Sleek and fast, black and purple, a pattern of mottled sunshine across their backs, the only native stream-dwelling trout, brook trout thrive in cold mountain streams that rush over boulders and form deep pools and cascades.

Over the past several years, AsRA has been working in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore the health of the rivers and streams in our watershed. Restoring stream health involves many different strategies, but the goals are always the same. From a scientific perspective, a “healthy” stream is more than a collection of subjective ideas that mean different things to different people. In 2012, a group of scientists specializing in the study and restoration of rivers and streams established a framework to help them understand and quantify the health of these critical natural systems. AsRA’s approach to restoration is guided by this framework.

While it is obvious that rivers move water, and that there are different amounts to be moved at any given time, this begs the question: how much water does the Ausable River and its two branches move in a day, or in a year?