![]() They plan to continue long-term monitoring in the area to track genetic changes.ĭuring an early-June event at Great Camp Sagamore, the group collected more than 60 DNA samples and retrieved temperature loggers positioned throughout the local watershed. The organization since 2016 has returned most years to Sagamore Lake and its inlet and outlet streams to collect more DNA. The trout they are catching show minimal influence from the strains stocked to supplement recreational fishing. The organization contends it has found previously unidentified native strains of brook trout around Sagamore Lake, in Silver Lake Wilderness and at the headwaters of the Oswegatchie River. Relying on volunteer anglers and outside researchers, Trout Power collects DNA samples from around the Adirondacks, helping to grow the knowledge of brook trout lineage and distribution. The nonprofit organization, incorporated in 2017, expanded its research into the Adirondack Park, shifting focus to native trout genetics. They were looking for fish smaller than those stocked by the state, evidence the prized fishing area contained wild trout populations. He hosted fishing tournaments with prizes going to the smallest catch. Jordan Ross, a fly rod maker near Utica, started Trout Power in 2012 to raise awareness about the negative effects of dams on the West Canada Creek fishery. The genetic diversity, more robust than previously understood, could help bolster the species in the face of climate change.įor some anglers, the search for a trophy brook trout has given way to the search for unique brook trout DNA. Brook trout full#Scientists now project warming water temperatures could threaten between half and all of the brook trout’s remaining Adirondack habitat without curbs to global carbon emissions.Įven as the cold-water fish faces the threat of decimation, anglers and researchers are identifying a creel full of likely native strains in the park’s thousands of miles of streams, ponds and lakes. A major survey of Adirondack lakes estimated that by the end of the 1980s more than 40 lakes had lost entire brook trout populations because of acidification, over 10% of surveyed lakes where brook trout were identified prior to 1970. Photo by Bruce SquiersĪdirondack brook trout, one of the region’s few native fish species, have survived heavy fishing, habitat loss, development, logging, dam construction, the reintroduction of beavers, the spread of non-native game fish, intensive hatchery stocking and widespread acid rain. Temporarily placed in a mason jar for better visibility, two juvenile Horn Lake brook trout are observed by Jeff Inglee. “You’re contributing to citizen science,” said Murphy, a Utica physician. He, Ken Murphy and Bill Beecher collected DNA samples for Trout Power on a stream east of Sagamore Lake. ![]() ![]() Schwarz, on his first outing in the Adirondacks, caught four brookies in a few casts. “Ok, little guy, you can go back in the water,” Nate Schwarz said upon releasing a squirming seven-incher, minus a tiny piece of fin, in early June. Stick the clipping in an ethanol-filled vial, tap the vial to make sure it’s there, note your coordinates and pack it away for safekeeping. The key is to get a good grip, hold it in a plastic bag filled with water and snip a small piece of its tail fin with sterilized scissors. Collecting its DNA is an altogether different challenge. Anglers, researchers team up to preserve one of the region’s few native fish speciesĬatching a brook trout is one thing. ![]()
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