Restoration of a Southwestern Wisconsin River Amanda Lederer Kris - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Restoration of a Southwestern Wisconsin River

Amanda Lederer Kris Wright

Addison Site

 Downstream site

 400 m from Cty I Bridge

Wolenec Site

 Restoration site

 200 m upstream of Cty. I

Bridge

Zoha Site

 Upstream site

 300 m up from

Zoha/Wolenec property line

Brown Trout Habitat

 Deep pools  Narrow channels  Woody debris  Undercut banks/coverage  Overhanging vegetation  Clear, oxygenated water  Water temperature: 15-18°C  Gravel substrate

Restoration Activities

 Rip-rap and cattle bridges were used

to slow erosion

 Lunkers were added to supply fish

protection

 Channel width was decreased  Channel depth was increased  Riparian zone vegetation was

modified

Objectives

 Did restoration activities immediately affect

stream habitat, macroinvertebrates and fish?

 To what degree did the restoration affect

these aspects within the sampling sites?

Sampling Methods

 Habitat Surveys

Physical Chemical

 Fish Surveys

Electroshocker

 Macroinvertebrate

Surveys

Surber sampler

Habitat Hypotheses

• 1. We expected significant changes in habitat

characteristics at Addison and Wolenec but not at Zoha

• 2. We expected the greatest changes in

magnitude at Wolenec

Habitat Survey

 Physical Characteristics

 River width and depth  Bank erosion  Riparian zone coverage  Substrate/embeddedness  Macrophytes

 Chemical Characteristics

D.O. Temperature Conductivity

Significant Changes in Habitat

Addison Wolenec Zoha width

 

depth



substrate composition

  

substrate depth



erosion

 

Channel Width

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Width (m)

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

* *

Channel Depth

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Depth (cm)

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

*

Channel Erosion

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Amount of erosion (m)

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

* *

Invertebrate Hypotheses

• 1. We expected the abundance and diversity

to increase at Addison, decrease at Wolenec, and not change at Zoha.

• 2. We expected the greatest changes in

abundance and diversity at Wolenec

Invertebrate Abundance

500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Number of Invertebrates

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

Invertebrate Diversity

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Number of taxa

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

Fish Hypotheses

• 1. We expected the abundance to increase at

Addison, decrease at Wolenec, and no change at Zoha.

• 2. We expected the diversity to increase at Addison

and Wolenec, but no change at Zoha.

• 3. We expected the greatest changes in abundance

and diversity at Wolenec.

50 100 150 200 250 300

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Abundnace of fish

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

Fish Abundance

Fish Diversity

 Brown Trout  Common Shinner  White Sucker  Lampery  Creek Chub  Mottled Sculpin  Slimy Sculpin  Johnny Darter  Long nose Dase  Hornyhead Creek

Chub

Fish Diversity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Addison Wolenec Zoha Site Number of fish species

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

Brown Trout Hypotheses

• 1. Brown trout abundance will increase at Addison,

decrease at Wolenec, with no change at Zoha.

• 2. Brown trout size will increase at Addison,

decrease at Wolenec, with no change at Zoha.

• 3. The greatest magnitude of change in trout

abundance and size will occur at Wolenec.

Brown Trout Abundance

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Addison Wolenec Zoha Site # of Brown Trout

Pre-Restoration Post-Restoration

Brown Trout Lengths

50 100 150 200 250 300 Addison Wolenec Zoha

Site Length of trout (mm)

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

*

Addison: Brown Trout Size

2 4 6 8 10 12 14

• 5

5

• 1

1

• 1

5 1 5

• 2

2

• 2

5 2 5

• 3

3

• 3

5 3 5

• 4

Size (mm) # of trout

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

Wolenec: Brown Trout Size

2 4 6 8 10 12

• 5

5

• 1

1

• 1

5 1 5

• 2

2

• 2

5 2 5

• 3

3

• 3

5 3 5

• 4

4

• 4

5

Size (mm) # of trout

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

Zoha: Brown Trout Size

1 2 3 4 5 6

0-50 50-100 100-150 150-200 200-250 250-300 300-350 350-400 400-450

Size (mm) # of trout

Pre Restoration Post Restoration

In Summary: Habitat

 The most changes occurred at Wolenec.  The fewest changes occurred at Addison.  The greatest changes in magnitude occurred

at Wolenec

In Summary: Macroinvertebrates

 Abundance decreased at Zoha, increased at

Wolenec, with little change at Addison.

 The greatest change in abundance occurred at

Zoha.

 There was very little change in diversity at all

three sites.

 Community is dominated by tolerant and common

taxa, many of which are not key diet items for trout.

In Summary: Fish

 The abundance increased at Wolenec,

decreased at Zoha, with little change at Addison.

 The diversity increased at Wolenec, but no

change occurred at Addison and Zoha.

 The greatest changes in abundance and

diversity occurred at Wolenec.

In Summary: Brown Trout

 Addison had the highest abundance,

followed closely by Wolenec.

 Addison was dominated by smaller trout

while Wolenec was dominated by larger trout.

 Brown trout size decreased at Zoha, with

little change at Wolenec and Addison.

Conclusions

 Restoration did appear to impact habitat

characteristics, fish and macroinvertebrates.

 Wolenec was most impacted by immediate restoration

activities, though not necessarily in a negative way

 Downstream impacts at Addison were less drastic than

expected

 Zoha unexpectedly DID change

 Addison is well suited for smaller trout, while

restoration may have increased the suitability of Wolenec to support large trout.

 Habitat in Zoha appears to be less than ideal.

Conclusions

 Immediate changes may not reflect long term

impacts

 Additional surveys will have to be done to

understand the long-term effects of restoration.

Special Thanks

 Trout Unlimited- Harry and Laura Nohr

Chapter

 Dodgeville Department of Natural

Resources

 University of Wisconsin-Platteville  Kristopher Wright