Georgia NFC Works to Monitor Wild Native Brook Trout Streams...

NFC board members Palmer Henson and Cody Bain.

Georgia is home to the southernmost populations of wild native brook trout in the world. Limited to the mountainous area of the extreme northeast part of the state, they are a biologically unique and fragile resource.

Species at the extreme edges of their native range are more likely to be stressed by changes in weather patterns than other populations. This is especially true with regard to coldwater fish at the southern extreme of their range. Georgia’s brook trout also suffer from population fragmentation which can create genetic bottlenecks.

Members of the Georgia chapter of Native Fish Coalition have undertaken a project to monitor water temperatures and levels on some of the state’s most at-risk wild native brook trout streams. To date the group has deployed 12 loggers capable of measuring both water temperature and dryness, or what is referred to as intermittency. Several loggers were placed in streams where the brook trout have been lost over the last few years to determine if high water temperature played a role.

Financial help was provided by Running Rivers and National NFC looks to provide funding for more loggers if needed. The data collected by the loggers will be downloaded and analyzed annually for several years to identify trends and threats.

Special thanks to GA NFC board member Palmer Hensen, board member Cody Bain, secretary Eric Rogers, chair Garrison Forrester, and Running Rivers for supporting this important wild native fish initiative.

We will be updating the campaign as data is collected, downloaded, and put into graph format.