Wisconsin's Role in Great Lakes Restoration - American Water ...

Prioritizing Barrier Removal and Restoring Stream Connectivity in the Pensaukee-Duck
Watershed
Jeffrey T. Maxted, The Cadmus Group, Madison, WI, jeff.maxted@cadmusgroup.com
Matthew W. Diebel, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI,
matthew.diebel@wisconsin.gov
Andrew Somor, The Cadmus Group, Madison, WI, andrew.somor@cadmusgroup.com
Restoring access to spawning habitat is an important aspect of protecting and restoring
populations of migratory and stream-resident species in the Lake Michigan basin. Human
alteration of the natural hydrologic network, including the installation of dams and culverts,
can disrupt the stream network and cut off access to suitable habitat. Recently, efforts to
reverse the effects of these alterations have increased, resulting in a growing need for
connectivity restoration guidance. The overall objective of this project is to guide the
restoration of surface water connectivity by identifying the most significant migratory and
resident fish barriers in the Pensaukee-Duck watershed.
This project is using established GIS-based analytical approaches to value barrier removal on
both the amount and quality of reconnected habitat. The results of this project will include a
map of habitat suitability and accessibility for northern pike and stream-resident species
(brook trout, or a different species to be determined), and round goby (an invasive species)
and a list of barriers ranked on connectivity effect. The benefit of removing a barrier will be
determined by balancing potential benefits to pike and other native species with potential
spread of the invasive goby. These products will provide a quantitative basis for prioritizing
barrier removal and tracking the progress of connectivity restoration.
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