Building the Infrastructure for Large-Scale Connectivity Restoration in the Great Lakes Basin

Longitudinal connectivity of flowing water ecosystems has been dramatically altered by the widespread construction of dams, road crossings, and water diversion structures. These barriers limit the ability of fish to move among different habitats, escape disturbance, and breed with other populations. Strategic barrier removal has been recognized as an efficient means to benefit fish populations, and there is a major effort underway nationally to understand the effects of reduced connectivity on fish, identify the most significant barriers, and prioritize connectivity restoration for multiple objectives. This presentation will report on the progress of a multi-agency team in the Great Lakes Basin to build a common infrastructure for storage and analysis of fish passage barrier data. The team is focusing on road crossing barriers, which because of their sheer numbers, may represent a greater problem for fish passage than dams. The objectives of this effort include: designing a standardized road crossing assessment protocol; creating a centralized database for fish passage barrier assessment data; integrating analysis tools into this database that will allow users to quantify the connectivity status of watersheds and prioritize barrier removal; and engaging a wide range of stakeholder groups, including federal, state, and tribal natural resource agencies, transportation agencies, and nonprofit and volunteer conservation groups.