Author: editor

Construction crews with the Washington State Department of Transportation are often called upon to execute unusual tasks within their road building and maintenance activities – and that can include “going fishing” as part of stream realignment efforts.

[Above photo by WSDOT]

The agency noted in a recent blog post that a good portion of its transportation infrastructure work involves streams and wetlands, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where roads, streams, and wetlands often intersect.

For example, WSDOT pointed to the SR 167 Completion Project in Pierce County – located in an area where I-5 crosses over Hylebos Creek at the Fife curve, with tributaries and wetlands on either side of the freeway. As a result, WSDOT construction crews made changes so the freeway, creek, and wetlands can co-exist in harmony – work that included a wetland and stream restoration project, revitalizing almost 150 acres of land on either side of I-5 near the Fife curve.

[Editor’s note: The Federal Highway Administration recently issued $196 million to 59 tribal, state, and local governments to help fix or remove 169 culvert barriers to improve fish passage. The agency said outdated culverts and other related infrastructure can cause roads to flood and severely restrict or altogether block fish passage.]

As part of that restoration effort, in mid-July, WSDOT crews removed fish from Hylebos Creek so they could rebuild and realign a 2,200-foot section of the stream by mid-September. Crews carefully removed fish from the stream’s work zone and relocated them another area of the creek where they won’t be affected by construction work – a process technically known as “de-fishing,” the agency explained.

WSDOT noted its crews are only allowed to step foot or put equipment into a stream during a designated “fish window,” which is often mid-summer to early fall, depending on the stream, when the fewest number of fish are generally present.

The agency stressed that its crews are not “fishing” in the traditional sense when conducting such “de-fishing” operations. They set up and secure fine-meshed netting, dragging it in the water to encourage fish to naturally swim downstream away from the construction area – basically “shooing” them out of the area – as it is less stressful for the fish if they can swim away on their own. The crews will then secure another fine-meshed net in the stream to block off the area they just waded through so the fish do not return to the just-cleared area.

WSDOT noted that any fish stragglers trapped between the two secured nets are removed first by “seining passes” followed by “electro-fishing,” whereby a very small electrical charge in the water temporarily stuns the remaining fish so they can be gently scooped up in nets by trained fish handlers. WSDOT noted that crews keep moving downstream, repeating this entire process, until all the fish are caught and relocated safely from the construction area.

A recent video posted by the Georgia Department of Transportation details how the agency is helping “rejuvenate” a rare species of vegetation commonly known as the “​Pitcher Plant” along State Route 177 on the way to Okefenokee Swamp Park by using “prescribed burns.”

[Above photo by Georgia DOT]

The closely monitored burn occurred in 2022 during the winter on roadside right-of-way and mimics nature’s own cycle of rejuvenation. It’s also the first time Georgia DOT has used a prescribed burn to manage vegetation in this way.

The agency noted that such prescribed burns are conducted under strict safety regulations and in partnership with the Georgia Forestry Commission and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The Georgia DOT added in a blog post that the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Sou​theast Georgia is a vast, mysterious wilderness of bogs, forests and swampy prairies, home to wild species that evoke fauna and flora of primeval times. Rare carnivorous plants like the Sarracenia, or “Pitcher Plant,” entrap insects and use digestive enzymes to dissolve prey.

[Editor’s note: A 2021 episode of the Environmental Technical Assistance Program or ETAP Podcast featured Matthew Quirey – a  landscape design and research fellow with The Ray – discussing how roadside landscapes, more often termed the “right-of-way,” are now being viewed as “habitat assets” instead of maintenance burdens among state departments of transportation.]

Okefenokee – a 438,000-acre wetland that is the largest blackwater wetland in North America – draws around 100,000 visitors from around the globe each year.

To reach its entrance, visitors must travel along a four-mile stretch of SR 177 that is becoming a Georgia DOT living laboratory for innovative vegetative management practices designed to protect plants in the environmentally sensitive area while simultaneously ensuring public safety.

The agency has been involved in a number of plant and pollinator support efforts in recent years.

For example, in 2021, Georgia DOT the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts or GACD installed 15 pollinator habitat sites in designated locations as part of a joint effort to educate state residents about the important role “pollinators” such as bees, butterflies, and other insects play in Georgia’s agricultural sector.