Batten Kill Will Not Be Stocked

Vermont will not stock the Batten Kill after all. “The final management plan, approved by Commissioner Wayne Laroche, has been amended and focuses attention squarely on restoring habitat required by the river’s wild trout populations with the goal of rebuilding the trout fishery to its former notability. There are no plans to stock trout into the river within the term of the 6-year plan, 2007-2012.” Turns out public opinion was overwhelmingly against a proposed plan to stock the famed river with sterile rainbow trout — something Vermont’s Fish and Wildlife Department had been considering for several months before conservation groups, Orvis, and most anglers raised an outcry (see “Orvis, Conservation Partners Protest Batten Kill Stocking Plan“). (Thanks to reader James Hathaway for this link.)
You can read more about Thursday’s decision in the Brattleboro Reformer.