By JACK SPAULDING
Spaulding Outdoors 

Wisconsin and Indiana fisheries biologists worked together late last month to save Indiana’s plan for stocking Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan in 2016. Indiana normally receives Chinook eggs each year from Michigan, but record low numbers of fish returning to streams from Lake Michigan to spawn left the state unable to provide eggs for Indiana.

On short notice, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) offered to let Indiana use the Root River Steelhead Facility in Racine as a backup source for Chinook salmon eggs.

On Oct. 10, Indiana DNR biologists and hatchery staff worked alongside Wisconsin DNR staff to spawn more than 100 pairs of Chinooks. As a result, approximately 539,000 viable eggs went to resting trays at Mixsawbah State Fish Hatchery near Walkerton, Ind.

The harvest of salmon eggs is likely more than enough to meet the 2016 production goal of 200,000 fingerlings. Had the Indiana DNR not taken advantage of Wisconsin DNR’s offer, no Chinooks would be stocked in Indiana waters in 2016.

The Chinooks will be given a coded wire tag in March 2016, and stocked in late April 2016. The tagged fish will be identified by having a missing adipose fin, and be the fifth-year class of Chinook salmon marked under the lake-wide federal Great Lakes Mass Marking Program.

The rapidly changing Lake Michigan ecosystem further underscores the need for agencies around the lake to work together to manage the fish.

The public may harvest firewood from already-felled ash trees in a designated area at Mississinewa Lake. The firewood program will help the park remove the high number of ash trees affected by the emerald ash borer (EAB).

The park cannot adequately remove all dead trees on its own. Only trees already felled by park staff are allowed to be taken. The available trees are on the disc golf course.

The program will require each participant to complete and sign permits and waivers before cutting. Donations will be accepted and used to buy shade trees for planting in the campground areas.

Permits will be for one day only and must be acquired on the day of the desired cut at the park office, from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Times for cutting are limited to 8 a.m.-5 p.m. through Nov. 15. Protective gear is required and consists of (but is not limited to) helmets, chaps, gloves, leather boots, hearing and eye protection.

Firewood moved from the property must comply with DNR firewood rules, which can be found online at www.firewood.dnr.IN.gov

The ban on transporting ash between Indiana counties is being removed because EAB is now widespread in the state. Regulatory tools and funding will be directed to other potential threats to Mississinewa’s forest resources.

Rules for bringing firewood to DNR properties remain in place. The DNR does not recommend long-distance movement of firewood of any species due to the potential for moving other insect pests and tree diseases beyond locally impacted areas. "Long-distance movement" is moving beyond the immediate county or surrounding counties.

Any ash firewood obtained at the property should be burned before spring (mid-April to early May at the latest) to help limit EAB movement within your home area.

EAB larvae are generally dormant in the winter – living under the bark – and emerge in late spring as adult beetles.

So, if the firewood is all gone, no EAB adults could emerge from the wood if the larvae are present. If you cannot use all the wood before spring (mid-April to early May), keep it completely covered while storing it. For more information, call 765-473-6528, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mississinewa Lake is located at 4673 S. 625E. Peru, IN 46970.

Indiana’s historic shipwrecks can now be explored by land or sea. Viewing a newly designed website provides virtual looks at what only divers used to be able to access. The website at www.IndianaShipwrecks.org is part of the Indiana DNR website and features the J.D. Marshall and the Muskegon, as well as Car Ferry #2 and Material Service Barge. Each vessel rests under the Indiana waters of Lake Michigan.

Two years ago, the J.D. Marshall became the first underwater preserve site in the state. The preserve is in Porter County, just off the shores of Indiana Dunes State Park. Data for the website’s four virtual 3-D models of the shipwrecks were gathered using detailed mobile multi-sector sonar scans.

"We hope this information will attract more underwater tourists and get people who don’t dive more interested in Indiana’s fascinating but somewhat unknown maritime history," said Mike Molnar, manager of the DNR’s Indiana Lake Michigan Coastal Program (LMCP).

The J.D. Marshall sank during a storm on June 11, 1911. Four crew members died. The preserve includes 100 acres surrounding the ship’s ruins and three mooring buoys. The buoys are for dive and fishing boats to use in lieu of anchors, which could damage the historic remains.

Complete information about diving on the shipwrecks, fishing near the site and the history of the ships is included on the website. The LMCP and its partners have been working on the preserve project since 2008, and the website launch completes the project.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments may contact Jack Spaulding by email at jackspaulding@hughes.net or by writing to him in care of this publication.