McIntosh Brook Project: A cooperative effort to enhance brook trout habitat in a small stream

Allegany State Park (ASP) supports the most intact and widespread distribution of wild brook trout in western New York, but many streams lack deep pools to provide brook trout with refuge during low flows.  An inter-agency effort was developed in 2008 to increase wild brook trout abundance and survival by enhancing trout habitat in McIntosh Brook.  In August 2008, seventeen in-stream structures were built within a 1.5 mile section of McIntosh to increase the number of deep water pools; Trout Unlimited volunteers were invaluable in this process, contributing 120 days of volunteer effort.  Pre- and post-enhancement assessments of the stream’s longitudinal profile and trout population showed encouraging results. One year after enhancement, variability in the stream profile has increased.  The adult population estimate dropped from 169 in 2008 to 88 in 2009, but the young-of-year population estimate increased from 88 to 565 individuals.  We will complete the second year of post-enhancement assessments this spring and hope to see more beneficial effects.  At this point, data on the brook trout population is primarily inconclusive, but we hope to see a trend for higher adult trout survival in this summer’s survey.  Monitoring will continue for the next two years at minimum.