Salter Brook Trout: What Is, What Was, And What Still Could Be. Pt. 2

 "Progress"

Human "progress" has been the largest driver of ecological and biodiversity changes on this planet for a long time. Consider the simple act of building a new road through a wooded area with, say, a few vernal pools, a permanent wetland, a couple high dry ledges, and a small coldwater stream. The process of building the road immediately disrupts the plant life and many animals using the land where the road is being constructed. A ledge is blasted out and that action destroys the only copperhead den on that parcel of land. Runoff from the road grade carries silt into the stream and chokes out spawning habitat for dace, fallfish, common shiners, and brook trout for at least a few seasons. When the road crossing is complete, it hasn't taken fish passage into account so only American eels can make safe passage into and through a small culvert. In the years after the road's completion, reptile and amphibian populations that needed to cross the highway to reach habitat necessary for their survival slowly get knocked back as roadkill claims individuals. Mammal and bird populations suffer similar declines for a variety of reasons. One seemingly simple and nondestructive act of human progress suddenly looks a lot more egregious when all of it's impacts are taken into account.

"Any development is going to have a negative effect," cautioned Wayne Castonguay, Executive Director of Ipswich River Watershed Association, in a phone conversation I had with him about Massachusetts water regulations. The Ipswich and its tributaries have already been assailed by water removal, and some of of the headwater streams literally run dry in August. Brook trout seem to have been extirpated from the area. With eDNA evidence to support this and only anecdotal evidence that they could still be present, hope is slim there for salters. What Wayne told me improved my outlook in one sense, as he assured me that Massachusetts actually has very good water management laws now, even in regards to withdrawals. Coldwater fisheries resources also get special protections. I was pleased to see, looking at the map on MassDEP, that Red Brook was indeed marked as a coldwater stream. Of course Massachusetts wasn't always so protective of groundwater, and even when regulations were changed in 1986 they at first didn't mandate regulation of already existing withdrawals. But the question is whether the regulations, good though they may be comparatively, are good enough that they'd prevent significant impacts to a small stream when a new large development goes in. More specifically, would these regulations save Red Brook, one of only three remaining healthy salter streams on or near Cape Cod? 

Photo Courtesy Geoff Klane

Though Wayne's information gave me more confidence in the water regulations than I'd had prior to talking to him, the fact that essentially any development is bad development remained my biggest takeaway. This leads us to the most visible issue facing salter brook trout in the Northeast currently. The Notos Group, a real estate and development partnership, initially proposed a multi-use gaming complex in Wareham in August, 2019. This didn't make its way onto my radar until a few months ago, and had already changed drastically by that time. Having scrapped the original proposal, Notos is still intent on rezoning land right on top of the aquifer that feeds the upper reaches of Red Brook. Even as presently zoned, development on this land could pose a problem to Red Brook and its salters, but the battle currently is all in stopping this re-zoning. 

I first talked about this re-zoning with Geoffrey Day, Executive Director of Sea Run Brook Trout Coalition back in mid March. Geof emphasized, "After 3.5 million dollars, tens of thousands of volunteer hours by Trout Unlimited, all the effort, all the land acquisition... all that work runs the risk of being reversed." The Trustees, Trout Unlimited, Sea Run Brook Trout Coalition, the Lyman family, and the state of Massachusetts have put so much into restoring Red Brook to a healthy state. It is a miraculous story, one of the few cases where a stream can truly be said to be nearly as good as it was more than a century ago. Catch rates documented by Theodore Lyman can be compared directly to data from the present. The thought of losing this... horrible. Geof stated, "The Notos Group have made no commitments about what they are going to build and when." 

Photo Courtesy Geoff Klane

The fear is that the land, precariously situated in a critical area of the Red Brook watershed where much of the springs feeding it originate, could soon be home to a heavy duty water using development, and that those ever important water use laws won't be enough to prevent severe de-watering during critical drought periods. This could at worst eliminate the brook trout rapidly and at best start a war of attrition that knocks back the population bit by bit and year by year. We just don't know what will happen, and in the case of a stream as special as Red Brook, taking a chance is unacceptable. 

Wetlands adjacent to the land set to be re-zoned. Photo Courtesy Geof Day.

Geof and I discussed the ways in which this re-zoning- or any development thereafter- could be stopped. Since brook trout, even rare salters, aren't afforded all that much protection as a species, about the only animal that would stall development would be a federally listed endangered species on the land. That seems highly unlikely, though the presence of the federally protected Plymouth red bellied cooter is at least possible. State listed species aren't as much of a silver bullet, but lend support towards protecting the land. The property (from my analysis as a self trained field herpetologist) can support Eastern hognose, Eastern box turtles, and Eastern spadefoot toads, all of which are species of special concern in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, none of these would outright stop development. The land being bought by a conservation organization would also, of course, prevent development. However the Notos Group has substantially more capital than the state or any independent conservation organization that would consider acquiring the land. 

Photo Courtesy Geoff Klane

Without any way to stop development through those avenues, we are left basically with two options: advocacy and convincing Notos that the land isn't worth re-zoning and developing. "We live in a pro-development paradigm..." said Geof, "we as anglers have a voice, and we need to amplify that voice." Red Brook, special as it is, has more supportive voices than most small brook trout streams. Groups like TU, NFC, and SRBTC have amplified those voices. However it is Wareham residents that are going to have the most say in the re-zoning proposal, which will be voted on this April 10th. It is really hard to convince residents of a depressed southern New England town that new development, which seems like it should stimulate the local economy, is a bad idea because it might hurt some little speckled fish. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, though. Fishing and conservation organizations throughout the Northeast have turned focus towards the matter. Trout Unlimited took commendable action, both in raising funds and organizing events in Wareham. TU President and CEO Chris Wood wrote an article on the issue, and Director of Volunteer Operations Jeff Yates helped organize two events that took place in Wareham to protest the re-zoning. Time will tell if these efforts have saved the stream. Its difficult but necessary to educate the voting public about the natural resources that could be put in danger by development. Every wild thing present in and around Red Brook has incalculable value, and to lose it would be deeply saddening. Red Brook is frankly the only reason I ever have or ever will spent a dime in Wareham. 

In the next post in this series, we will look at the economic angle and further dive into the complexities of public awareness and opinion. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Edited by Cheyenne Terrien