Monthly Feature Hosted By:
	Anthony L. Williams, CGCS at Marriott’s Stone Mountain Golf Club in Georgia

Building partnerships is a critical step in any sustainable environmental program. Trent Bartman, the golf course superintendent, at Tyler Creek Golf Course and Campground gives us a detailed account of their trout stream restoration project and the many partners that made this project so successful. Take note of the history of how this project became so critical from the draining of the wetlands in the 50’s and 60’s to the eventual fish kill following heavy rains in 2006.

Bartman became the conductor of an environmental orchestra keeping a diverse group ranging from Trout Unlimited to Grand Valley State University to local Boy Scouts, all focused on the end goal of improving water quality and reestablishing habitat. Habitat that could sustain record sized Brown and Rainbow trout, which is no small feat as any avid fly fisherman can attest.

Utilizing the synergy of unique resources, such as teams of volunteers, grant funds and operational recourses from Tyler Creek GC, the stakeholders in this project not only met their goals but received much deserved recognition by winning the “Stewards of the River” award from the Coldwater River Watershed Council in 2007.

Another point of focus was the creative use of fund raisers, such as the “Tee Off for Trout” events, mixed with a great public awareness effort that resulted in numerous articles and local television coverage. This is a great case study documenting the diverse skills required to tackle a large problem through a series of well executed smaller steps.

Any way you measure it this one is a keeper!

May's Guest:
	Josh Zuiderveen, owner, Streamworks LLC

Several years ago Tyler Creek sustained a large fish kill. Experts blamed the event on a big rain that washed manure from nearby fields into the creek. Though averaging only a foot deep and fifteen feet across, Tyler Creek is home for big trout; after the kill event, brown trout up to 19 inches long littered the banks, dead.

The DNR responded with an aggressive new stocking program to “jumpstart” the creek’s regeneration and local groups took action.

The Coldwater River Watershed Group, Trout Unlimited, The Tyler Creek Golf Course, Timberland RC&D, and my company, Streamworks LLC, got involved. We obtained funding from Trout Unlimited, the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, the golf course, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, and the Frey Foundation. We got volunteers from all over, including a group from Chicago, and we started pouring interest and labor into Tyler Creek.

We wanted to do two things: prevent another fish kill; and make the creek’s habitat better so the population could rebound. To start, we made plans to impound and contain suspected upstream sources of silt and manure runoff, and obtained funding from the Wetlands Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to fix two of the sites. We also planted mature trees along the stream corridor and returned mowed stretches of golf course property to their natural state, to act as a buffer to possible fertilizer and silt runoff.

We also worked extensively on the in-stream habitat, adding rock and timber in specific locales to improve the “troutiness” of the water. Through all of this, the golf course was extremely helpful. They donated time and labor, stone, and the use of their tractor.

The next spring we returned to work some more on the creek. At one location where rocks had been added to create better habitat, a local young man was fishing with worms. He caught several good trout, including two 16 inchers, from that one small hole. Things were looking better, and you can bet we’ve got our eye on that spot for this spring.