Weekend Stream Experience

Over the summer, I had the chance to experience many streams while helping Cory with his field work as a technician. This past weekend we ventured out to some Blue Ridge streams. To the right is pictured a New River endemic, the Kanawha Darter (Etheostoma kanawhae). They are identifiable by the 6 dark saddles located across their back. They prefer small cobble to gravel substrate and are found in riffles. Adults range in size from 50-65 mm standard length. This picture was taken in Big Wilson Creek while snorkeling on Sunday.

To the right is Lick Creek near Sandstone, West Virginia. This creek is a prime example of how variable flow rates can be in a stream. Earlier this summer in June, this creek had higher discharge rates that it currently does now. This is evident from the picture. This creek is also part of the New River drainage. It is comprised of mostly cobble and small boulders with low embeddedness during normal discharge and the stream is fairly high gradient. This creek is home to Variegate Darters (E. variatum), telescope shiners (Notropis telescopus), greenside darters (E. blennioides), and rainbow darters (E. caeruleum) jsut to name a few species.


The next picture is of Little River in North Carolina another stream that is home to Kanawha Darters. This is a prime example of a Blue Ridge Stream. It has small substrate, with high embeddedness, and has turbidity levels of 2-3 Ntu's. These Blue RIdge streams are also fairly low in gradient. Also, when snorkeling on Sunday the water temperature was around 18 degrees celcius. Downstream of this site, most of the banks had been deforested, with slump banks lining much of the stream.



The last picture I decided to include in my blog is a picture that I took of Sandstone Falls in Sandstone, WV. These falls are located on the New River just downstream of the Bluestone Dam in Hinton, WV. I just thought it would be a good picture to share with the rest of the class even though I do not know much about it. However, the best part of these falls is that on one of the signs near the viewing platform for the falls states that "the dam upstream actually helps the ecosystem". It doesn't say that directly, but that is what we decided they were trying to say and thought it was quite funny.

Stream Experience - St. Croix River, MN

My stream experience comes to you courtesy of the Saint Croix River in the Upper Midwest. The river is a National Wild and Scenic Riverway, bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin before flowing into the Mississippi River. The river is managed by the National Park Service, Minnesota and Wisconsin DNR, and the USFWS. The river is a 5/6th order stream, and averages 100 to 150 meters wide, with coarse gravel and cobble in swifter areas and shifting sand in slower reaches. A hydroelectric dam operates within the Scenic Riverway, and is required to maintain minimum flows, though enforcement and compliance have been spotty.

The stream supports 40 species of freshwater mussels, including two federally endangered species (L. higginsii and Q. fragosa), and more than 65 fish species, 10 of which are listed under species of special concern in the state of Minnesota. The river is heavily used for boating recreation (canoes and kayaks in the upper river, motorized boats in the lower), and fishing is excellent. Increasing urbanization and pressure to build large homes on river bluffs threaten the riverway and its watershed. Recently the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency listed the river as impaired by phosphorus.

I spent 3 full summers and part of another researching freshwater mussels on the St. Croix. The work involved excavating quadrats to assess long-term population changes in mussels, implementing a new sampling design to effectively estimate populations of rare and patchy species, and attempting to quantify microhabitat factors for endangered mussel species (sediment coarseness, shear stress, river velocity, organic sediment matter, etc). We also did some research with mussel host fish, and video documentation of nighttime mussel displays. I spent approximately 20 hours a week underwater, using SCUBA to accomplish our goals.

I learned a great deal about the river during my research, from seeing many fish and mussel species firsthand while diving, to learning about cooperative management strategies and difficulties.

Post a story of stream, stream habitat, or fish or other aquatic life here

For this week I would like to learn more about your river and stream experiences.   Use the "Post a Comment"  below to post a description of one stream you are very familiar with and the characteristic habitats or aquatic life .

Two projects

Though I took a few classes as an undergrad and jammed a few words and terms in my head, but my experience with stream habitat management really revolves around two projects.


1) I attended a small private college and my Environmental Studies program was based largely on problem based learning. As a freshman, I was enrolled in a class where the problem was to create a stream restoration plan for about one mile of Mechumps Creek, a small stream that flows through the small town of Ashland, VA. As you can see from the picture, the stream was heavily eroded due to poor stormwater management and it also has problems with fecal coliform bacteria. The channel is deeply incised, consists mostly of shallow riffle habitat, and thus few deep pools for fish habitat. About a month ago I shocked the stream and found about five different species, redbreasted sunfish, creek chubs, creek chubsuckers, mudminnows, and rosyside dace, so it has pretty low diversity given that just outside of the town diversity nearly triples with the additioanl of numerous chain pickerel, bowfin, and pirate perch.

