August 18th, 2012 Evergreen River

On August 18th, 2012 Green Bay TU traveled to a cold water tributary of the Wolf River. We assisted WIDNR in a major ongoing stream restoration. A jet pump was used to seat in-stream woody cover in addition to brushing the banks.

It was amazing the major impact tag alder has had to the width and depth, making the channel about 3 times wider than it should be. During the 4-hour work effort we removed about 400 feet of brush from each bank (a total of 800 feet of bank is now alder free). The stream channel we cleared of tag alder is re-created with more meander and increased depth using an excavator. Following the excavator work, the new stream banks will be seeded with grassy vegetation and wood structures will be added in the new channel to provide cover for trout.

While half of our TU volunteers did brushing, the other half helped DNR Habitat staff install woody structure in another section of the Evergreen River. This involved using a jet pump to install rootwads and log structures. We also helped distribute half log and woody materials throughout sections of the river for future installation. The TU crews switched jobs after the break, so we all got a chance to experience the different types of trout habitat work being done on the Evergreen River.

All totaled, we installed 30 rootwads, 40 log structures and 7 half logs.