Lexington Receives Grant for Heritage Brook Trout DNA Testing

LEXINGTON — The Town of Lexington in Greene County was recently awarded a grant from Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District to conduct DNA testing from fin samples collected from Brook Trout in the Westkill Creek.

Dave Winters, Stream Ecologist and the grant writer, oversaw and executed the project with Steve Swenson, a DEC Aquatic Biologist, three DEC Fish and Wildlife Technicians:,Alexander Javitz, Eoghan Donnelly and Julia Priolo and volunteer Sean Byrne. The team collected 30 trout , collected fin clip samples, released the trout and prepared the samples for shipping to PISCES Molecular, a specialized molecular genetics laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. PISCES Molecular will test the samples to determine if the DNA is unique from other Brook Trout populations, and whether or not the “Brookies” in the Westkill Creek have ever hybridized with stocked Brook Trout. If the trout are proven to be genetically pure and part of a “Heritage” population, further work will be done to protect them and their habitat. Heritage Strain Trout, in the future, could become valuable resources for stocking streams with trout of their desirable attributes preferred by anglers.

The Westkill Creek is a meandering, woodland stream, loved and respected by anglers and naturalists alike. Brook Trout, the New York State fish is the only native stream trout in NYS, have inhabited and survived the cool water creeks of the state since before the last Ice Age.