The Bad River Watershed Association (BRWA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have conducted inventories to identify culverts with high water velocities that have led to substantial erosion and barriers to fish migration.  To restore fish passage and reconnect habitats, the worst culverts are being methodically replaced or remediated. 

To help determine the effectiveness of these culvert replacements on habitat and fish population changes over time, the BRWA and USFWS hosted a monitoring workshop on December 16 – 17, 2008 in Ashland, Wisconsin.  Scientists and managers from the U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin DNR, Minnesota DNR, Bad River Tribe, County Land Conservation Departments and U.S. Geological Survey with expertise in hydrology, geomorphology, habitat restoration, statistics, ecology, fish behavior and population assessment attended. They reviewed our culvert replacement strategies, our fish, habitat and sediment objectives, and refined the monitoring questions we had drafted.

Physical and biological focus groups identified parameters to measure sediment movements, habitat quality and fish passage.  Measurements and methods to assess changes in physical habitat, fish movement and population responses were discussed.  Research questions that will help us refine our monitoring questions and restoration strategies were identified.  The workshop results will be drafted and with help from technical teams, a monitoring plan will be developed.

All participants were very pleased to be involved in the workshop since most are directly involved in the Bad River watershed fish passage projects and will continue to communicate and work toward implementing a cooperative monitoring program.