Friends of Stony Brook
Friends of Stony Brook is a group of stakeholders have built a team with the Mission to Connect and educate the community on how to conserve, protect and restore the Stony Brook Watershed. We have three primary objectives for our efforts:
A Functioning Cold-Water Stream
A comprehensive Community Engagement with the Trout in the Classroom Program that has been established in the Chilton and Oshkosh Schools.
Obtain additional easements from Local Landowners along the Stony Brook corridor so further improvements may be made to the stream.
Functioning Cold-Water Stream
Stony Brook is a clear, hard water stream located in Calumet County and lies within the headwaters of Manitowoc River watershed. Cold-water trout streams are significantly important waterways and Stony Brook is the only one of its kind in Calumet County. Our Vision is to conserve, protect and restore Stony Brook through developing awareness and educating the public of the crucial role we all play in impacting the health of the upper reaches of the Manitowoc River watershed and ultimately Lake Michigan as a whole.
Community Engagement with a Trout in the Classroom Program
Since 2016, Chilton School District (CSD), Fox Valley Trout Unlimited (FVTU), Wisconsin DNR (WDNR), Calumet County Land and Water Conservation Department (CCLWCD), local land owners, and many others have teamed up to further investigate the potential for Stony Brook to provide a trout fishery. In 2016, CSD began a Trout in the Classroom (TIC) project that entailed raising brown trout in classroom aquariums. Students were able to learn how to raise trout and assessed habitat conditions at Stony Brook. Currently, Trout in the Classroom stocked approximately 2000 fingerling brown and brook trout. Through the process of electro-shocking, and tagging, the WDNR has documented survival and natural reproduction of trout planted by the students. Our vision would be to continue building the program and demonstrating the value of investments in the restoration of Stony Brook. Students will now experience an “in the field laboratory” where they will experience improvements that can and will be made to enhance sections of Stony Brook.
Easements from Local Landowners along the River Corridor
Fox Valley Trout Unlimited obtained six conservation easements along 1.25 miles of stream that allow WDNR and partners to perform habitat improvement projects; all easements were voluntarily donated by landowners. Our vision is to generate additional easements along the stream corridor that would allow implementation of restoration strategies from the headwaters to where the stream flows into the Manitowoc River.