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Habitat

Habitat. What is habitat ?. The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. Stream Habitat. In the stream. and around the stream. The area next to the stream is called the riparian area. Photo from American Fisheries Society. Activity 1:

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Habitat

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  1. Habitat

  2. What is habitat? The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.

  3. Stream Habitat In the stream and around the stream The area next to the stream is called the riparian area. Photo from American Fisheries Society

  4. Activity 1: Stream Habitat Assessment

  5. Land Use - Why We Care Different land uses create different pollutants that can either be put directly into the stream or be carried to the stream in stormwater runoff. When it rains, the water runs downhill and picks up and carries pollutants to the nearest waterbody. Remember the watershed concept!

  6. What is land use? Suburban Residential Industrial Agricultural Agricultural Commercial Open Space DowntownResidential

  7. Pollutant Indicators: What do you smell?

  8. Pollutant Indicators: What do you see?

  9. Pollutant Indicators: What’s floating on the surface?

  10. Natural “sheen” Natural foam Natural iron bacteria Sewage Fungus Oil Sheen Soap Suds

  11. Physical Stream Assessment: We will be rating 9 Habitat Characteristics Good (4 points) Fair (3 points) Marginal (2 points) Poor (1 points)

  12. Floodplain Vegetation Fair (3 pts) – Some plants, bushes and trees Good (4 pts) – Lots of plants, bushes, trees along banks and in floodplain

  13. Floodplain Vegetation Poor (1 pt) – Very little plant life all along banks and floodplain Marginal (2 pts) – Most trees and bushes are gone. Vegetation not in a natural state (mowed).

  14. Channel Alteration Good (4 pts) – stream has room to bend often around rocks and trees Fair (3 pts) – Channel straightened in some places, but some natural bends still present

  15. Channel Alteration Marginal (2 pts) – Channel mostly straightened, but vegetation still present and no cement Poor (1 pt) – Channel straightened and flowing along a paved channel

  16. Embeddedness Good (4 pts) – Rocks cover almost all of the stream bottom. Very little sand or silt around rocks.

  17. Embeddedness Fair (3 pts) – Rocks cover most of stream bed, some silt/sand between and on rocks. Marginal (2 pts) – Rocks more than halfway buried (embedded) into sand/silt Poor (1 pt) – Rocks entirely buried by sand and silt

  18. Erosion Good (4 pts) – Streambanks only slightly above the level of the water Fair (3 pts) – Streambanks somewhat higher than the level of the water

  19. Erosion Marginal (2 pts) – Streambanks significantly above the level of the water Poor (3 pts) – Streambanks extremely high compared to water level

  20. Shelter for Macroinvertebrates Good (4 pts) – Lots of different sized rocks, wood and leaf litter Fair (3 pts) – Only small gravel-sized rocks, some wood and leaf litter present

  21. Shelter for Macroinvertebrates Marginal (2 pts) – No rocks of wood, but some leaf litter present Poor (1 pt) – No rocks, wood or leaf litter present

  22. Shelter for Fish Good (4 pts) – Lots of pools, wood, and undercut streambanks in the water Fair (3 pts) – Some pools, wood and undercut banks in the water Marginal (2 pts) – Few pools, wood and undercut banks Poor (1 pt) – No pools, wood and undercut banks

  23. Vegetation Buffer Width Good (4 pts) – More than 50 feet of trees and brushy vegetation extending out from each bank Fair (3 pts) – 20 to 50 feet Marginal (2 pts) - 5 to 20 feet Poor (1 pt) – 0 to 5 feet

  24. Stream Bank Stability Good (4 pts) – Lots of roots and vegetation or large rocks on the bank all the way down to water level Fair (3 pts) – 2/3 of the way down Marginal (2 pts) – 1/3 of the way down Poor (1 pt) – Steep banks of bare soil with no plants, roots, or large rocks

  25. Water Depth & Velocity Combinations • Pools • Deep areas with slow flow • Riffles • Stream elevation drop where bed rocks break the surface • Produces turbulence with rough and bubbly water • Runs • Fast flowing stream segments between riffles and/or pools

  26. Water Depth & Velocity Combinations • Good (4 pts) – Stream has areas of: • fast/deep water (“run’) • fast/shallow water (“riffles”) • slow/shallow water (“glide”) • slow/deep water water (“pool”) • Fair (3 pts) – Stream only as 3 of the 4 flow speed/depth combinations • Marginal (2 pts) – Stream only has 2 of the 4 speed/depth combinations • Poor (1 pt) – Stream only has 1 type of speed/depth

  27. Based on your observations and final stream habitat rating, what recommendations do you have to protect or improve this stream?

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