Illegal introduction of bass threatens one of Maine's last wild trout rivers -- the Rapid

By DAVE SHERWOOD

Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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	Staff Photo by Dave Sherwood enlarge ZAP: Florida Power and Light Energy biologist Kyle Murphy and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist Rick Jordan electroshock a section of the Rapid River near Lower Dam. As part of the effort to save the river's brook trout, biologists have studied all age classes of trout and bass, to better understand their movements and habitat requirements.

TOWNSHIP C -- Aldro French had it all.

The finest native brook trout fishery in the United States at his doorstep, one of the world's smallest -- and tidiest -- fly shops across the dirt path from his camp and nearly a half-century of memories along the Rapid River.

Then, on a fateful day in the mid-1980s, someone dropped a bucketful of smallmouth bass into Lake Umbagog, at the outlet of the river, near the New Hampshire border. The bass crept upriver, and are now at the footstep of Maine's most fabled trout and salmon waters -- the Rangeley lakes.

"To see this fishery decimated after 50 years, I shed a tear," he said.

French is a guide and owns camps on the river -- the former home of Louise Dickinson Rich, who wrote her national best-seller "We Took to the Woods" from this outpost.

Over the years, he hasn't needed to advertise much. The fishery always spoke for itself.

But that's changing. The wild, brilliantly colored brook trout that have inhabited the Rapid for thousands of years are threatened.

Bass are now spawning in the river system. They are eating baby brook trout, bullying yearling trout and competing for precious space on a river that's only three-and-a half miles long from start to finish.

"We don't have any knowledge of a pond, river, lake or stream where wild brook trout coexist successfully with smallmouth bass," Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist Dave Boucher said.

The situation seems hopeless -- part of a recent rash of illegal introductions that are slowly, but viciously violating Maine's native trout fisheries.

But nobody is ready to give up on the river yet -- bass or no bass.

Too much is at stake.

A GROUP EFFORT

If one could look with optimism at this seemingly impossible tragedy, one would see the newly-formed "Save the Rapid" coalition.

The coalition is impressive -- and unprecedented.

Members include Trout Unlimited, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the University of Maine, U.S. Geological Survey, The Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, The Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, the Rangeley Region Guides and Sportsman's Association, the Sportsmen's Alliance of Maine, the Fly Fishing in Maine Web site and the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce.

It also includes national groups and companies, like Orvis, of Vermont, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

In a message and battle cry last year, Rangeley Guide and Sportsman's Association President Don Palmer wrote that the goal of the Save the Rapid coalition was to "maintain the world class wild brook trout fishery in the Rapid River.

"To our knowledge," he continued, "no one has yet to successfully control populations of smallmouth bass, but that is what we must do!"

Enter the dedicated team of biologists working on the river.

Dave Boucher leads the project for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. His calm, pensive demeanor suits the river, and the situation, well. It is no place for rash decisions or spastic management.

Now, says Boucher, is a time to study the river. He hopes to make the Rapid project a case study, so that others can make use of the research as new illegal introductions happen elsewhere -- a sad, but inevitable truth.

Florida Power and Light Energy also has a stake in the project -- they maintain the dam and flows at Lower Richardson Lake, one of the Rangeley Lakes and the primary headwaters for the river.

Power company biologists Bill Hanson and Kyle Murphy have done much of the field work on the project thus far. Their enthusiasm is contagious.

They've surveyed nearly every inch of the bottom with scuba equipment and snorkel gear, then placed radio telemetry tags in trout, salmon and bass and tracked them by plane and snowmobile to study their seasonal use of the river, and the lake.

"They want to help; they're good neighbors. But there's only so much they can do," said Aldro French, from his camps on the Rapid.

But research, understanding and education, said Hanson, is the best way to fight the spread of bass.

"I'm proud of what we're doing -- we're not just charging in and saying, let's try this or that. We're doing our homework -- answering a lot of questions," Hanson said.

Most recently, University of Maine graduate student Casey Jackson began a project to tag and track juvenile bass, trout and salmon in the 7-8 inch range -- the trout that have experienced the greatest decline on the river.

