Projects / ConservationFollow this link to the Mill Creek Project Pages
Mill Creek Electroshocking Survey
| A group of members led by Kristin Thomas, our Michigan TU Fisheries Biologist and assisted by Jeff Braunscheidel from the Michigan DNR conducted an electroshocking fish survey on Mill Creek on Sunday, Sept. 18. We surveyed sections of the East Branch at Jerusalem Rd. and the South Fork at M-52 near Chelsea and found trout in both locations! Plan on attending our Oct. 10 member meeting for a full report on our Mill Creek restoration project. | |
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| Part of the team getting ready to hunt for trout. (left to right) William Phillips, Kristin Thomas, Tom Edsall, Jeff Braunscheidel, Rich Trame (peeking) and Gene Michaelson. Also present but not in this photo - Perry Rech, Lane Davis, Jeff Counts and yours truly - Lou Burhart. | |
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The hunt begins on the East Branch. Kristin is operating the backpack shocker purchased by Michigan TU just for this type of study and is followed by the collectors waiting to scoop up the temporarily stunned "victims" that happily swam away a few minuted later. We found huge numbers of sculpin, chubs and other small forage fish in this section as well as one (1) Brown trout. |
| Now in the South Fork - a little wider and brighter creek, Kristin works the undercut banks. |  |
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One of the first trout found on the South Fork. Healthy, happy and a few inches larger than when he entered the creek last May. |
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| We also measured the sections that we surveyed for a reference for future studies as well as potentially estimating "Trout per Mile" at a future date. | |
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| Kristin shows off one of the seven (7) trout located in the 800' surveyed at M-52. | |
