Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference 2018

AUTHORS. Drew Holloway, Muncie Sanitary District Bureau of Water Quality; Jason Doll, Post-Doctoral Research Associate Quantitative Fisheries Center Michigan State University; Luke Etchison, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

ABSTRACT. Lowhead dams alter flow and sediment regimes, which can cause adverse effects on the biological community of a stream. These changes in habitat can influence the presence and abundance of some fish species. This study evaluates temporal variation in substrate composition above two dams scheduled for removal. During the fall of 2012 and 2017, the Bureau of Water Quality used a canoe mounted Hummingbird 898c SI depth finder to map the substrate of the West Fork of White River throughout Muncie, IN. The captured side images were transferred to a PC and analyzed using ArcGIS to determine substrate composition. Our results will be used to document not only the changes seen from 2012 to 2017 but also document the improvements to the substrate found in each of the dam’s impoundment zone following their removal.