Browsing by Author "Plymesser, Katey"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Attraction, Entrance, and Passage Efficiency of Arctic Grayling, Trout, and Suckers at Denil Fishways in the Big Hole River Basin, Montana
(Wiley, 2022-07) Triano, Ben; Kappenman, Kevin M.; McMahon, Thomas E.; Blank, Matt; Heim, Kurt C.; Parker, Albert E.; Zale, Alexander V.; Platt, Nolan; Plymesser, Katey
The Big Hole River basin in southwestern Montana supports the only indigenous, self-sustaining fluvial population of Arctic Grayling Thymallus arcticus in the conterminous United States, but the basin is fragmented by numerous low-head irrigation diversion dams. Denil fishways at 63 diversion dams provide Arctic Grayling and other fishes opportunities for year-round access to critical habitats; however, their efficiency has not been evaluated. We quantified attraction, entrance, and passage for hatchery-reared Arctic Grayling, wild trout (Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis and Brown Trout Salmo trutta), and wild suckers (White Sucker Catostomus commersonii and Longnose Sucker C. catostomus) during 14 field trials conducted at six Denil fishways over a representative range of fishway slopes and hydraulic conditions using passive integrated transponder telemetry. Attraction (60.4–84.3%) and entrance (44.3–78.6%) efficiencies were variable across test conditions and reduced overall fishway efficiencies (19.1–55.8%). In contrast, upon entry, passage efficiencies were high (96.2–97.0%) for all taxa across all test conditions. Attraction of hatchery-reared Arctic Grayling increased with upstream depth (a surrogate for fishway discharge) and attraction flow, but attraction of wild fish was less affected by these conditions. Entrance of Arctic Grayling, Brook Trout, and Brown Trout decreased with upstream depth and fishway slope, especially when plunging entrance conditions associated with shallow downstream depths were present. However, entrance of Arctic Grayling and both trout species increased with downstream depth, and submerged fishway entrances demonstrated promise for increasing entrance efficiency at fishways with high discharges and steep slopes. We demonstrate that comprehensive evaluations of fishway efficiency components can identify specific solutions that improve fishway efficiency; application of these engineering solutions at individual fishways (as needed) could improve their efficiency and further enhance aquatic connectivity for fishes in the Big Hole River basin and elsewhere.
Hydraulic Analysis at the Interface of the Yellowstone River and the Huntley, Montana Irrigation Diversion Fish Bypass
(Montana State University, 2021-11) Johnson, Andrew; Cahoon, Joel; Zale, Al; Plymesser, Katey; Blank, Matthew
The nature-like bypass channel built to allow fish to circumvent the Huntley Diversion Dam on the Yellowstone River was constructed in 2015. A project was commissioned in 2019 to determine the effectiveness of the bypass using hydraulic modeling and fish detection techniques. During the course of the study it was observed that there may be a localized zone of high water velocity at the interface between the upstream end of the bypass and the main channel of the river -an area just upstream of the low-head dam. The concern this raises is that some fish that successfully negotiate the bypass channel may be returned directly over the dam due a difficult hydraulic condition at the interface. That observation prompted a more focused hydraulic modeling exercise as reported herein. A detailed 2-D HEC-RAS model was developed to investigate the hydraulic conditions. The model predicts localized water velocities of up to 15 ft/sec. At low river flows there appears to be adequate pathways for fish to avoid this high velocity region, but as river flow increases so does the area in which the velocity is high. From these results it is likely that, during higher river flow periods, the bypass channel may be passable, but fish may struggle to re-enter the river channel successfully. Suggested physical alterations to the site to help overcome this range from the addition of large rip rap to rerouting the upstream end of the bypass channel. Acknowledgement