www.singingfalls.com/seine

I am heading into town today for a conference with Ann of the Umpqua Basin Fish Access Team (UBFAT). This isn't going to be easy. The papers for the subcontract were signed a couple of weeks ago. There should be several gps loads of data for the database but I haven't even started on it! Poor fish! Once the ball gets rolling I should be able to make up for lost time.
The UBFAT survey is an attempt by the local watershed council (PUR-Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers), of which I am a board member, to document the man made fish barriers throughout the Umpqua Basin Watershed. We will then begin to prioritize correction methods and sequences on these obstacles to stream habitat.
Years ago culverts and diversions to fish passage were inadvertently made when faulty culvert designs created inaccessible stretches of prime salmon habitat. This is a big factor in the declining numbers in the fish runs. Replacing these culverts is one of the prime directives of the Council.
So my job is to contact land owners to gain access to these places and then document the length, depth, height, diameter and angle of the culvert. We measure the pool depth, drop and underwash of the outlet side of the culvert. We assess the aquatic habitat immediately above and below the barrier. We GPS its location and crank all of the information into a database.
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