descriptions of habitat improvement

[nymphingmaniac]

I just found this on PFBC website. It has descriptions of projects and different types of habitat improvement methods/structures


http://www.fishandboat.com/Resource/Habitat/Pages/default.aspx

 

[sarce]

Thanks for sharing, I looked through a few of the powerpoints. The work on Cedar (the small limestoner) is impressive.

Man, how dare those guys go fixing the problems that we humans caused.

 

[salmonoid]

sarce wrote:
Thanks for sharing, I looked through a few of the powerpoints. The work on Cedar (the small limestoner) is impressive.

Man, how dare those guys go fixing the problems that we humans caused.

Agreed. Shame on anyone or any organization that at least tries to improve something. Hopefully we never learn from our mistakes.

Sarcasm aside, sometimes stream "improvements" do more harm than good. Think of something like jack dams that while improving habitat, they at the same time block the migration of fish at certain times of the year (possibly during the critical spawn period). But that design flaw has been recognized and corrected with other structures. Humans don't get things right 100% of the time. And we've caused damage in the past. We'll never 100% restore the damage we've done in the past, and I don't think we can build a stream as well as nature can. But we can at least mitigate some of the damage we've done, and help streams be better than they were. Trying something is better than doing nothing.

 

[Dave_W]

Thanks nymphingmaniac - this is a great link and worth checking out.

In particular, I recommend the report on the project on the Little Juniata: good before and after pics including follow up reports showing how well the structure weathered flooding. Imagine how much of that bank would have been blown away had the structure not been in place.

Kudos to the PFBC and the many TU and local volunteer folks who make such projects possible.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

if you look at the pictures, what do you see? I'll get right too it. Utility poles. Power company cleared the area of trees and brush around the line crossings. There isn't a picture of it in the report, but one pole was located on a small island in the middle of the stream. The restoration project redirected the stream back to its original path and away from the island. PFBC habitat designers predicted the structures would naturally redirect the stream away from this and it did. These structures now provide good habitat and trout have taken up a home right near the structure. It both saved the bank, restored the natural path and provides habitat to a section of the river that gets better every year

 

[Chaz]

When built correctly jack dams allow fish movement, however, I've seldom seen them built correctly.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

Chaz wrote:
When built correctly jack dams allow fish movement, however, I've seldom seen them built correctly.

I've seen them with plastic lining along the bottoms of the dams. Ugh.