Ongoing work of
the Reservoir
Fisheries Habitat
Partnership
Presented by
Rebecca M. Krogman
Lake Red Rock, Iowa
Acknowledgments

L. E. (Steve) Miranda

Mississippi Cooperative Fish
and Wildlife Research Unit
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RFHP Science & Data
Committee Chair, Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife
Conservation
W. Reed Green
USGS Arkansas Water
Science Center
Kirk Rodgers
Jeff Boxrucker

Mike Armstrong
RFHP Executive Committee
Ph.D. Student, University of
Arkansas – Pine Bluff
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Funding provided by
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service

Cecilia Lewis
RFHP Coordinator
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John Taylor
Karl Hess
Gary Whelan
Many, many others
Goals of RFHP
• Fish habitat
• Develop
partnerships
• Education and
outreach
Top Priority of
RFHP
Establish baseline
data for reservoirs
nationwide
Study Objective
To classify
reservoirs based
on impairment
within a geospatial
framework
Reservoirs are…
Artificial
 Nationwide
 Highly useful and
widely utilized

Folsom Dam, California
Impaired!
Urbanization
Physiography
Riparian inputs
Sedimentation
Non-native
species
Effluents
Lack of
macrophytes
Eutrophication
Water
fluctuation
Contaminants
Goals of RFHP
• Fish habitat
• Develop
partnerships
• Education and
outreach
Top Priority of
RFHP
Establish baseline
data for reservoirs
nationwide
Approach
1. Impairment metrics
2. Environmental descriptors
Study Objective
To classify
reservoirs based
on impairment
within a geospatial
framework
Impairment Metrics
L. E. (Steve) Miranda
Rebecca M. Krogman
Hydrilla in Lake Conroe, TX
Background
Fish Habitat Degradation in U.S. Reservoirs, Fisheries
(Miranda et al. 2010)
 An index of reservoir habitat impairment, Environmental
Monitoring & Assessment (Miranda and Hunt)
Impairment Metrics
Miranda and Krogman
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Eutrophication
Structural
habitat
Siltation
Water regime
Aquatic plants
Survey Methods: Design
Water
regime
Eutrophication
Structural
habitat
Siltation
Aquatic
plants
Fish
Community
Fishery
Tailwater
Survey Methods: Design
~100 variables
 Scope
Impairment Metrics
Miranda and Krogman
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◦ Reservoirs >250 acres
◦ Conterminous U.S.
Potentially 4,331 data
points
 Sent to reservoir
fishery scientists

Impairment Metrics
Miranda and Krogman
Survey Methods: Distribution
Survey Methods: Design
# of
Questions
Impairment Metrics
Miranda and Krogman
Section
Other
Question
Types
Scale
Habitat availability
20
-
Water quality
16
-
Water regime
9
Processes
7
Open-ended
Fish community
11
-
Fishery
14
Tailwater
16
6-pt Likert
1
-
-
3
Tailwater fishery
6-pt Likert
-
5-pt Likert
6
Scale
0
1
2
3
4
5
5-point
-
Low
Below Average
Average
Above Average
High
6-point
None
Low
Low to Moderate
Moderate
Moderate to High
High
Survey Methods: Design
Impairment Metrics
Miranda and Krogman
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Qualified scientists
with direct
experience
Exclusion of
unfamiliar reservoirs
Analysis of responses
by experience
Definitions
Other examples
Iowa DNR hard at work on Pool 13,
Mississippi River
Pilot Survey: Oklahoma
Impairment Metrics
Miranda and Krogman
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Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife
Conservation
96 reservoirs
ReservoirResearch.org
Environmental Descriptors
Dr. W. Reed Green
Kirk Rodgers
Major land
use patterns
Data Availability
Environmental Descriptors
Green and Rodgers

Eight-state Classification/Metrics
◦ Arkansas, California, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,
North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas

Initial investigation of the appropriate
environmental metrics to gather
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Impoundment date
Watershed characteristics
Reservoir dimensions
Water quality measurements
Datasets
Spatially Referenced
Regression on
Watershed
Attributes
(SPARROW)
 National Inventory of
Dams (NID)
Environmental Descriptors
Green and Rodgers

National
Hydrography Dataset
(NHD+)
 Geographic Names
Information System
 Reservoir
Sedimentation
Survey Information
System (RESIS)

Database Fields

Environmental Descriptors
Green and Rodgers
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State
Dam Name
State Id
NIDID
Longitude
Latitude
Section
Count
River
City
Distance to Nearest City
Owner Name
Owner Type
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Dam Design
Private or Public
Core
Foundation
Purpose
Year completed
Year modified
Dam length
Dam height
Structural height
Elevation
Hydraulic head/Maximum
depth
NID Height
Not all fields will be used in metric analysis
Database Fields (cont.)

Environmental Descriptors
Green and Rodgers
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Other Structure ID
Condition Assessment Detail
State Regulatory Agency
Federal Agency Involvement
in Funding
Federal Agency Involvement
in Design
Federal Agency Involvement
in Construction
Federal Agency Involvement
in Regulatory
Federal Agency Involvement
in Inspection
Federal Agency Involvement
in Operation
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Federal Agency Owner
Federal Agency InvolvementOther
Source Agency
Date Submitted
Congressperson Name
Party
Congressional District
Reachcode
Measure
Source Origin
Source Data
GNIS ID
Shoreline Development
Sedimentation (% of original
volume) if available
Not all fields will be used in metric analysis
Database Fields (cont.)

Environmental Descriptors
Green and Rodgers
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Normal Discharge
Maximum Discharge
Normal Storage/Volume
NID Storage/Volume
Surface Area
Drainage Area
Relative Depth
Mean Depth
Development of Volume
Index of Basin Permanence
Maximum Length/Fetch
Mean Width
Maximum Width
Residency Time/Flushing Rate
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Downstream Hazard
Potential
Emergency Action Plan
Inspection Date
Inspection Frequency
State Regulated Dam
State Regulatory Agency
Spillway Type
Spillway Width
Outlet Gates
Volume of Dam (Cubic Yards)
Number of Locks
Length of Locks (Feet)
Lock width
Not all fields will be used in metric analysis
Environmental
Descriptors
New Database for the Southeast
Once satisfied with results, expand to the
entire lower 48 states.
Data Analysis


Integration of Green
and Rodgers’ work,
and Miranda and
Assessment of
impairment
Krogman’s work
Environmental
descriptors
Geospatial
context
Techniques
◦
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Cluster analysis
Geospatial analysis
Discriminant analysis
Canonical correlation
analysis
Classification
Potential Applications
Make quantitative
comparisons among
reservoirs
 Understand geospatial
relationships
 Guide the decisionmaking process

Fishing below J.T. Meyers Dam
Questions
or
comments?
Hoover Dam