In early February, CRA was back out on the Little Manistee River to install additional instream habitat. Joined by CRA’s partners Kanouse Outdoor Restoration and InterFluve, we were able to get some great work done while the ground was still frozen.Winter conditions made it a bit easier and lighter on the land to get equipment to the project sites. Large trees had been staged earlier in the year and we were able to use dead-standing ash to create instream habitat.
The ability to utilize large diameter mature trees means we are able to more closely mimic what nature would naturally do. The habitat structures were built based on a design to replicate as closely as possible a natural accumulation of habitat while at the same time providing for navigation of recreational paddlers.
We plan to be back at work on the Little Manistee during the summer of 2016. A hand crew will install instream habitat in a stretch of river inaccessible to heavy equipment. Additional work at the site includes a third electrofishing survey through a representative section of the project area to gather data on changes in fish species and size class composition as well as both young of the year and adult use of the wood.
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