Macro of the Month January 2025: Scuds
Scuds are freshwater shrimp (bottom right) – a crustacean that lives among benthic invertebrates in the stream.
Winter Habitat Preferences of Trout in the Driftless Area
Kristen Poppleton2025-04-04T19:07:06+00:00By Dr. Jennifer Biederman The Driftless Area, spanning parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, is renowned for its spring-fed streams, cold water, and limestone geology. These unique environmental factors create ideal year-round conditions for trout. In streams with the most groundwater influence, both flows and water temperatures remain fairly constant...
Habitat Spotlight: Why Riffles Matter So Much
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:02:13+00:00By Dr. Jennifer Biederman If there is one thing that many degraded streams across Minnesota have in common, it’s a lack key habitat types that support trout of all stages and ages. Many degraded streams lack riffle habitat. These shallow, fast-flowing sections of a stream, characterized by their choppy water surface...
Riffles: Essential Habitat for Healthy Macroinvertebrate Communities (Also, Trout Food!)
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:03:22+00:00by Dr. Jennifer Biederman Riffle habitats in trout streams are essential little ecosystems that provide an ideal environment for aquatic macroinvertebrates, which are small, aquatic organisms that play a crucial role in freshwater ecosystems – and the most important food source of stream dwelling trout in Minnesota. What is a riffle?...
How do Macroinvertebrates Fare Following Stream Improvement Projects?
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:03:57+00:00By Dr. Jennifer Biederman The sight of an in-stream habitat improvement project in progress can be a bit eye-opening – heavy machinery, including large excavators are working along the banks and in the stream, often moving large amounts of soil to slope the banks while digging out silted in pools and...
Electrofishing Insights: Tracking Stream Restoration Success in Northeast Minnesota
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:04:14+00:00Standing by a newly restored stream, the benefits are often clear: the eroding banks, invasive plants, and barren channels have been replaced with gently sloped banks, deep pools, spawning riffles, and thriving native vegetation. It’s easy to see how these improvements boost fish populations by creating better habitat for food...
Program Spotlight: Fall 2024 Habitat Project Tour
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:05:06+00:00On October 5 close to 40 individuals joined us for a day-long behind the scenes tour of sites where MNTU has completed habitat improvement projects. Our Executive Director John Lenczewski and Habitat Director, Jennifer Biederman led the trip, sharing their knowledge of how a project is planned, executed and monitored....
Macro of the Month: Late Summer Fly Fishing: The Magic of Tricos
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:06:23+00:00By Dr. Jennifer Biederman As summer begins to wind down, July, August and early September bring a special treat for fly anglers in Minnesota: the trico hatch. Tricos, short for Tricorythodes mayflies, are a small-bodied but super important part of many trout streams' ecosystems, and they offer some of the best...
Monitoring Macros with the TCTU’s Streamkeepers and Save Our Streams (SOS) Community Science
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:07:26+00:00On August 4,2024 twenty conservation-minded folks gathered on the banks of Eagle Creek in Savage, MN to become certified Save Our Streams (SOS) community scientists – learning the techniques for biological and chemical water testing in streams. The effort was led by the Twin City Trout Unlimited (TCTU) Streamkeepers...
MNTU Helping Fish Find Their Way in Northeast Minnesota
Kristen Poppleton2025-01-30T21:08:39+00:00By Dr. Jennifer Biederman, Habitat Director Unobstructed pathways are crucial for stream-dwelling trout at key times throughout the year and life cycle. Trout must be able to move freely in a stream system to reach spawning and overwintering areas, find coldwater refuge in low, warm summer flows, and access feeding grounds....