{"id":2974,"date":"2020-07-14T05:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/habitat.fisheries.org\/?p=2974"},"modified":"2020-07-14T05:00:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T05:00:17","slug":"compromise-in-the-name-of-the-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/compromise-in-the-name-of-the-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"Compromise, in the Name of the Fish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I work for a transportation agency that is constantly\nbuilding and updating bridges that span rivers; hence, we collaborate closely\nwith the local office of the state\u2019s fish and game agency. Legislation dictates\nthat this fish and game agency has a right to offer input and regulation on any\ntransportation project that crosses or is adjacent to a body of water. This\ncontributes a perspective that helps to conserve the fish and wildlife that\ndepend on these systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State and federal agencies typically have a set of best\nmanagement practices that they expect contractors and collaborators to follow. These\npractices are required to help maintain and improve habitats, usually as a\nresult of legislation that seeks to perpetuate fish or wildlife populations. Examples\nmay include size requirements for riprap (large rocks or concrete\nblocks that help stabilize riverbanks) or limits on sediment input to the river.\nHowever, the dynamic nature of river systems can often defy a standard,\none-size-fits-all methodology. It is therefore necessary to blend established\nsets of best practices with collaboration and innovation, critical elements to\nsuccess in any conservation effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example of collaboration that I have seen involved reseeding a riverbank after a bridge construction project. My agency was required to backfill the riprap with soil and reseed it. New willows, grasses and other plants facilitate wildlife movement as well as connectivity with the riparian corridor. It\u2019s a good practice, and one that helps to maintain these habitats after the disturbance from a construction project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Revegetation under bridges decreases erosion, encourages wildlife use, and improves riparian connectivity; however, sometimes environmental conditions prevent complete regrowth. Image via Bradley Dawson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, reseeding doesn\u2019t always go as planned. On one of\nour recent projects, we noticed that the area under the new bridge was\nextremely dark. The reseeding was unsuccessful because new plants were unable\nto survive in the darkened environment, and the soil that had backfilled the\nriprap was eventually swept into the river during high water events. Such soil\ninputs can cover spawning habitat and be debilitating for downstream fish\nhabitat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201ccompromise\u201d can have a bad reputation, but this\ninstance was an example of compromise at its best. My transportation agency\nreached out to the local fisheries biologist, and he understood that continuing\nto backfill riprap with soil in dark environments would ultimately be\ncounterproductive to maintaining the fish habitat that we were all interested\nin conserving. He relaxed the requirement for certain situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Management and improvement of fish habitat is almost never\nconfined to the streams and the lakes where it is eventually implemented \u2013 it\nexpands and fills discussions between biologists, agencies, and the public. We\nmust remember that our collaborators, stakeholders, and resources all operate\nin the sphere of human interactions and perspectives. It takes more than a successful\nscientific method to make a successful scientist; it takes the ability to\nlisten and adjust. Sometimes, it takes compromise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images are property of the author and may not be used or redistributed without permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent American Fisheries Society. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I work for a transportation agency that is constantly building and updating bridges that span rivers; hence, we collaborate closely with the local office of the state\u2019s fish and game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}