Pictured is Burke Willson from Freshwater Conservation Canada transferring Brook Trout and Slimy Sculpins into Jail Creek near McGuire Drive in Millbrook.
On August 19 and 20 the Millbrook Chapter of Freshwater Conservation Canada transferred 98 Brook Trout and 111 Slimy Sculpins from Baxter Creek in to Jail Creek near McGuire Drive.
By the Millbrook Chapter of Freshwater Conservation Canada
This is the second year of a 3-year program to restore Jail Creek’s native fish community. Jail Creek is a small cold water stream that flows from the old Millbrook Reformatory, past the Millbrook Manor to Baxter Creek.
“We are excited to restore the fish community in Jail Creek” said Jim Bowlby, biologist from the Millbrook Chapter. “The habitat in Jail Creek is great for cold water fishes, but it had no fish above the Station Trail. No-one knows why, but it may be related to the manufacture of license plates at the Reformatory before 2003. The Brook Trout that we transferred last year appear to be doing well in Jail Creek. We saw evidence of their spawning last November, and I almost stepped on a trout from last year when we transferred fish in Jail Creek this year.”
The native fish community of Jail Creek was likely Brook Trout and Slimy Sculpins that now dominate the cold, clean habitat of upper Baxter Creek. The Millbrook Chapter surveyed the fish community of Baxter Creek and estimated about 15,000 Brook Trout, mostly small fingerlings less than 13 cm long. To restore the fish community of Jail Creek, Brook Trout – mostly fingerlings – and Slimy Sculpins were captured in upper Baxter Creek and transferred to Jail Creek. Jail Creek now has the only Brook Trout and Slimy Sculpin populations in the Baxter Creek water shed downstream of the Millbrook dam. Hopefully, these populations will expand downstream towards Baxter Creek.
For more information about Baxter and Squirrel Creek restoration please contact troutunlimitedmillbrook@gmail.com.