Trout Watershed Management and Habitat Improvement DNR efforts are often best spent improving land management practices in watersheds surrounding trout streams. This is particularly true in cases where natural trout reproduction has been impeded by excessive watershed erosion and sedimentation. Streams that lack cover, spawning areas or have severely eroded banks can sometimes be improved with in-stream trout habitat projects.
Projects also add cover for adult fish and improve spawning areas.
In some very successful instances, habitat projects have tripled trout abundance. These log structures are held in place by rocks, which are then covered with soil and seeded with grass. Other trout habitat improvements commonly made in streams include rip-rapping to reduce erosion on exposed banks and bank sloping to reduce sediment in streams. Sometimes, fencing also will be added along a stream to reduce erosion by limiting livestock access to a few areas. Public funding cannot be used to improve trout streams that are not accessible to everyone.