Throughout the year we surveyed stakeholders, measured aspects of geomorphology, quantified the macroinvertebrate community, and worked closely with an environmental engineering firm to create a stream restoration plan which called for movement of the stream channel and installation of numerous instream structures. Of course, those things arn't cheap, and so I subsequently wrote a US Fish and Wildlife grant for $100,000 which was approved in 2008. It has been 4 years since the beginning of the project, and construction will be starting within the month. There is no real glory in this stream restoration project. Threatened and/or endangered fish do no inhabit it, there is no chance to stock it with sport fish, and it is largely hidden in the woods behind fast food chains. However, it is a good example of how stakeholders can be educated on the topic and then push for it through completion.

2) My undergrad experience also included a lot of summer research, including a trip to Colorado during the summer before my senior year to study the longterm effects of habitat manipulations in Colorado streams. The streams I worked in were remotely located, first0rder, and largely composed of brook trout, but some streams had brown, rainbow, and cutthroat. As part of my advisor's Ph.D. work in the late 1980's, he installed log drops in 6 streams and then monitored the changes in habitat and trout abundance. The idea behind installing log drops was that historically all of the riparian vegeation surrounding the streams was removed during logging, and so there was little woody debris in the streams and woody debris is a major component in salmonnid habitat. The addition of logs would, in theory, create a dam pool upstream, a scour pool downstream, and provide overhead cover.

The short story is that the logs increased both habitat and abundance by over 100%, and it was the first study to conclusively determine the effects of log drops. However, since the 1990's there has been a lot of controversy and conflicting literature as to the efficacy of these features. So, we went back out 20 years after log installation to see if the effects still persisted. I'm working on getting that paper published, but the results show that log drops were still effective at increasing trout abundance and habitat. The other side of that story is that it is clear that the effectiveness is really site specific, so as part of that research I did a in-depth review as to why the streams I studied saw an effect but other streams don't. A lof ot it comes down to fish behavior as well as the physical attributes of the streams.

Climate Change Reducing Stream Habitat in Mountain Streams

Global climate change is one pervasive challenge that must be dealt with by scientists, policy makers, and engaged citizens.    Ectotherms, such as fishes, are directly influenced by temperature change.    Though most work on climate change and streams and rivers has postulated potential effects of long-term climate change, recent work on stream-dwelling bull trout, provide quantitative determination of habitat change that has already occurred.   This article written by Dan Isaak and others in 2009 documented recent increases in stream water temperature of 0.27 C per decade; they further project a 50% decline in bull trout habitat in the next 50 years.  

 Stream habitat management involve making decisions locally -- decisions that should have benefits far in the future.    Margaret Palmer and colleagues reviewed some protection and adaptation options that could be implemented now in "Climate Change and River Ecosystems" published in Environmental Management last year.  

Today's agencies (Fish and Wildlife Service) are developing strategies for reducing the future impacts of climate change on climate-sensitive ecosystems.    You can expect increasing challenges in applying our knowledge of streams under future uncertain climate conditions.     One specific federal initiative is the National Fish Habitat Action Plan.   This federal legislation has provided a National perspective and the development  of coalitions of  government and non-profit organizations to support local efforts in stream habitat management.  Take a look at the projects underway throughout the US.   

Scientist in the Public Policy Arena

One of the interesting and controversial issues that we did not discuss very much during the past semester was the appropriate role of the scientist in advocating public policy positions. This is a complex issue because the decision is deeply personal; however, there are a range of alternative approaches that you may decide work best for you. At the very least the scientist is obligated to provide scientific information on policy relevant issues when information is requested. For some scientists this is as far as they are willing to go. At another extreme a scientist may evaluate the full range of policy options in light of scientific information and scientific uncertainty -- this is the full time job end of the spectrum. And it is nice if your employer is paying you to do it, but it may be double duty.

The highlighted article was published recently in BioScience. It reflects the reality of advocacy and discusses the roles that professional societies have played. I encourage you to read it as time permits and consider working with and through professional organizations who are often positions to assist in this role.

The position of a 10,000 - person organization will usually take on a more impressive weight than the position of one person.

Happy Holidays.

Portfolio Evaluations

And now the real learning begins. I think 6 people are doing portfolio on a blog, 1 used ePortfolio, and 1 submitted portfolio on a CD.

I will be evaluating the portfolio elements tomorrow starting at 7am. So if you choose to make any changes or check your site to make sure all links are working, you have til morning to finalize. I will contact you if I find any glaring omissions that you must have overlooked or technical difficulties that you can fix before grades are due Saturday.

I will try to keep you informed about Clayter Dam relicensing study reports and public meetings as well as findings related to the Shenandoah River Fish Kills.

However, very soon after the Holiday break I will immerse myself into the blog on Ichthyology

Best wishes and remember to appreciate the wonders of flowing waters.

Happy Holidays!