WITU Talking Trout (ep. 11) - Driftless Restoration with Jeff Hastings

Trout Unlimited's Driftless Area Restoration Effort (TUDARE) Project Manager Jeff Hastings sits down with us to discuss the evolution of restoration efforts in the region.

[davidstakston]

All the rock the stream restoration crews use along our Driftless Area streams would be put to better use to build dams on the ridge before the gullies going down into the valley. The dams would catch and hold the rainwater runoff and snow melt water runoff laced with fertilizer and chemicals from the ridge farmer's fields. Over time the water retained behind the dams would soak into the ground and replenish the groundwater which eventually provides more spring water in the valleys.

The dirt banks along the stream are used by the hibernating female bumblebees in the Winter. The dirt banks along the stream are the nesting habitat for the bank swallow and the kingfisher.

The dirt banks provide the silt that certain mayfly nymphs reside in and the silt where you find leeches which are both great food for fish in our Driftless Area streams.

When they say stream restoration the DNR and TU never restore the river trees, Black Willow, Eastern Cottonwood, and the Water Elm. The Black Willow was harvested back in the early 1900's because the Black Willow wood was the preferred wood for artificial limbs. The Eastern Cottonwood was the favorite wood for caskets. The Water Elm or American Elm was devastated by Dutch Elm's Disease.

The Black Willow and Eastern Cottonwood has the ability to neutralize certain chemicals that enter the Driftless Area streams and groundwater from the farmer's fields, homeowner's lawns, and city sewer systems.