Posted on by Shane Scott

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game Used Culvert Baffles to Expand Steelhead Habitat

The IDFG used genetic testing to evaluate the success of installing baffles in a culvert on the Potlatch River in the Clearwater Basin. The state installed baffles in a culvert in an effort to help anadromous steelhead access historic spawning habitat. Researchers used genetic monitoring to observe how in just two years the composition of salmonids above the culvert was moving from the resident rainbow trout to the ocean-going life history of steelhead. Steelhead were again able to access historic spawning habitat.

https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2021/07/genetic-test-steelhead-passage-success

FlexiBaffle baffles installed in culvert at Potlatch River, Idaho
Flexi Baffle – Culvert Baffle – Fish Baffle
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Shane Scott
Shane Scott is the principal of SSA Environmental, a Vancouver, Washington-based firm dedicated to protecting fish and other aquatic organisms at bridges, culverts, hydroelectric and diversion dams, municipal water systems, irrigation canals, and pump stations. He leads the development of FlexiBaffle, a flexible retrofit culvert baffle that restores fish-friendly passage (aquatic organism passage) inside existing culverts where a permanent cast-in-place baffle isn't practical. Shane works with state departments of transportation and resource agencies to bring practical, near-term fish-passage solutions to aging culvert infrastructure.
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