Fish Habitat Retrofit Program

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Washington Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) fish habitat retrofit program has been established to address impairments to fish habitat associated with the state's transportation infrastructure. There are two components to our overall program: (1) removing fish passage barriers, and (2) retrofitting chronic environmental deficiencies. Each of these program elements is discussed in greater detail below.

WSDOT's fish habitat retrofit program consists of a dedicated group of three full-time staff positions, which includes a program manager/ecologist, a fish passage coordinator, and a hydrologist. This group works closely with and relies heavily on staff from the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife and others at WSDOT to accomplishing the fish habitat retrofit program mission.

Access to good quality habitat is a key component to the recovery of listed salmon stocks. Since 1991, WSDOT has managed a program to inventory and correct highway culverts that block fish passage. Common factors in older culverts that create barriers to fish passage include high water velocity, inadequate water depth, and large culvert outfall drops. Once these problem culverts are corrected, the benefits to fish habitat are real and immediate – in many cases fish have been observed upstream of improved culverts within weeks of restoring access.

How are barriers to fish passage identified?

Fish barriers on WSDOT highways were first surveyed and inventoried beginning in 1991 under a cooperative program with the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW). Two stream criteria changes were adopted by WDFW in 1995 and 1998. The more stringent criteria have led to additional survey and evaluation work that has not yet been completed.  Both WSDOT and WDFW jointly manage a statewide database for this inventory.

How does WSDOT fund the removal of barriers?

WSDOT culvert barriers are corrected in the course of highway projects, during routine maintenance, or through a special retrofit program funded expressly by the legislature. Projects are prioritized so that the culvert barriers corrected first are those that promise to yield the greatest habitat benefits.

What has been accomplished so far?

WSDOT has spent more than $24 million since 1991to inventory, conduct habitat studies, prioritize, and correct fish passage barriers to Washington streams as of May 2004. Under this program, more than 1,679,610 square meters of salmonid habitat, or, over 630 linear kilometers (391 miles) has been reclaimed. As of March 2005, WDFW has identified 882 fish passage barriers to be fixed and WSDOT has removed approximately 142 of these barriers to fish passage.

WSDOT has developed and funded a research strategy to improve our understanding of how road crossings can become barriers to fish and the best approaches to correcting barriers. Topics for research focus include the hydraulic conditions in culverts for various flows and design configurations, as well as ecological questions relating to the behavior of juvenile salmonids . The WSDOT research provides a scientific foundation for the fish passage program as we seek cost effective and ecologically sound solutions.

Chronic environmental deficiencies (CED) are locations along the state highway system where recent, frequent, and chronic maintenance and/or repairs to the state transportation infrastructure are causing impacts to fish and/or fish habitat. In 2002, WSDOT established a collaborative process with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) to move away from the repetitive repair of infrastructure and instead, concentrate on long-term solutions that will optimize the improvements for fish and fish habitat, while also addressing transportation infrastructure needs.

How does WSDOT eliminate chronic environmental deficiencies?

The process begins when sites are “nominated” by either WSDOT or WDFW staff. Either agency can propose a site by completing and submitting a CED nomination sheet. Upon submittal, each nomination is screened to determine if the site meet the program's criteria. To qualify three factors must be present: (1) adverse habitat conditions are associated with repetitive repairs to WSDOT infrastructure, (2) the infrastructure at the site has a recent history of maintenance actions, and (3) the infrastructure has a frequent interval of repair and or maintenance actions. Those projects meeting the criteria are all added to the list of CED sites. For each site, WSDOT conducts either a reach or site analysis that evaluates and identifies the hydrologic mechanisms for failure and develops a conceptual design solution. In 2005, WDFW developed a prioritization methodology which provides a scientifically based prioritization scheme prescribe the order of CED correction.

How does WSDOT fund retrofit projects?

There are several ways in which CED retrofit efforts are funded, including: (1) through a special retrofit program funded expressly by the Washington State Legislature, (2) relief to correct a natural disaster, and (3) in the course of highway projects. WSDOT utilizes each of these funding sources to optimize the number of chronic environmental deficiency problems it can address.

What has been accomplished so far?

Related Publications and Links

• Governor's Salmon Recovery Office
• WDFW Fish Passage Design at Road Culverts
• WDFW Fish Barrier Assessment and Prioritization Manual
• Integrated Streambank Protection Guidelines (ISPG)

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