Rhode Island Wild Trout Streams
Unlike most fish and wildlife departments in the Northeast, Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), Fish & Wildlife Division is totally silent on the existence of wild trout resources in the state. I've spent many hours searching the web for information without success.
Recently, new information has become available via the Eastern Brook Trout Coalition. Click here to download a larger scale version of the maps shown below with many streams labeled (10 MB).
.
Source: Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture
ArcIMS by NBII Southern Appalachian Information Node
The map above was generated by a brand new GIS web viewer. It shows the state of the art for data about the wild brook trout range in the eastern US.
-
Green areas (none in RI) are places where brook trout populations are intact (best)
-
Yellow, where brook trout are somewhat diminished (good)
-
Red, where brook trout are greatly diminished (not so good)
-
Blue, brook trout exist, but no quantitative data (your guess)
Keep in mind that brook trout can be diminished by other trout species, so some red areas may be excellent wild brown or rainbow water. But it's almost certain that the yellow areas are great places to find wild trout. The gray areas are almost certainly warm water fisheries, and won't hold trout at all.
Note: these data are coded by drainage. Not every stream within a drainage will hold trout, though the majority will, especially within the green areas.
The online web viewer that was used to create these maps is now public. Go to:
and click on the "Maps" tab. These maps were all generated using the "advanced" web mapper.
A Second State-Wide Map
Before we found the brook trout data, we had created a stream map of RI showing Class A waters as defined by RIDEM. Under their water quality rules, any tributaries of those streams are also Class A, though the small stream databases wasn't coded as such. Some of the class A waters are warm-water fisheries. The complete list and definitions of Class A waters are here.
Click here (14MB)) to get a state-wide map in a PDF file. It is useful in combination wth the brook trout data. This map labels most streams, including those outside the wild trout areas, and shows roads as black lines. Make sure you zoom in to 100% resolution in order to read the stream labels.
If you actually try going out to find these streams, check out the roadmaps you can generate using the NHD Geodatabase. You can find a description here.
Good luck finding WTS! Let us know how you make out.
© 2006 All Rights Reserved by Green
Drake Services, Inc.
info@wildtroutstreams.com
| Site Map