Measuring Success On-the-ground (and water) research evaluates our progress
Below the surface of Little Creek, lie a handful of large, saucer-shaped antennas. Fish tagged with microchips by researchers ping the sensors anytime they pass nearby. Each hit is a new data point that helps tell the story of a stream coming back to life. In 2022, Little Creek underwent a major restoration. A team of public and private partners worked with The Nature Conservancy to repair eroded banks near Dunn Ranch Prairie in northwest Missouri and build underwater ramps below culverts, allowing fish to swim through the passages. The project reconnected more than 5 miles of habitat for the first time in decades.
Construction is long finished. Willows planted as sticks along once-barren banks have filled in to form lush, leafy borders. The roots of new trees and grasses hold soil in place. Now, ongoing monitoring by University of Missouri researchers is helping assess the effect on fish populations in the prairie stream. Monitoring is important for TNC’s work on land and in the water. It can take on nearly endless forms: channel surveys, fish captures, water or soil sampling, acoustic recorders and even underwater antennas, to name a few. Rob Pulliam, TNC’s nature-based solutions coordinator in Missouri, says monitoring goes beyond recording
what actions were taken and helps illustrate why a project was done in the first place. “It’s not just acres, feet and miles of what we’ve done,” Pulliam says. “It’s getting to true outcomes.” Those outcomes might include the concentration of native plants after a prescribed fire, cleaner drinking water as a result of curbing chemical runoff from fields, or a greater variety of fish after opening a blocked passage. Whatever the goal of the effort, monitoring can help gauge its success. The lessons inform future projects. They also build the case for expanding
THIS PAGE Researchers sampled fish populations before and after work along Huzzah Creek. © Rob Pulliam/TNC
6 MISSOURI : ACTION AND IMPACT
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online