Brook trout at the Dwight D Eisenhower Hatchery

The Dwight D Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery raises eastern brook trout for Vermont waters. Brookies (or "squaretail") were once abundant in the rivers of northeastern North America, from Maine to Georgia, to the Hudson Bay and Great Lakes basins. Anglers from major cites on the east coast would travel by train to the mountains of Vermont just for the opportunity to catch a brook trout. As the rivers were dammed, and surrounding lands deforested filling the rivers with silt, brook trout began to decline. Poor agricultural practices, road building with undersized culverts, acid precipitation, and the introduction of non-native species, such as brown and rainbow trout further compounded the brook trout's ability to thrive. Anglers and biologists, however, have long recognized the brook trout as recreationally and culturally important, and as an indicator of good water quality. Under a special agreement with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, the hatchery supplies brook trout. These trout are released all across Vermont’s ponds and streams. This stocking program allows for recreational fishing by the public and provides Vermont’s wild brook trout populations a buffer from angling.