‘Chop and drop’ aims to benefit Moosehead area fisheries

    FRENCHTOWN TWP — Last week marked a major milestone in a significant project for Maine waterways, as a group of partners reversed history, so to speak, with a tree felling – or “chop and drop” – in Frenchtown Township.

Contributed photo

    CHOP AND DROP — A tree felling program called “chop and drop” in Frenchtown Township north of Greenville is designed to improve fish habitat, stabilize water temperatures and help control flooding.

    According to a press release from Plum Creek Timber Co., the tree felling that took place in Intervale Brook is part of an initiative that includes the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Forest Service, Forest Society of Maine and Plum Creek to improve fish habitat in Maine’s waterways.
    Historically, Intervale Brook and other area streams were used by the logging industry to deliver wood to paper and lumber mills. In order to most effectively transport the lumber, the waterways needed to be cleared of obstructions and made as straight as possible, which ultimately led to a decrease in the fish population.
    Now that the area waterways are no longer used for log transportation and fish ecology is better understood, a collaborative restoration effort has been launched by the groups to put wood back in the water to create thriving fish habitat.
    “By enlisting the help of local landowners and working together with fish biologists, we can more quickly improve the condition of streams, hopefully leading to better fish populations,” says Keith Kanoti of the Maine Forest Service.
    The chop and drop, which took place from Aug. 12-16, went a long way toward rebuilding Intervale Brook to its former glory, according to Plum Creek officials. By felling trees and adding them back into the stream, the project is increasing the habitat complexity, which will rebuild the fish population and repair more than a century’s worth of damage. It also controls water temperature and improves flood control.
    “Chop and drops are a technique that has been used very successfully for years to improve fish habitat and we think it can and will be a valuable effort for our eastern region as well,” said Henning Stabins, wildlife biologist for Plum Creek’s New England region. “By partnering with fish biologists, loggers and landowners, we hope to make these lands more habitable for wildlife and more enjoyable for those who recreate on them.”
    Jay Milot, owner of Caribou Springs LLC of Gilead, is one of the instructors in the “chop and drop” technique, according to Stabins, “but Plum Creek has been doing this type of work for 20 years out west. Last week, some of our logging contractors were learning from Jay. He did about one mile of work in the stream himself, and now the others will finish the other three miles.”
    Stabins said that Plum Creek and its partners would like to see the “chop and drop” technique used by other Maine landowners. “We’re reversing years of history, all the way back to the old log-driving days,” he said.
    This week, Stabins said that biologists will also do some electro-fishing in Intervale Stream with help from IF&W. “With electro-fishing, you use a wand connected to a battery pack that temporarily stuns the fish. When they rise to the surface, biologists can pick them up, measure and examine them,” Stabins explained. “The fish are then placed back in the water, fully recovered.”
    The Plum Creek biologist said that with electro-fishing “it is amazing where fish turn up in a stream. It also helps determine what species and size are in the waterways. Some smaller streams might be good for rearing while others with deeper pools would be habitat for larger fish.”
    Plum Creek has 878,000 acres in Maine, including 361,000 acres under permanent conservation easement in the Moosehead Lake region.