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Changes in fish habitat on the Missouri River below Ft. Peck dam

Changes in fish habitat on the Missouri River below Ft. Peck dam. Sara Owen and Jamul Hahn May 2014. 1956-2013. 2009. 2011. Introduction. Backwaters and side channels of large rivers provide important shallow water spawning and nursery habitats for fish

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Changes in fish habitat on the Missouri River below Ft. Peck dam

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  1. Changes in fish habitat on the Missouri River below Ft. Peck dam Sara Owen and Jamul Hahn May 2014 1956-2013 2009 2011

  2. Introduction • Backwaters and side channels of large rivers provide important shallow water spawning and nursery habitats for fish • Dams disconnect large floodplain rivers from their floodplains, which can reduce or eliminate dynamic river processes that maintain off-channel habitats because sedimentation rates outpace scouring and channel migration events • The pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) was listed as endangered under the ESA in 1990 Photo credit: NEBRASKAland Magazine

  3. Goals of the Study • Determine if relative quantity of side channel and backwater habitats on Missouri River downstream of Ft. Peck dam has changed significantly from 1956 to 2013 • Phase I: examine imagery from 1956/57, 2009, and 2011 • Phase II: examine imagery from 1980 and 2013 • Results will guide the direction of the pallid sturgeon recovery efforts and native fish management along with related operations of Ft. Peck dam

  4. Study Area

  5. Habitat Types Backwaters have only a downstream connection to the main river

  6. Habitat Types Side channels are less than 30m wide and have both an upstream and a downstream connection to the main river

  7. Habitat Types Other channels are small secondary channels of the main river, typically greater than 30m wide

  8. Habitat Types Inundated floodplains were specific to 2011. It included forested and non-forested areas where the river overtopped its banks and inundated the riparian floodplain.

  9. Mapping Examples 1956/57 2009 2009 2011 1956/57 • For each year, habitat features were photo interpreted and digitized in ArcMap • Mapping underwent QC by another photo interpreter • Feedback from Fish, Wildlife, and Parks scientists to address our questions 2011

  10. Results Relative changes in the number, length, area, and perimeter of habitat features between 1956/57 and 2009 on the Missouri River below Ft. Peck dam. THE BIG QUESTION: Is there a trend over time?

  11. Changes Over Time What happens after the big flood of 2011?

  12. Conclusions & Future Work • Next phase: map 1980 and 2013 habitat • Analyze for trends over time • Compare data with hydrology data on Missouri River to see if there is a correlation between flow regime and available (i.e., mapped) habitat • There are fewer off-channel habitats between 1956/57 and 2009 • The average size of each habitat type is smaller in 2009 than in 1956/57 • The decline in habitat quantity and size may hamper pallid sturgeon recovery efforts

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