North Carolina NFC Deploys Temperature Loggers to Monitor Backcountry Wild Native Brook Trout Streams...
Deploying a temperature logger in a remote backcountry stream…
The North Carolina chapter of NFC, along with partners Traphill Angling Society and Friends of Stone Mountain State Park, recently deployed four data loggers in two high elevation wild native brook trout streams in the Roaring River watershed to monitor water temperature.
These data loggers are part of an 18 logger project across 9 streams on public land within the Roaring River watershed. The Roaring River watershed is home to some of the last remaining populations of Southern Appalachian strain brook trout found below 2,000 feet.
The streams that NFC is responsible for are two of the most difficult to access in the watershed. As such, there is very little data available for them, making out involvement all the more important and impactful.
The logger data will be downloaded regularly, and consolidated at the end of the season to identify highs, lows, trends, and unusual spikes in regard to water temperature. Understanding these things will help identify stressors and possible mitigations. The intention is to keep the project open for several years to gather as much data as possible.
special thanks to nc nfc chair lee setzer, vice chair Sean Kane, board members Keith Belanger, dillon Ragusa, Philip Schwehm, and tyler Pait with stone mountain state park for stepping up in support of rare wild native southern appalachian brook trout.
