indirect evidence suggests that it is likely to occur. How long the redds remained observable varied amongst the different specific redds. Exact locations of the observed redds were put on a GIS map, which is in my PowerPoint presentation.

Other: Presentation to Northland AFS Sub-Unit (PPTX 11.0 mb)
Video referred to in presentation (MOV 59.0 mb)