Location
Agriculture Leaders Theater, Oregon State University
Start Date
27-6-2013 2:10 PM
End Date
27-6-2013 2:30 PM
Description
One of the most effective ways of restoring salmonid habitat is to reconnect and provide access to habitats that already exist. Over 38,000 fish passage barriers have been documented within the State of Washington, resulting in limited habitat availability for salmon to meet their various life history requirements and survive fluctuating environmental conditions in streams. Due to limited available funding, developing a method of prioritizing projects to ensure that efforts are expended in the most cost-effective way possible is crucial to successfully reconnecting the most valuable habitats. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has developed a method to systematically prioritize potential fish passage barriers for correction, and a comprehensive approach to identifying, developing and implementing fish passage projects across the state. WDFW conducts barrier inventories and habitat assessments throughout the state that allow us to quantify the available habitat upstream and a fish production value for each species expected to benefit from barrier correction. This information is used to calculate a priority index (PI), which is a relative measure of the value of correction of each barrier based on the percentage of passage improvement, the fish production value, the stock status of each species, and the relative cost of the project. The PI can be used to compare projects at a very large scale and is a first cut that narrows down the focus of scoping and project development. Potential projects are scoped by biologists who conduct site visits, contact local stakeholders, and identify site-specific biological, physical, and logistical conditions that influence whether a barrier should be recommended for repair. Biologists then work closely with environmental engineers to develop a suite of conceptual design options that address the unique conditions of the site. The options are accepted methods that are used statewide (such as stream simulation culverts and bridges) to ensure that new structures will be effective into the future. Over the past two decades WDFW has partnered with various agencies throughout the state to target barriers on public lands and assist them in scoping and developing fish passage projects. This has resulted in a broad-scale approach to implementing fish passage projects across the state.
Concurrent Sessions C: A Comprehensive Approach to Fish Passage: What's Happening in Washington State - A Comprehensive Approach to Prioritizing and Developing Fish Passage Projects in Washington State
Agriculture Leaders Theater, Oregon State University
One of the most effective ways of restoring salmonid habitat is to reconnect and provide access to habitats that already exist. Over 38,000 fish passage barriers have been documented within the State of Washington, resulting in limited habitat availability for salmon to meet their various life history requirements and survive fluctuating environmental conditions in streams. Due to limited available funding, developing a method of prioritizing projects to ensure that efforts are expended in the most cost-effective way possible is crucial to successfully reconnecting the most valuable habitats. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has developed a method to systematically prioritize potential fish passage barriers for correction, and a comprehensive approach to identifying, developing and implementing fish passage projects across the state. WDFW conducts barrier inventories and habitat assessments throughout the state that allow us to quantify the available habitat upstream and a fish production value for each species expected to benefit from barrier correction. This information is used to calculate a priority index (PI), which is a relative measure of the value of correction of each barrier based on the percentage of passage improvement, the fish production value, the stock status of each species, and the relative cost of the project. The PI can be used to compare projects at a very large scale and is a first cut that narrows down the focus of scoping and project development. Potential projects are scoped by biologists who conduct site visits, contact local stakeholders, and identify site-specific biological, physical, and logistical conditions that influence whether a barrier should be recommended for repair. Biologists then work closely with environmental engineers to develop a suite of conceptual design options that address the unique conditions of the site. The options are accepted methods that are used statewide (such as stream simulation culverts and bridges) to ensure that new structures will be effective into the future. Over the past two decades WDFW has partnered with various agencies throughout the state to target barriers on public lands and assist them in scoping and developing fish passage projects. This has resulted in a broad-scale approach to implementing fish passage projects across the state.
Comments
Jenni Dykstra is a fish biologist with the Fish Passage Restoration Section of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. She prioritizes fish passage barrier corrections, and develops and manages fish passage projects in the State of Washington. She has been assessing and restoring fish habitat for 14 years, and has a B.S. in Fish and Wildlife Science and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Oregon State University.