Cumulative Upstream-Downstream Habitats

Step Wise Guide

Aquatic/Riparian Habitats

· Calculate the cumulative length and quality of fish habitat upstream (or downstream) of any point in your river network, including all road crossings.

Sometimes it is important to know how much fish habitat is located upstream (or downstream) of particular locations within a river network. For example, one might want to know how much habitat, and of what quality, is located above every road crossing in a watershed. This could be used in restoration planning involving culvert replacements or road crossing removal.

Step 1: Go to NetMap Aquatic Habitat Tools > Upstream-Downstream Habitat. Choose a category such as “Aquatic Habitat” and then from the drop down list, choose a type of fish habitat, such as coho. Select “mean” that will calculate the mean habitat quality upstream or downstream of road segments or select “sum” that will calculate the total length of habitat upstream or downstream from each stream reach. Run the tool. Refer to Tech Help.

For road crossings specifically, Go To: NetMap Road Tools and select “Upstream-Downstream Habitat”. Make sure “Road Crossings Only” is checked in the lower left hand corner. The tool will calculate either the mean habitat quality or summed length above and or below each individual road crossing.