In early July, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced the national recognition of a fisheries research project in Vilas county.
The ongoing research on Sandford Lake has been recognized with the Sport Fish Restoration Project Award, presented by the American Fisheries Society. The recognition was selected based on scientific excellence and use of federal funding under the Sport Fish Restoration Act.
Sandford Lake is the home of an ongoing research project looking in to the use of “fish Sticks”. Since 2015, experiments with tree drops would place fallen trees on the shoreline to provide habitat for fish populations living in the lake and to answer the question: do tree drops only attract fish, or does it make it an environment that can raise the fish population?
And the short answer is, yes.
“Fish are often what we call object oriented. They like some sort of habitat and structure," said Greg Sass,
the DNR fisheries research team leader.
"It might be like aquatic macrophytes or the weeds that we have in our lakes, or it might be that tree that naturally fell down in the lake that produces what I like to call a micro ecosystem within the larger ecosystem."
The project found the drops doubled the amount of fish the lake could support and ushered in a new chapter of research.
“We've added another 240 trees to the system, because we want to find out, is there a point where adding more habitat doesn't get us any more fish production," said Sass.
Sass said the recognition of the project is the result of strong team work and dedication from various people over the course of several years, and the project should bring awareness to what our fish populations need.
“My biggest hope is that by continuing to open up people's eyes to the importance of fish habitat as a first principle for sustainable and responsible fisheries management and probably the need to be doing more of that," said Sass.
Sass said the team expects to continue their research for about another 10 to 15 years. Five years to monitor the last round of tree drops, and the rest adding the fish sticks to the rest of the system.
Maria Peralta-Arellano is a reporter covering water quality and the environment for WXPR and a Report for America corps member. Report for America recruits, places and supports talented journalists in local newsrooms across the United States. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work and Report for America will match it dollar for dollar. Donate here.
