Session Coordinator:
Eli Asarian, Riverbend Sciences

Overview:  Off-channel wetlands, ponds, and side channels provide slow water habitat where juvenile salmonids can find refuge during high winter flows. These refugia are particularly important to coho salmon. These slow water habitats can also offer rich invertebrate food resources, which in combination with reduced metabolic demand can result in high fish growth rates. Channelization, diking, and filling have caused widespread loss of such habitats. Restoring these critically important habitats is a currently a major focus of fisheries restoration, with techniques including reconnection of existing (but disconnected) ponds/wetlands, excavation of new ponds, and construction of channel-spanning structures such as large wood and beaver-dam analogs. Natural forces contributing to formation, maintenance, and complexity of slow water habitats include large wood, beavers, and channel migration. In addition to building dams, beavers can also promote cover and habitat complexity by digging tunnels into streambanks and bringing wood into the water including in side channels and backwaters. This session will feature presentations focusing on the lessons learned from experiences creating off-channel ponds/wetlands but will also include research on the ecology of slow water habitats.

Creating Off-Channel Coho Rearing Habitat in the Middle Klamath River Sub-basin: A Status Review of Constructed Projects (2010-2015)
Will Harling, Mid Klamath Watershed Council

The Influence of Habitat Characteristics on Juvenile Coho Salmon Abundance and Growth in Constructed Off-Channel Habitats in the Middle Klamath River Sub-basin
Michelle Krall, Humboldt State University

Fast Life In The Slow Lane - Or How Flooding Facilitates The Floodplain Fatty Feeding Frenzy
Jacob Katz, Ph.D., California Trout

Physical and Biological Monitoring of Beaver Dam Analogs in the Scott River Watershed
Erich Yokel, Scott River Watershed Council

The Role Beavers Have in Creating Salmonid Rearing Habitats in Coastal California Streams Lacking Perennial Beaver Dams
Marisa Parish, Humboldt State University and Smith River Alliance, and Justin Garwood, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Slowing Down Fast Traffic: Adapting a Levee System Built For Speed to Provide a Bit of Comfort (and a Fatty Feeding Frenzy)
Eric Ginney, Environmental Science Associates (ESA)