FishAmerica Foundation, the American Sportfishing Association’s fisheries research and conservation arm, has partnered with the Brunswick Public Foundation to grant funds to four grassroots organizations that are working to improve water quality and aquatic habitat for funding.

Each project relies on substantial volunteer labor and additional support from local groups. They also have the endorsement of the state’s natural resources agency to ensure their technical efficacy as well as to ensure that they meet the resource management and water quality goals of those states.

“Funding provided to these grassroots projects through FishAmerica’s partnership with Brunswick will be matched at least three times that amount in addition to the significant number of volunteer hours,” said ASA president Glenn Hughes in a statement. “Teams of volunteers devote countless hours to conservation and habitat restoration projects which benefit the local communities that depend on healthy and accessible fisheries.”

The projects are:

  • The Harry and Laura Nohr Chapter of Trout Unlimited will seek to restore almost two miles of trout habitat along a stretch of Wisconsin’s Blue River, a class II trout stream. The project will seek to provide natural in-stream cover and promote natural trout reproduction; reduce erosion and silt build-up; and pare back excessive overhead tree cover.
  • The Namakagon Lake Association of Cable, Wis., received funding for its “Lake Namakagon Fish Stick Project.” This grassroots effort will create 17 woody complexes near Lake Namakagon’s shoreline to improve walleye habitat as part of a larger walleye habitat restoration project.
  • The Puget Soundkeeper Alliance in Seattle, Wash., will use its funds to remove marine debris from the shorelines of the San Juan Islands area of the Salish Sea, as well as marine debris and garbage throughout the San Juan Islands waters. Staff, volunteers and partners will remove the debris brought in by the large winter storms.
  • The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership, a subchapter of the National Fish Habitat program, will restore degraded, nearshore Florida Keys habitat with nursery-grown sponges which will encourage fisheries repopulation by grouper and snapper.

“The Brunswick Public Foundation has a long history of supporting quality conservation projects in partnership with FishAmerica and greatly appreciates the diligence and care FishAmerica uses when selecting projects for funding,” said Brunswick Public Foundation board president Jim Hubbard. “Projects like these make a huge positive difference in the states where they are located.”