July 18th, 2015 WPR
Article written on 2015-07-22 by: Lee Meyers
Dennis Dugre shows the techniques
On July 18th, members of Trout Unlimited and the Nicolet Sportsman Club worked on our 3rdB work project of the year.
We built a brush bundle “Point Bar” in the North Branch Oconto upstream of Hwy C on the south side of Wabeno.
A total of 18 people showed up to work on this HOT July Saturday morning to make trout fishing a little better.
The temperature was over 80 and still rising when we stopped at noon for lunch graciously prepared by Al Pichotte and wife.
We accomplished a fair amount, building a curve-shaped “point bar” out of brush which added a meander to a fairly straight section of the North Branch. Likely, this section was straighten during the logging era of which Wabeno has a great history.
Also it was very obvious to those who had worked 2 miles upstream on Friday, was how much larger the stream is here in Wabeno. There has to be a “ton” of spring seepage and small streams flowing into the North Oconto in the Wabeno area.
Matt and Paul ferrying more bundles
During the 4-hour period, the crew cut Alder brush, made about 100 bundles, which were carried and placed along a 150-foot bank in the shape of a bow to create a “point bar” effect that made the stream bend.
In this section there is about 500 feet of stream channel that could use more meander, and this would greatly benefit trout and the stream flow (S curve).
We had enough help that workers also distributed logs and root wad stumps to locations along the entire stream section from Soper Rd downstream to Hwy C designated by Tom Moris USFS.
We also heard some great news about a Grant for approximately $200,000 to make more improvements to the North Branch in this area (more details will follow in near future).
The Nicolet Sportsman Club was lead by Al Pichotte and had 4 members present.
Green Bay chapter members included: Dennis Dugre, Grandsons (Connor and Carter), Jeff House, Paul Mongin, Lee Meyers, Matt Norem (Birthday Boy), Paul Kruse, Wally Heil, Ken Wojeshowski and his son Ryan.
Oconto Chapter member, Byron Dugre and Jonathan Pyatskowit WDNR provide great help.
A BIG THANK YOU to all who helped on the hot day.
Check out the Gallery of Photos !