If you were around in the early '70's you lived through the birth of the term acid rain. It was when scientists first started to notice the effects on the environment in higher elevations like The Adirondacks.. Now, nearly 50 years later, lakes and ponds are showing signs fish may be able to repopulate without stocking.

In it's simplest form, Acid Rain came from air pollutants in cities mixing with rain and snow in the atmosphere then falling into the forests and bodies of water in higher elevations. Scientists claimed it was responsible for the death of trees and vegetation along with killing off various species of fish.

In the 80's  the New York Department of Environmental Conservation began monitoring water chemistry and surveying fish populations. Those test results led to the stocking of ponds to return the population of brook trout. After all these years, the DEC has determined 13 ponds in The Adirondacks where the water chemistry seems appropriate for brook trout to reproduce on their own.

The stocking of these ponds will cease for 2020 and 2021, with a new survey being conducted in 2022. New York has some of the toughest acid rain regulations in the country. Read more about brown trout in the Adirondacks and what the DEC is doing to protect them at DEC.gov

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