Using Fish and Macroinvertebrate Habitat Associations to Better Understand Stream Restoration Success, an Adaptation of USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAAWQA) Habitat Protocol
Bethany Mulhall
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Kentucky Wetland and Stream Mitigation Program
Frankfort, KY
Authors: Jessica Massure and Bethany Mulhall
The Kentucky Habitat Association Assessment of Restored Streams (KAARST) was adapted from U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) protocol to determine success of stream restoration projects via fish and macroinvertebrate community response. Historically, the Kentucky Index of Biotic Integrity (KIBI) for both fish and macroinvertebrates were used to quantitatively determine ecological response post-restoration. This tool, while rapid, literature and professional judgment has shown that it is too coarse to truly determine fish and macroinvertebrate response to restoration. This tool allows practitioners rapid and efficient assessment of large portions of stream quality. The KAARST protocol builds off the IBI methods and includes a multitude of variables including riparian vegetation, land use, instream cover types, microhabitat type and spacing, water depth and velocities, sediment type, bankfull area, floodplain connectivity, water surface slope, and others. These metrics are measured at the either the reach or transect level, and then correlated to fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages at both levels.
In 2018, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife (KDFWR) Stream and Wetland Mitigation Fee-in-lieu of (FILO) Program had approximately 40 projects across Kentucky approved for restoration. Twenty-two of them have perennial components, of those, we prioritized sites scheduled for restoration within the next 0-3 years. This pilot study began with seven pre-restoration sites in 2019. Preliminary results reveal associations of species to unrestored stream characteristics, and landscape scale variables. Additional seasonal collection efforts can elucidate the relationship between species preferences to habitat types. The addition of post restoration samples may allow for determining which constructed structures are associated with fish and macroinvertebrate guilds, or even to the species level. Future direction of the study includes, addition of more pre-restoration sites, sampling post-restoration sites, increasing the range of drainage areas and ecoregions sampled. Implications of successful implementation of KAARST will potentially allow practitioners to glean more precise instream biological response to restoration.
About Bethany Mulhall
Mrs. Bethany Mulhall has been with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ (KDFWR) Wetland and Stream Mitigation Program for 11 years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Bellarmine University (Louisville, KY) and a Master of Science in Biology/Applied Ecology from Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, KY).
Bethany’s experience has ranged from monitoring fish passage using GIS mapping, mark-recapture and PIT tagging techniques in remote streams of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Southeastern Kentucky to project manager of mitigation projects for the Kentucky Wetland and Stream Mitigation Program. She has a wealth of experience in aquatic and terrestrial biological surveys, permitting, compliance reporting, contract management, easement monitoring and enforcement, and long-term management of mitigation projects. She has been integrally involved in all aspects of stream and wetland mitigation having worked on programmatic agreements, conceptual design plans for numerous projects, and troubleshooting corrective actions on completed mitigation projects. In her current position she serves as monitoring and maintenance coordinator for the program where she oversees 40+ stream and wetland mitigation projects statewide. She is currently working on modified sampling methods of biological responses to restoration which will be used to make improvements to implementation, management and monitoring of revegetation efforts at restoration sites.
Bethany enjoys her time spent in streams and wetlands across the beautiful state of Kentucky with her co-workers. In her free time, she enjoys time with her family, rock hounding, stream wading, fishing, and kayaking.