Timber officials who own the land surrounding a remote West Virginia trout stream are asking anglers to release the brook trout they catch there.
Timber officials who own the land surrounding a remote West Virginia trout stream are asking anglers to release the brook trout they catch there.
The stream, Laurel Creek, flows 16 miles through MeadWestvaco Corp. land, from the upper slopes of Greenbrier County's Cold Knob to the Nicholas County town of Jetsville. At a June 15 dedication, MeadWestvaco and Division of Natural Resources officials announced a "voluntary catch-and-release" program for the watershed.
Aaron Plaugher, a MeadWestvaco biologist, said the catch-and-release initiative is one facet of a multi-part approach to trout-stream management.
"Coupled with limestone-sand treatment [to correct water-quality problems caused by sterile soils and acid rain], establishing catch-and-release on brook-trout streams will help build populations of these native fish and create a first-class trout-fishing experience for West Virginia sportsmen right here in our backyard," Plaugher said.
Beginning in the spring of 2008, MeadWestvaco officials had limestone sand trucked in and dumped into 14 Laurel Creek tributaries in an attempt to reestablish brook-trout spawning habitat.
At the same time, company crews placed logs and other "woody debris" into the streams to create hiding places for fish and other aquatic creatures.
The latest phase of the project involved placing signs promoting voluntary catch-and-release at strategic locations throughout the watershed.
Company executives call the initiative the "MWV Trout Adventure." For the time being, Laurel Creek will be the only Trout Adventure stream designated for voluntary catch-and-release.
MeadWestvaco owns 538 miles' worth of intermittent and permanent streams in the area, however, and corporate literature calls the Trout Adventure "a network of natural watercourses encompassing 146,000 acres of MWV-owned forestland in Greenbrier, Nicholas and Fayette counties."
Other trout streams located on MeadWestvaco land include parts of the South Fork of the Cherry River, Hominy Creek and Anglins Creek.
Reach John McCoy at johnmc...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1231.
Timber officials who own the land surrounding a remote West Virginia trout stream are asking anglers to release the brook trout they catch there.
The stream, Laurel Creek, flows 16 miles through MeadWestvaco Corp. land, from the upper slopes of Greenbrier County's Cold Knob to the Nicholas County town of Jetsville. At a June 15 dedication, MeadWestvaco and Division of Natural Resources officials announced a "voluntary catch-and-release" program for the watershed.
Aaron Plaugher, a MeadWestvaco biologist, said the catch-and-release initiative is one facet of a multi-part approach to trout-stream management.
"Coupled with limestone-sand treatment [to correct water-quality problems caused by sterile soils and acid rain], establishing catch-and-release on brook-trout streams will help build populations of these native fish and create a first-class trout-fishing experience for West Virginia sportsmen right here in our backyard," Plaugher said.
Beginning in the spring of 2008, MeadWestvaco officials had limestone sand trucked in and dumped into 14 Laurel Creek tributaries in an attempt to reestablish brook-trout spawning habitat.
At the same time, company crews placed logs and other "woody debris" into the streams to create hiding places for fish and other aquatic creatures.
The latest phase of the project involved placing signs promoting voluntary catch-and-release at strategic locations throughout the watershed.
Company executives call the initiative the "MWV Trout Adventure." For the time being, Laurel Creek will be the only Trout Adventure stream designated for voluntary catch-and-release.
MeadWestvaco owns 538 miles' worth of intermittent and permanent streams in the area, however, and corporate literature calls the Trout Adventure "a network of natural watercourses encompassing 146,000 acres of MWV-owned forestland in Greenbrier, Nicholas and Fayette counties."
Other trout streams located on MeadWestvaco land include parts of the South Fork of the Cherry River, Hominy Creek and Anglins Creek.
Reach John McCoy at johnmc...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1231.
