OQUOSSOC – After rejecting such suggestions as Kingfishers, Woodpeckers and Old Crows, members of the Rangeley Region Guides’ and Sportsmen’s Association christened the newly formed directors’ cooking and clean-up crew the Lame Ducks.

The directors pitched in to share the duties handled each month by various club volunteers for a dinner served prior to the club’s meeting on Sept. 15.

Following the meal, President Don Palmer announced that Youth Hunting Day will be held Saturday, Oct. 22.

The club will sponsor a breakfast provided by Bob Allen at the clubhouse, and Shelby Rousseau volunteered to teach a CPR and a basic first aid course for three consecutive Mondays. The course began Sept. 26.

It was announced Orvis is within $7,000 of reaching its goal of $70,000 to donate to Save the Rapid River. The association and its members have been contributing to Orvis’ two for one matching funds program for the project.

The club’s share of the evening’s 50/50 raffle will be donated to the Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The raffle winner contributed his winnings to the Red Cross as well.

Forrest Bonney, regional fisheries biologist, gave an explanation of his work of evaluating rivers and streams in the Rangeley area as brook trout habitat and his description of the resulting restoration projects.

Along with a number of volunteers, including ones from the Rangeley club, Bonney has evaluated streams in the region each year since 1998 by walking the waterways and surveying their condition, using a variety of measurements.

Since 1998, more than 100 miles along Cupsuptic River, Bemis Stream, South Bog Stream and tributaries of the Magalloway River have been surveyed. Some of the waterways were found to be degraded due to past woodcutting and/or log driving, making them too wide and shallow to support a healthy brook trout population.

As a result of the surveys, restoration projects have been implemented on Cupsuptic River and South Bog Stream.

The second of two South Bog Stream projects was completed this year, and a third is pending funding.

The projects include building v-shaped log structures, narrowing the stream and concentrating the flow to create new pools.

Detailed measurements, such as pebble counts, bug counts and water temperature readings, must be taken for a minimum of five to seven years before a reliable evaluation of the project’s success can be determined.

Funding for the projects has come from various sources, including the state government and organizations such as RRG&SA and Trout Unlimited.

The association next meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 20, at the clubhouse on Old Skiway Road in Oquossoc.

Shelby Rousseau and Dave Boucher, assistant regional fisheries biologist, will present an update on the watershed survey on Rapid River and related projects.


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