Lexington to Be Part of Brook Trout Study

LEXINGTON - It won’t cost a penny for the town of Lexington to be part of an invaluable study on locally precious brook trout.

Government leaders, at a recent meeting, wholeheartedly agreed to sign onto a grant application available through the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District, facing a March 15 deadline.

The funding, if received, would pave the way for further research on the uniqueness of the fish population in the West Kill.

“This is definitely for the good of our natural heritage,” councilman Michael Barcone said, encouraging support for the application. 

Town leaders took action after receiving a letter from aquatic ecologist Dave Winters, a familiar personage in the saving of brook trout.

“As you know, I have been working with the GCSWCD, the New York State Department of Conservation, New York Department of Environmental Protection and other cooperators for several years,” Winters wrote.

Their efforts are  focused on, “preserving our native brook trout and other native species in the upper Westkill Creek watershed.

“The original analysis of the brook trout showed that they were a unique population found only in this stream,” Winters wrote.

“However, they were only sampled in a tributary of the Westkill Creek (Hunter Brook), due to limited funds at the time.

“In order to document that our brook trout are indeed "pure" in the Westkill Creek proper, the Schoharie Watershed Stream Management Program team concluded that it was a high priority to finalize sampling in the upper Westkill Creek.”

Pointing out multiple levels of significance, Winters wrote, “I think it’s important to note that because of our preliminary findings, the cooperators have initiated at least 3 stream habitat improvement projects.”

The various entities have also, “maintained water quality monitoring and have proposed building toilet facilities in all 3 of the parking and access points at the end of the Spruceton Road this coming year,” Winters wrote.

“All of this is being done to enhance the habitat for this rare fish and the recreational enjoyment of our visitors.

“I would like to suggest that the town of Lexington be the applicant for our proposal for this year’s round of funding,” Winters wrote. 

“Lynn, the contractor for the genetic work (Pisces Molecular), Steve Swenson from the NYDEC and I will do all the proposal preparation,” Winters wrote

It is solid plan for brook trout and the town, according to Barcone, an avid fly-fisherman who says, “I trust [Winters] leaps and bounds. 

“The brook trout are so unadulterated by the outside world that they have their own unique genetic strain, specific to the West Kill.

“Our cold water fisheries are in trouble. [Tropical Storm Irene and its flood destruction in 2011] made a mess of things,” Barcone says, shifting gobs of sediment and gravel in creeks and streams.

“The hope is the fishery comes back to normal, allowing fish to do their jobs without dumping stock fish into the streams,” Barcone says.

“We’ve done a bit of work. The streams are doing their own work. Beavers are helping, creating the natural deep channels the fish love. If it benefits brook trout, it benefits every living organism downstream.”

Lexington is on the map for trout due in no small way to the presence of the late Art Flick, the guru of flyfishing and author of the popular “Streamside Guide to Naturals and Their Limitations.”

Flick was, “instrumental in obtaining the first public fishing waters in New York on the Schoharie Creek,” according to the Catskill Flyfishing Center and Museum website.

“For over 50 years, he lobbied and fought to protect Westkill and Schoharie Creeks as prime trout habitat. He served as advisory to five NYS Conservation Commissioners.

“After several years of collecting and categorizing the life cycle of Catskill aquatic insects, Flick created many flies to imitate the various life stages of these insects,” the website states.

Flick is respectfully memorialized with a roadside marker along Route 23A between the towns of Lexington and Prattsville.

The marker, placed along the Schoharie Creek by the Catskill Mountains Chapter, Trout Unlimited, states, “here we honor a great but humble man who was a source of good will and inspiration to us all.”