Minnesota Trout Unlimited (MNTU) will welcome Trout Unlimited members and staff from around the country for a tour of two stream restoration projects on Thursday, Sept. 24.

The tour is part of TU’s national gathering, CX3, held in St. Paul this year. MNTU staff will lead the group through two recently completed habitat improvement projects into southeast Minnesota’s Driftless Area. If you haven’t already, you can register here for the tour, which runs from about 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Staff will send additional instructions to those who register.

Those who join the tour will first be bussed to Trout Brook in Miesville Ravine Park Reserve near Cannon Falls. Participants will walk the two restored phases of over one mile of coldwater stream, see a variety of habitat features and hear how MNTU and its partners worked to improve conditions for wild native brook trout and plenty of nongame fauna, including birds, insects, amphibians and reptiles. An electrofishing demonstration will surface some of the area’s most beautiful fish!

After lunch at the historic Anderson Center in Red Wing, the tour will continue to Hay Creek on Richard J. Dorer State Forest land, where we have restored nearly 4,000 feet of trout stream in the heart of the state’s Driftless Area. At Hay Creek, participants will learn about the design features incorporated to help trout thrive and have the chance to check out some aquatic invertebrates.

It will be a great opportunity to learn how MNTU helps the state’s coldwater streams recover after more than a century of degradation from poor land-use practices and channel alterations.

Again, you can register here to join the CX3 conservation tour. We would love to see you there!