The bois brule river watershed includes a network of coldwater streams that support and provide spawning habitat for native brook trout and other coldwater species

This U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cooperative agreement, awarded under the National Fish Passage Program (CFDA 15.685), provides $200,000 to Trout Unlimited, Inc. to remove a fish passage barrier on the Little Bois Brule River and restore connectivity to 1.5 miles of coldwater habitat in the Bois Brule River watershed in Wisconsin. The project will reconnect spawning and thermal refuge habitat for native brook trout and other coldwater species, improving their resilience to climate change. This award is part of a larger effort to replace road stream crossings that fragment tributaries and restrict fish movement within the Bois Brule watershed. Trout Unlimited will partner with the parent organization 21 Schrems West Michigan, as well as federal, state, and local agencies, to implement the barrier removal and habitat restoration activities under this 3-year cooperative agreement that began on January 1, 2024.

Despite the high quality habitat road stream crossings fragment many of the tributaries that flow into the bois brule restricting access to cold headwater streams that provide important spawning and thermal refuge habitat. This also prevents movement between populations potentially limiting genetic diversity and threatening native species resiliency. All together these barriers impact fish populations today and species climate resiliency into the future. Replacing these barriers with fish friendly crossings will help to protect and restore trout populations today and promote climate resilient populations into the future. The crossing over the little bois brule river a class 1 trout stream tributary to the bois brule river at ranger road is a full aquatic organism passage barrier. Removing this barrier will reconnect at least 1.5 miles of class 1 coldwater habitat in the little bois brule. This will also restore connectivity to sandy run creek a class 1 tributary the flows into the little bois brule all the way down to the main stem bois brule river which is a popular recreational river in NW wisconsin. There is a complementary project planned on an upstream crossing in sandy run creek that will further reconnect habitat in this watershed.