"I don't think we could have a better team working on the project," said Jeff Reardon, the New England Conservation director for Trout Unlimited, whose group has organized much of the effort on the Rapid, rallying volunteers, raising money and promoting the cause. "I can't think of another brook trout fishery in a river that we know so much about," he said.

NO EASY ANSWERS

Biologists have made many important discoveries on the Rapid over the past decade -- information they hope will help them in the fight against the bass.

It was found that 25 of the 30 adult brook trout tagged and tracked by the biologists -- all of them big 2- to 4-pound brook trout -- spawn in a single area of the river.

It's an area smaller than a standard two-car garage, said biologist Bill Hanson, who has snorkeled, dived and taken video of the spawning fish underwater in mid-October.

Imagine, one of the most prolific wild brook trout fisheries in the United States, and nearly every fish in it spawns in one location.

Trout spawning areas are not necessarily threatened by the encroaching bass, but this fact, say biologists, shows the fickleness and susceptiblity of brook trout to changes in their natural habitat.

Angler surveys have shown that large trout are still being caught -- but the catch rate of young trout is decreasing as quickly as that of bass is increasing.

The reasons for the disappearing juvenile trout are not completely understood. Some believe that recent catch and release regulations have grown larger, more aggressive trout. These trout, in turn, are likely to eat more of the smaller trout.

But that, said Reardon, is a natural state. Bass are not.

Unfortunately, biologists all agree that once bass have entered a river or lake system as large as the Rapid and Umbagog, they're there to stay.

"Some people have the idea that you can eradicate the bass, but you can't. It's just not realistic," said Hanson, a Florida Power and Light biologist.

And that, agree biologists, is why illegal introductions are so scary. To limit their effects on trout, biologists are looking to unorthodox methods.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Recently, Kleinschmidt Associates, an environmental consulting group based in Pittsfield, was hired to study river flows, and their potential effects on trout, salmon and bass.

Bass, says Reardon, are already stressed in the Rapid by the high elevation of the river, which means longer winters and colder water.

The idea, says Kleinschmidt fisheries biologist Brandon Kulik, is to flush the river with a pulse of water at times that are most likely to stress bass, but that won't affect trout.

One pulse of flow would come in late March or early April, when last year's smallmouths are struggling to survive after a long, cold winter. Brook trout fry, as yet unborn, would be unaffected. Another might come in late June, just as bass fry emerge from their nests.

"We can do it on an annual basis if it works; make it part of our annual maintenance," said Boucher.

Boucher, on behalf of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, has also applied strict regulations to the entire river. Certain areas are closed to fishing when trout are particularly vulnerable to fishing, such as during warm-weather periods, or while spawning.

The entire river is open only to fly fishing, and all trout must be released immediately. Fishermen are strongly encouraged by streamside signs to harvest all bass.

In all, said Boucher, people have been very receptive.

"We had the data to back up the closures, and people understand the need to protect the fish," he said.

STILL HOPE

The land along the river is protected, forever, by the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust.

Shelby Rousseau works for the trust, and has helped lead a watershed survey along the Rapid -- mapping tributaries and spring seeps.

As a fly fisherwoman, she knows it's a special place, and she's excited that the river valley and the surrounding land are protected. But like everyone, she's disappointed that bass have stolen the spotlight from the positive things that have taken place along the river: land protection, in-depth fisheries research and a coming together of so many different interests.

And though biologists warn that the bass "problem" has never really been solved, she and everyone else still hope that the Rapid could be a first.

"Because the river is so unique, we don't know for certain what will happen. This is all experimental, but it's our best shot," said Boucher.

But the real hope, he said, lies in our future, in other rivers and places -- in educating people about the travesty of illegal introductions and preventing them from happening elsewhere.

"The jury is still out on the Rapid, but we can only hope that this will raise awareness of the issue," Boucher said.

For people like Aldro French, it has become all too real. To see his brook trout -- and way of life -- threatened by the tip of a bucket is an unspeakable tragedy.

And one, they all hope, that will end here.

Dave Sherwood 621-5648

dsherwood@centralmaine.com