Brook Trout Pond Survey


Brook Trout Pond Survey

The Brook Trout Pond Survey Project is a collaborative effort by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), Maine Council of Trout Unlimited (METU), and Maine Audubon (MA). The goal is to recruit volunteers to identify previously-undocumented wild brook trout populations in remote Maine ponds. Maine brook trout are a special resource, and we need to know where they are before we can protect and manage them appropriately. The information collected by volunteer anglers will help inform future fisheries management decisions.

You can Help!

The success of this project is entirely dependent on the data collected by volunteer anglers. Anglers can choose one or more of 187 ponds in western Maine to find and fish. The project’s focus on remote ponds offers anglers a chance to explore new places while advancing trout conservation efforts. This project seeks to focus survey efforts on those ponds that are most likely to contain wild populations of brook trout. None of these ponds have ever been surveyed by Maine fisheries biologists, and there are no records of past stocking, so any brook trout found in them are native, wild fish.

Volunteers should be enthusiastic about fishing for brook trout, be comfortable in remote settings, and have a sense of adventure. Surveys can be done any time before September 30, but preferably in June and July. We are starting the project in 2011 in the Rangeley-Greenville region, and hope to expand to other parts of the state next year.

For more information or to sign up to volunteer, please contact Amanda Moeser  at Maine Audubon at 207-781-6180 x207, or amoeser@maineaudubon.org.


Directions for viewing the Google Earth Map of Ponds to be Surveyed:

  1. You must have Google Earth on your computer to view this data. Click on the “download Google Earth” icon in the right column of this page or click here to get Google Earth.
  2. Click on "Google Earth Map of Ponds to be Surveyed" under "Resources and Survey Materials", listed on the right-hand side of the screen to get our Map of Ponds to be Surveyed App (KMZ file).
  3. Once downloaded, double-click on the Map of Ponds to be Surveyed app and it will open Google Earth and load our Brook Trout Ponds to be surveyed. If you’ve loaded our Brook Trout Waters app and the Map of Ponds to be Surveyed App, the map will appear very cluttered. To get rid of the extraneous information, follow the next steps:
  4. Look at the menu on the left-hand side of the page. The first main menu box is titled "Places".

    5. Google screen

  5. UN-SELECT EVERYTHING under "My Places", even if it says something about brook trout.
  6. Scroll down the menu towards the bottom. You will see "Temporary Places". Do NOT select "Temporary Places"; Do NOT select "Maine Brook Trout Waters Information". Instead, UNDER the "Temporary Places" menu, click the box next to "Wild and Native Brook Trout Waters" below the word "Logos". This should check only the boxes labeled "Water Survey" and "1" and "2".
  7. Now look at the second menu box on the left-hand side of the page, which is titled "Layers". Select "Borders and Labels", "Places", and "Roads". On the map you should now see the state of Maine as a big aerial photo with only the roads and county lines drawn in, and little green and pink bubbles labeled P1 and P2 - these are our survey ponds. P1 are first priority ponds to visit; P2 are second priority ponds.

To avoid having to do all this every time you open the document, click “discard” instead of the default “save” when Google Earth gives you a prompt at shut down.

If you follow these steps carefully, you should be all set. please contact Amanda Moeser at Maine Audubon at 207-781-6180 x207, or amoeser@maineaudubon.org with any questions.