Build It and They Will Come – Participation in the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture

A group of fisheries biologists, managers, nongovernmental organizations, and academics came together in 2003 to address the need for a coordinated approach to brook trout conservation throughout its historic range in the eastern United States.  This initial meeting and a subsequent workshop in 2004 spawned the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV). Now a recognized Fish Habitat Partnership under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP), the EBTJV has active partners in the seventeen states that encompass the brook trout’s eastern range. EBTJV partners have collaborated to: develop a range-wide status and threats assessment; identify regional and range-wide conservation goals and objectives; prioritize watersheds for habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement; develop state-specific priority action plans to foster the long-term sustainability of brook trout; and design and implement projects to address threats to brook trout populations and their habitats. EBTJV partners have brought initiative, varied expertise, and funding to the effort.  Since 2006, $2.2 million of NFHAP funds have been matched by more than $7.1 million in partner funds to undertake habitat restoration and enhancement projects. Additionally, partners have contributed another $8 million in EBTJV population assessment and habitat projects. To date, much progress has been realized via reconnected populations and habitats, improved aquatic habitats and protected watersheds. Nearly a decade into this effort, interest in joining the EBTJV partnership continues to build as brook trout interests seek to collaborate to protect, enhance and restore brook trout populations and their habitats in their favored waters and watersheds.