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Evaluating The Utility Of Beaver Reintroduction Programs For Enhancing Habitat For Rainbow Trout And Steelhead, Jonathan Rodger Hegna
Evaluating The Utility Of Beaver Reintroduction Programs For Enhancing Habitat For Rainbow Trout And Steelhead, Jonathan Rodger Hegna
All Master's Theses
Beaver reintroduction programs are increasingly being viewed as a way to enhance salmonid habitat and production. However, the actual effectiveness of using beavers as a habitat enhancement tool for ESA listed steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss populations is unknown. We examined the type of habitat, at both the microhabitat and mesohabitat levels, preferred by steelhead in three small streams in the upper Yakima Basin, WA through standard snorkel surveys and habitat measurements. Our results suggest that steelhead in small streams strongly prefer (relative to availability) microhabitats that have deeper water(> 30 cm), slow stream velocities(< 0 .05 mis), and complex cover types. Habitat partitioning among the size-classes (small< 50 mm, medium 50-90 mm, large> 90 mm total length, TL) principally operated …