Structure Program Continues

Looking for a summer job on stream? Want to learn what types of structures trout prefer as home habitat? Crew leader, Ken Reed is looking for a few good men. Strong backs, weak minds, and lots of muscle. Last year's crew worked from Dam 4 to Kellogg's Bridge. Their mission this summer will be to continue the work from Kellogg's Bridge downstream to the mouth of the North Branch. They will be installing log jams and repairing, or replacing instream structures originally installed during the mid 1970's for trout habitat.

Previously, the crew spent three years installing structures on the Mainstream from Grayling to Wakeley Bridge. It costs around $33,000 per season to keep this crew on the river, but the expenditures and efforts have proven to be cost effective. Conside this: the initial installation of these structures cost over a million dollars.

Virtually all the funding to date has come in the form of contributions from fishing groups and Inland Fisheries grants, a state grant program created with fishing license revenues. The Anglers have also committed substantial funds to this project over the past three years, as well as helped to coordinate other funding. We are deeply indebted to those groups who have assisted us financially. Habitat for trout streams is the heart and soul of trout stream conservation, and we feel this project is critical if we are to reverse the trend of continually decreasing fish stocks.

Keeping trout habitat in the Mainstream has proven difficult due to the extent of commercial canoeing activity. During the summer months, these structures are repeatedly rammed and hit by single and rafted (tied together) canoes that eventually cause the structures to destabilize and float away during high water periods. This leads to a channelling of the main flow of the stream. The life-span of these structures on the Mainstream has decreased considerably due to commercial canoe activity.

It would be very appropriate to establish a "use tax" on commercial canoes to fund maintenance of habitat structures and the repair of other damage to the resource caused by canoer negligence. Erosion at access sites used as livery pickup points, campgrounds, funding special sheriff's patrols on weekends, are all legitimate candidates for "use tax" funding. Fishermen buy a license and a trout stamp to enjoy this beautiful river. It's only fair that other users share in the financial burden of maintaining the resource.

Assume there are 600 canoes in Grayling, and they are each rented 12 times in a season. This equals 7,200 trips down the river (conservative estimate). A user fee of $3.00 per trip would result in $21,600 in generated revenue. The weekend sheriff's patrol costs approximately $6,000 per season. (In 1996 alone this crew made 65 arrests). That would leave th Watershed Restoration Committee, the perfect non profit group to administer the funds, $15,000 a year to fight erosion hotspots as they are detected. Considering the fact that they have spent well over half a million dollars in the past five years with 90% of these funds in the upper river attributed to the repair of damage caused by commercial canoe activities, a $3.00 canoe user fee seems reasonable and fair. RWOL

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