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Riverine Habitat Assessment and Flow Regime Restoration

Year Awarded: 1999
Awarded: $207,000
Team Leader:  Ohio Department of Natural Resources

This team developed a series of risk assessment protocols to evaluate natural flow restoration strategies at four dams in Michigan and Ohio. One of the dams—The Coho Dam on the Huron River in Ohio—was removed during the project. This action helped the team to further develop their protocols from merely model-based to also reality–based. The team collected baseline data at the four sites to characterize the areas and to identify potential spawning habitat for major fish species. The group used GIS integrated data to develop rules for delineating the habitat before dam removal. This information was helpful in predicting the impact of the dam removal on the potential spawning areas for the fish in question. The risk assessment protocols developed from this project will be helpful in evaluating natural flow restoration strategies at these locations as well as at riverine habitats throughout the Basin.