Session C3- Development of design standards and criteria and monitoring protocols for fish passage restoration projects
Location
UMass Amherst
Start Date
27-6-2011 3:25 PM
End Date
27-6-2011 3:45 PM
Description
Documentation pf standards and guidelines for design and monitoring of fish passage structures, as well as methodologies for passage evaluation and monitoring are critical for both fish passage and river restoration success. Presently, standards and guidelines are incompletely developed, our understanding of design has generally been based on field trial-and-error, and specific biological parameters that should form the basis of designs is often lacking. We describe the initial development of guidelines for design and operation of river restoration projects that include: dam removals, partial dam removals, bedrock modifications, backwatering weirs, dam and weir notches, rock ramps, and other hydraulic grade controls (e.g., cross-vanes, weirs). In this presentation we focus on design criteria for major East Coast target species such as Atlantic salmos, American shad, river herring, sturgeons, rainbow smelt, and American eel; and the rationale for development of these biological criteria. The developed practitioners/managers with documented, defensible guidelines to assist with selection, development, or review of structural designs and hydrologic and hydraulic conditions appropriate for sites and target species. Gaps in knowledge or absence of established guidelines are also identified along with suggestions for target criteria.
Session C3- Development of design standards and criteria and monitoring protocols for fish passage restoration projects
UMass Amherst
Documentation pf standards and guidelines for design and monitoring of fish passage structures, as well as methodologies for passage evaluation and monitoring are critical for both fish passage and river restoration success. Presently, standards and guidelines are incompletely developed, our understanding of design has generally been based on field trial-and-error, and specific biological parameters that should form the basis of designs is often lacking. We describe the initial development of guidelines for design and operation of river restoration projects that include: dam removals, partial dam removals, bedrock modifications, backwatering weirs, dam and weir notches, rock ramps, and other hydraulic grade controls (e.g., cross-vanes, weirs). In this presentation we focus on design criteria for major East Coast target species such as Atlantic salmos, American shad, river herring, sturgeons, rainbow smelt, and American eel; and the rationale for development of these biological criteria. The developed practitioners/managers with documented, defensible guidelines to assist with selection, development, or review of structural designs and hydrologic and hydraulic conditions appropriate for sites and target species. Gaps in knowledge or absence of established guidelines are also identified along with suggestions for target criteria.
Comments
Melissa Belcher is a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Within the environmental conservation program, Melissa is primarily interested in diadromous fish biology and fish passage design. She works closely with researchers at the USGS Conte Anadromous Fish Research Lab. Her primary graduate lies in collaboration with USGS, NOAA and USFWS in the creation of a fish passage design manual, with goal of addressing East Coast diadromous fish passage. The result will be a peer-reviewed document with standards, criteria, and documented references for design, operation, evaluation, and monitoring of passage structures. Melissa completed her undergraduate work at the University of Vermont in wildlife and fisheries biology, and worked for two years in the fisheries department with Vermont Fish and Wildlife and Colorado Division of Wildlife before coming to UMass Amherst.