The Peshtigo Fish Passage and Streambank Restoration Project made major strides in 2023 towards enhancing the northern pike population in Green Bay and its tributaries. This multi-year effort by the Marinette County Land & Water Conservation Division (LWCD) focuses on evaluating local waterways for spawning potential, creating and improving wetland habitats, removing barriers to fish passage, and repairing an eroding Peshtigo River shoreline.

“Spawning habitat loss is the greatest threat to Wisconsin’s northern pike population,” said Chuck Druckrey, Marinette LWCD Water Resource Specialist. The northern pike – a popular catch among anglers – is the state’s second largest predator fish and will feed on most creatures, even squirrels or waterfowl. “As an apex predator, the northern pike is critical to maintaining the balance of other fish populations in our lakes,” explained Druckrey. 

A key 2023 achievement was completing the Kuchta Wetland Restoration and Ditch Improvement Project, which created 2.4 acres of restored wetlands, replaced two failed culverts, and improved over a mile of agricultural drainage ditches to ease fish passage and create additional pike spawning habitat. 

Two one-acre wetland scrapes were constructed adjacent to Spitzmacher Creek and existing agricultural drainage ditches were rerouted to flow through the newly excavated areas. Prior to this work, the site’s western marsh was overgrown with the invasive reed canary grass and severely impacted by sediment accumulation. Extensive grading removed about two feet of built-up sediment and an adjacent ditch was rerouted to flow through the marsh. 

Both the east and west marshes have a shallow, permanent pool with a continuous flow into Spitzmacher Creek. This allows adult pike to access the wetlands for spawning while also providing a way for young pike to get back out to the stream system. 

In addition to constructing the new wetlands, the project also replaced two impassable culverts under a farm access road that had previously blocked a long segment of drainage ditch from the pike spawning run. The ditch was also steep and was blocked with brush and treetops from previous clearings. 

Some landowners aren’t aware that these large fish are using the draining ditches to travel for spawning,” explained Druckrey. “We rescued several adult pike that had been trapped, but many others die when they can’t make it back to the stream and that’s what we want to avoid.” 

To address this, the ditch banks were cleared and regraded to gentler slope, which provides additional spawning habitat and allows the landowner easier access to mow for brush and tree control. Druckrey noted that the transformation of the area was remarkable. 

By mid-summer, most of the newly created wetland area supported a diverse native wetland plant community dominated by rushes, sedges, and flowering annuals. 

Restoring these areas not only allows for improved fish passage, it also greatly enhances the opportunity to study the spawning habits and travel patterns of these important predators. Marinette County LWCD conducts adult pike netting and tagging, as well as young of the year trapping on various streams. Continued monitoring will ensure that site remains functional for fish passage and provide more information on the spawning success.

Additionally, UW-Green Bay graduate students Sadie Swindall and Zachary Nordstrom collaborated with LWCD staff, researching pike spawning behavior. Their project uses surgically implanted acoustic transmitters that emit unique sound signals when the fish swim near receivers. Since little is known about pike behavior outside of the spawning season, they hope to track their seasonal movements within the waters of Green Bay. 

“Working with the county staff has been very beneficial for me and my research this year,” explained Swindall. “Chuck, along with Ken Dolata from Oconto County, have gone above and beyond to help me capture pike to implant acoustic receivers. My project definitely wouldn't have been as successful without their contributions.” 

Several other critical fish passage projects were completed by Marinette County LWCD in 2023. The Bloch Road Wetlands project removed obstructions to reconnect 12.3 acres of sedge meadow and marsh with 0.75 miles of intermittent streams heavily used by spawning pike; over 30 fry per minute were documented drifting from the downstream marsh in 2022. 

The State Forest Trail project replaced three makeshift fords created with concrete rubble and undersized pipes, improving fish passage on these old river channels. A forest access driveway and plugged culvert were also removed in an area where pike spawn but could become trapped by quickly receding water levels. 

Looking ahead, Marinette County LWCD will continue work on habitat restoration projects, including additional wetland scrapes and replacing several culverts that block important channels leading to upstream spawning wetlands. Other initiatives include addressing streambank erosion along the Peshtigo River and partnering with NRCS to create new spawning wetlands and pollinator habitat. 

Partnerships are critical to these projects, with funding or in-kind donations of labor and materials through the USFWS (NRDA), DNR, Marinette County LID, USDA-NRCS (EQIP), Coastal States Organization, Town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin Waterfowl Stamp Program, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, and Oconto County NRDA funds.

Article courtesy of DATCP 2023 Wisconsin Report on Soil and Water Conservation