Concurrent Sessions A: Co-Benefits of Barrier Removal: Fish Passage and Public Safety - Improving Fish Habitat to Reduce Flood Damage: The Multiple Benefits of Right Sizing Culverts
Location
Construction & Engineering Hall, Oregon State University
Start Date
26-6-2013 3:30 PM
End Date
26-6-2013 3:50 PM
Description
With thousands of road crossings obstructing our river and streams in the Northeast, the impacts to public safety and habitat can be significant. Storms cause major damage to road-stream crossings, leading to public safety hazards and impacts to fisheries habitat. Many of our road-stream crossings are undersized impacting fish and wildlife access to upstream habitat. At the same time, these undersized crossings are prone to flood damage during storm events and can become public safety hazards. The goals of fisheries biologists and transportation managers may be different, but both interests benefit when road-stream crossings are improved. The solutions lie in the partnerships between the town highway departments, state resource agencies and nonprofit partners working together to achieve a balance with the natural resource and community infrastructure needs. In New England these partners have worked together to improve state and federal permits for stream crossings, develop standards and guidance documents, train road managers and implement projects to benefit habitat and public safety. This presentation will highlight the success of partnering with transportation planners, road managers, state and federal regulators, and resource managers to achieve stream habitat improvements at road-stream crossings.
Concurrent Sessions A: Co-Benefits of Barrier Removal: Fish Passage and Public Safety - Improving Fish Habitat to Reduce Flood Damage: The Multiple Benefits of Right Sizing Culverts
Construction & Engineering Hall, Oregon State University
With thousands of road crossings obstructing our river and streams in the Northeast, the impacts to public safety and habitat can be significant. Storms cause major damage to road-stream crossings, leading to public safety hazards and impacts to fisheries habitat. Many of our road-stream crossings are undersized impacting fish and wildlife access to upstream habitat. At the same time, these undersized crossings are prone to flood damage during storm events and can become public safety hazards. The goals of fisheries biologists and transportation managers may be different, but both interests benefit when road-stream crossings are improved. The solutions lie in the partnerships between the town highway departments, state resource agencies and nonprofit partners working together to achieve a balance with the natural resource and community infrastructure needs. In New England these partners have worked together to improve state and federal permits for stream crossings, develop standards and guidance documents, train road managers and implement projects to benefit habitat and public safety. This presentation will highlight the success of partnering with transportation planners, road managers, state and federal regulators, and resource managers to achieve stream habitat improvements at road-stream crossings.
Comments
Amy Singler works for American Rivers’ River Restoration Program and The Nature Conservancy’s Connecticut River Program managing dam removal projects and promoting efforts to improve river restoration in New England. She also leads regional efforts for both organizations on culvert and stream crossing policy and implementation. Amy previously worked for the Massachusetts state rivers program for seven years where she worked as a project manager and outreach coordinator, working statewide to promote river protection and implementation of restoration projects. Amy has a B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Rochester and a M.S. in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.