Trout Unlimited and Local Volunteers Begin Year Three of Trout Management on Owego Creek

Now entering its third year, Trout Unlimited continues to team up with local anglers and conservationists to protect and restore trout and their habitat in Owego Creek.

It all began in 2023, when Trout Unlimited asked local coordinator Allen Peterson to prepare a trout management plan for Owego Creek and its tributaries. The plan was put into action in 2024 with a focus on coordination and collaboration with local anglers and key partners like the DEC Bureau of Fisheries and the Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District. 

The vision of the plan, as described by Trout Unlimited biologist Kyle Glenn, is that Trout Unlimited will work with local partners to better understand the trout, their habitat, stream dynamics, threats, and opportunities in the Owego Creek watershed. They will perform surveys, management, and improvement projects that reconnect, restore, and sustain cold-water resources in the watershed. 

Kyle states that the goal is to restore connectivity to maximize the ability of trout to migrate seasonally, to identify and protect spawning reaches and cold-water refuges, and to focus on other projects that enhance flood and drought resiliency. 

The program has four focus areas: Assessment, Reconnection, Habitat Improvement, and Outreach. Each of these areas has a set of key tasks as follows.

Assessment: Identify spawning reaches and tributaries, critical cold-water inputs, and barriers to fish passage.  Conduct annual electrofishing sampling and assess significant beaver impoundments for thermal impacts.

Reconnection: Prioritize culvert replacement and dam remediation projects that reconnect trout habitats and begin planning and implementation of the highest priority projects.  

Habitat Improvement: Conduct a State Forest Initiative to identify opportunities for trout habitat improvement projects on Owego Creek and tributary reaches within State Forests. Begin the implementation of habitat improvement projects in priority locations, support Soil and Water Conservation District projects, and study the feasibility of brook trout reintroduction efforts in key unoccupied headwaters.

Outreach: Promote catch and release fishing, conduct public workshops, recruit and train volunteers, attend community events, enhance landowner relationships, and partner with the local Waterman Conservation Education Center.

What the Owego volunteer team has achieved in these first years is both exciting and impressive. Forty-eight spawning tributaries have been confirmed, multiple coldwater springs have been identified, and three candidate brook trout reintroduction streams have been selected for further study. 

At least five major habitat improvement projects have been completed, mostly by the dedicated partners at the Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District, and regular electrofishing sampling efforts are underway by DEC staff. 

Trout Unlimited staff biologists have completed detailed habitat analyses of the upper east and west branches of Owego Creek, developed highly detailed thermal profiles of the watershed, and completed nearly 200 barrier culvert assessments. 

Volunteers have surveyed more than half of the State Forest stream reaches and have compiled over 100 habitat recommendations for the DEC.

This year, the focus of work will begin to shift from habitat assessments toward habitat improvement projects. Coordinator Allen Peterson states that Trout Unlimited is in planning discussions with the DEC to begin a trout habitat project on a State Forest and to conduct additional trout population sampling. He states they are also working with a private landowner to develop a habitat project on a trout spawning tributary. 

Trout Unlimited is also coordinating with the Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District to plan some streamside tree planting efforts in addition to a stream cleanup.

All of these projects will rely on local volunteers, anglers, and conservationists. Everything starts on Saturday, March 28, at a Trout Unlimited Owego Creek public workshop at the Campville Fire Station #3 on Route 38, north of the village of Owego, from 10 a.m. until noon. Project plans and details will be reviewed and discussed with attendees. 

Interested volunteers will have the opportunity to sign up for activities they would like to be involved in. This workshop is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome to attend, either as a possible volunteer or just as a person who cares about Owego Creek and wants to learn more.