Facilitating Brook Trout Outcome Attainability through Coordination With CBP Jurisdictions And Partners

Description

The objective for this project was to populate a database to better evaluate progress on the Chesapeake Bay Program's Brook Trout Outcome, which is to increase occupied brook trout habitat within the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 8% by 2025. This objective included goals to identify opportunities for collaboration with other Bay Program Goal Implementation Teams (GITs), to strengthen stakeholder relationships and to develop a robust tracking and reporting framework. This work was performed by Trout Unlimited (TU) and the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV), in collaboration with the Brook Trout Workgroup, the Habitat GIT and Devereux Consulting. Key findings from the project include limited progress towards the Brook Trout Outcome, extensive restoration efforts, opportunities for improving data sharing and reporting, and recommendations for future management.

By leveraging the newly established database, tracking system and collaborative networks, the Bay Program and its partners can develop more targeted and effective management strategies. To better understand project effectiveness and guide future goals, the Bay Program should support a scientifically based monitoring plan and focus on strengthening existing brook trout populations in addition to increasing occupancy. Ultimately, the Brook Trout Outcome is a call to support brook trout not just for related habitat and water quality improvements but for its own sake. This analysis showed that a net gain to brook trout occupancy is indeed possible, but requires the combined efforts of many organizations, practitioners and funders.