By Topf Wells

October 14 meant freedom for rainbow trout and fun with a bit of learning for students at Sun Prairie East High School. Josh Capodarco and students completed their second successful year of Trout In the Classroom (TIC). The rainbow trout they had nurtured from eggs to smolt found a new home in Token Creek. Kyle Olivencia, the DNR fish biologist for this area and his crew, electroshocked more of Token Creek and discussed what makes a healthy trout stream. The students then lunched and fished at Token Creek County Park.

Some great SWTU volunteers then swung into action. Henry Haugley, John Freborg, Ray Venn, Tom Thrall, and Topf Wells introduced interested students to fly tackle and basic fly casting. About a dozen students were fast learners. After 30 minutes of instruction each, just about all of them were casting well enough to catch a trout or bluegill or any fly eating fish that swam within 25 feet. They were a lot of fun to work with and reminded each of the instructors how wonderful youthful coordination is.

TIC is incorporated into a conservation class that covers basic ecological and conservation principles and some fun and productive outdoor activities. Raising those trout and learning what they need to thrive provide experience for some of those lessons. The class and TIC are a lot of work for Josh and his students. SWTU appreciates their interest, enthusiasm, and achievements.

BTW, Josh and his students’ interest in Token Creek led to an inquiry of the DNR. About 35 years ago, SWTU was part of the coalition of local governments, the DNR, and other conservation organizations to remove an old mill dam that seriously degraded Token Creek and buy the land at the site of the dam and pond. To this day, the $30,000 we contributed is our largest donation to a stream conservation project. As part of that effort the DNR promised to restore the stream channel.

The Corps of Engineers was going to restore the stream. That fell through. Then the DNR decided to wait a couple of years to see how much the channel would re-establish itself.

As far as we knew nothing much happened after that and SWTU moved on to other projects. Occasionally though we’d inquire as to progress or plans for the restoration.

We asked again after 10/14 and learned what had happened. To its credit, the DNR tried at least three different times to restore the stream. Each time the soil, which is actually a form of saturated peat, failed to support the heavy equipment needed for the job. In one instance the ground nearly swallowed a large excavator. Afterwards, the DNR tried a version of brush bundles and that too failed. The peat simply will not hold the different streambank narrowing and stabilizing practices.

The fundamental issue is the number of springs and seeps. We’re probably not going to have the restoration we had hoped for. All is not lost. The water flowing from those springs is extremely high quality and cold. Token Creek has benefitted just as SWTU and our partners had hoped decades ago. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask the Sun Prairie students who watched Kyle and his crew roll out lots of wild brown trout and a few brookies.