Brook Trout Action Team
The Brook Trout Action Team facilitates restoration and conservation initiatives in brook trout watersheds, with the goal of increasing brook trout-only occupied habitat by 8%.
Upcoming Meetings
Habitat GIT Virtual Spring 2025 Meeting
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 from 10:00am - 1:00pmBrook Trout Workgroup Meeting - May 2025
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 (all day)Scope and Purpose
The Brook Trout Action Team aims to facilitate restoration and conservation efforts in coldwater stream areas that make progress toward the outcome goal of an 8% increase in brook trout only habitat.
Projects and Resources
Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to track brook trout recovery in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay
ICARE is a 2-year interdisciplinary master’s degree program with a dual mission of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice combined with research focused on improving the health of Baltimore Harbor. In 2022, ICARE Master’s student Aiman Raza was mentored by UMBC faculty member Dr. Tamra Mendelson, as well as partner mentors Dr. Cheryl Morrison and Dr. Stephen Faulkner to complete a thesis project. This project was focused on using environmental DNA (eDNA) to track brook trout recovery in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.
Below you will find Raza’s complete thesis manuscript and presentation.
Facilitating Brook Trout Outcome Attainability Through Coordination With CBP Jurisdictions And Partners
The objective for this project was to populate a database to better evaluate progress on the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) 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 collaborations with other CBP 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.
Publications
2025-2035 Brook Trout Management Strategy
Published on October 28, 2024This management strategy outlines methods for reaching the Brook Trout Outcome.
View details2024-2025 Brook Trout Workgroup Workplan
Published on April 15, 2024 in Management PlanThis is the workgroup's workplan for 2024-2025. This two-year workplan was presented to the CBP Management Board on December 14, 2023 as part of the Strategic Review System process. This document was later updated on April 15, 2024.
View details2015-2025 Brook Trout Workgroup Management Strategy
This management strategy identifies approaches for achieving the Brook Trout Outcome.
View detailsRelated Links
The Importance of Scale: Assessing and Predicting Brook Trout Status in its Southern Native Range - Hudy et al., 2013
Link to a report on fine-scale occupancy data across the southern historic range of brook trout to determine which landscape metrics and thresholds were useful in predicting brook trout presence across three relevant spatial scales and how brook trout occupancy varied by scale.
EBTJV Salmonid Catchment Assessment and Habitat Patch Layers - Coombs and Nislow, 2015
Link to a document that provides a step-by-step description of extending, standardizing, and automating the salmonid status assessment.
Range-wide Assessment of Brook Trout at the Catchment Scale: A Summary of Findings - 2016
Link to a report that provides a revised summary the EBTJV's range-wide assessment of Brook Trout at the catchment scale.
Distribution, Status, and Land Use Characteristics of Subwatersheds within the Native Range of Brook Trout... - Hudy et al., 2008
Link to a report that examined and summarized existing knowledge regarding the distribution and status of self-sustaining populations of brook trout at the sub watershed scale.
Watershed Agreement
Vital Habitats Goal
Members
Katie Ombalski (Chair)
Woods and Waters Consulting, LLC
PO Box 719
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania 16827
Email: katie@woodswaters.com
Daniel Goetz (Chair), Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Nick Staten (Staffer), Habitat Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Dave Kazyak, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
David Thorne, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Gina Hunt, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Fred Henson, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Jason Detar, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Jonathan Niles, The Nature Conservancy
Peter Tango, Monitoring Coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: ptango@chesapeakebay.net
Phone: (410) 267-9875
Seth Coffman, Trout Unlimited
415 South Main St.
Woodstock, Virginia 22664
Email: seth.coffman@tu.org
Phone: (540) 333-0689
Than Hitt, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Tim Pokorny, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Nat Gillespie, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
3 SO Yates Federal Building
Washington, District of Columbia 20250
Email: nathaniel.gillespie@usda.gov
Anna Kasko, Maryland Department of the Environment
Guido Yactayo, Maryland Department of the Environment
Treda Grayson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20460
Email: grayson.treda@epa.gov