watervulnerability

Chequamegon-­‐Nicolet National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Eastern Region (R9)
Figure 16. HUC-6 watershed vulnerability to infrastructure (stream crossing) impacts from climate change on the
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
Stream Fishes
Both cold water species, brook trout and mottled sculpin, are very vulnerable to all levels of warming but
especially to moderate and major warming. The projected existing and future brook trout distributions are
provided in Figure 17. Brook trout and mottled sculpin were predicted to decline by 81 and 76 percent,
respectively, under moderate warming, and 100 and 90 percent under moderate warming (Table 5). These
two species are fairly common in small- to medium-sized streams across the CNNF and brook trout are a
popular sport fish. Such declines could have a dramatic effect on recreational fishing opportunities and
cold water stream ecology.
As a group, cool water species appear to be very vulnerable to moderate and major warming. They were
predicted to decline by 15 to 98 percent under moderate warming and only two of these species, brook
stickleback and northern hogsucker, were predicted to decline by less than 47 percent (Table 5). These
eight species are very common and occur in a wide range of stream habitats across the Forest. Such
declines could have a dramatic effect on the abundance and distribution of stream fishes and on stream
ecology.
255 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change