Molly Payne Wynne

More Information Helps Fish (and Fish Lovers Like Me)

October 28, 2020

Those who know me, know I love fish. If I had a tattoo, it would be of a fish. I'm fascinated by the many species in Maine that endure heroic journeys to complete the cycle of life. Wild brook trout, endangered Atlantic salmon, and ten other native species take part in an amazing annual migration from the ocean waters of the Gulf of Maine to freshwater rivers, streams and ponds to lay their eggs. Sadly, there are many obstacles in their path, and this hinders their ability to reproduce. 

As they make their impressive migrations up and down-stream, these fish are destined to encounter many of Maine’s 26,000 road-stream crossings, and almost 1,000 dams. We humans drive over these crossings every day without giving them a thought—but nearly half of all road-stream crossings in the state are currently barriers to fish passage. Often the problem is undersized culvert pipes which restrict water flow and prevent streams from functioning as nature intended. As a result, many of these problem crossings are also at risk of failure in a 25-year flood event, ultimately leaving people unable to pass, too.

What resulted is the nation’s–and quite possibly the world’s–most comprehensive inventory of road-stream crossings. But gathering information is just a start. How can we use it to make conservation decisions? That's where a new tool developed by TNC with funding from the Natural Resource Conservation Service comes in.

The Maine Statewide Barrier Prioritization Tool (SBPT) is a web-based mapping tool that takes the survey data from the field along with other fisheries and habitat data, identifies which crossings act as barriers, and ultimately provides an assessment of the potential ecological benefit that could be realized by upgrading or removing them. The tool helps users understand the physical and ecological context of each barrier– which can be used in concert with other relevant data (such as economic factors or municipal support) to help decision makers identify the most ecologically beneficial projects.

This new tool was developed by my colleague Erik Martin and is an expansion of work for the Penobscot River and other TNC projects in the Northeast and Chesapeake Bay area. Importantly, Federal, State, Tribal, academic and restoration experts provided critical advice throughout development. Once again, it takes many partners working together to make a real difference!

To many of us working on river restoration, managing limited funds and staff, it is critical that we be more strategic about investing resources to have more focused impacts. When faced with over 12,000 problem crossings, this new tool gives us a great place to start.

I love fish and work every day to help them thrive in Maine. The addition of SBPT to our river restoration toolkit is another big step toward realizing that goal.