Male brookie in spawning colors.
With perhaps the least number of miles of trout streams of any Eastern Seaboard state, South Carolina is, nonetheless, just as passionate about maintaining and improving the quality of its coldwater resources as any. So it went almost without saying that, when the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture was formed, South Carolina was right at the forefront willing to do its part.
The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) is the nation’s first pilot project under the National Fish Habitat Initiative, which directs locally-driven efforts that build private and public partnerships to improve fish habitat. Read more… .
The primary partnerships in South Carolina include the Chattooga River Chapter 556, Mountain Bridge Chapter, and the Saluda River Chapter of Trout Unlimited, in conjunction with SCDNR.
Young of the year - successful reproduction!
In 2005, the project team, which includes TU, the state Department of Natural Resources and the USDA Forest Service, removed non-native fish and stocked wild brookies in a Chattooga River tributary. The fish survived the winter and hopefully spawned successfully.
Meantime, TU volunteers are clearing brush and improving access to the second site, a tributary in the Little River watershed. TU’s Embrace-A-Stream program and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation are partially funding the projects, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Clemson University are providing strategic assistance. The team hopes to restore five streams by 2010.
The intention of this site is to document efforts of the South Carolina Back the Brookie committee in restoring the Southern Appalachian brook trout to its native habitat in as much as possible in order to re-establish a resource that can be enjoyed by future generations.
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