A bold plan: The story of WVU and the salvation of a historic home for brook trout

A team at WVU has been working for years with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources to examine all of the factors that led to warmer temperatures, a wider and shallower stream and other changes that over time threatened the brook trout productivity of this important natural and economic resource.

Close your eyes.

You’re in an ancient spruce forest surrounding a stream. You hear the soft trickle of water moving slowly over pebbles and stones. In the stream called Shavers Fork swims mottled, glimmering brook trout.

They are the symbol that water is “the cleanest of clean,” says West Virginia University wildlife and fisheries resources professor Todd Petty.

A team at WVU has been working for years with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources to examine all of the factors that led to warmer temperatures, a wider and shallower stream and other changes that over time threatened the brook trout productivity of this important natural and economic resource.

In this new mini-documentary, you can experience the Shavers Fork story from industrial development to current scientific advances, such as drone technology, that are being used to preserve the brook trout habitat.

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