Announcements, Partners, Science

NW CASC Research on Climate-Resilient Design for Fish Passages is Part of Effort Winning 2020 Climate Adaptation Leadership Award

The Family Forest Fish Passage Program helps private forestland owners replace fish-barrier culverts and other structures that keep trout, salmon and other fish from reaching upstream habitat
Washington State needs to replace fish-barrier culverts keeping salmon, trout and other fish from reaching upstream habitat with fish-friendly culverts like this one. Since climate change is projected to increase peak streamflows and widen stream channels, incorporating climate change considerations into culvert removal and redesign will be key to ensuring the long-term resilience of this new infrastructure.
Source: WA Department of Natural resources, WA Department of Fish & Wildlife

NW CASC-funded research on climate-resilient design for culvert and fish habitat restoration projects in Washington is part of a larger effort by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife that recently won a 2020 Climate Adaptation Leadership Award. This award from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies recognizes outstanding leadership to advance climate resilience of America’s natural resources and the many people, businesses and communities that depend on them.

The climate-resilient culverts project was initiated by Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to help inform Washington State’s current investments in repairing fish passage barriers that hinder the recovery of imperiled salmon stocks. It has grown into a partnership with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group through research funding through the NW CASC. The goal of this effort is to make projections of future climate-induced changes in stream flows and channel widths available to engineers designing culverts. This goal has been achieved through an online tool that enables engineers to obtain site-specific information for designing climate-adapted culverts.