Anglers cheer new federal dollars aimed at keeping streams healthy for native brook trout

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Thousands of anglers visit the coldwater streams of the upper Delaware River watershed each year to catch native brook trout.

However, trout populations have been impacted by land use, habitat loss and sediment pollution. So, conservationists are working to protect the elusive fish and the streams they live in.

Now, a boost of more than $3 million federal dollars will help conserve trout streams in the mountainous areas of New Jersey, Northeast Pennsylvania and the Catskills of New York.

The grant will help federal and state environmental agencies, as well as local environmental groups, improve water quality and habitat for at-risk native brook trout in the coldwater streams of the Delaware River watershed.

The tri-state initiative is the first of its kind in the region, said Amy Wolfe, director of Trout Unlimited’s northeast coldwater habitat program.

“Our goal in this will be to focus on projects that can reconnect fragmented habitat and reduce pollution from sediment runoff and from other land use impacts in these areas,” she said.

The initiative is one of more than 60 conservation projects nationwide to receive a total of more than $122 million in National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grants. The funding is part of President Joe Biden’s America the Beautiful Challenge, which aims to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Wolfe said the projects to help brook trout might include replacing failing road stream crossings and removing old dams.

She said the conservation efforts won’t only benefit avid anglers.

“Even [for] somebody who isn’t interested in fishing for brook trout … the very same streams that we’re working on will actually help to protect and restore the very same water that people hundreds of miles downstream are using for drinking water,” Wolfe said.

More than 14 million people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware rely on the Delaware River and its tributaries for drinking water.