This effort moves us closer to the goals and objectives laid out in the Refuge’s Habitat Management Plan.  The plan specifies that floodplain forest will be restored to heterogeneous mix of shrub and canopy cover for species such as veery.  It also sets a goal to reduce peak flood flows that enter Whittlesey Creek by slowing the flow across uplands.  Reforestation is one way to slow the flow.  Smaller peak flows will improve in-stream habitat for migratory brook trout that live part of their lives in Lake Superior and some in the stream.  Typically, these brook trout (called coaster brook trout) spawn in gravel beds in the stream.