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  3. USGS Hydrologic Support to Prevent Interbasin Transfer of Asian Carp at an intermittent connection of the Wabash and Lake Erie basins at Eagle Marsh, Indiana

USGS Hydrologic Support to Prevent Interbasin Transfer of Asian Carp at an intermittent connection of the Wabash and Lake Erie basins at Eagle Marsh, Indiana

Summary

Description of Work The USGS measures water levels at the adult Asian Carp barrier fence in Eagle Marsh and reports those data hourly to a USGS website. The barrier fence is an 8 foot tall, nearly 1,200 foot chain link fence across a part of Eagle Marsh. When flooding raises water levels at the fence, alerts are sent to State and local biologists and resource staff who respond and inspect the fence line for adult Asian Carp and debris accumulation. The USGS also measures streamflow and water temperature at two sites downstream from Eagle Marsh to evaluate how precipitation in area watersheds causes streamflow and water levels to increase and how temporary changes in flow directions downstream on Graham McCulloch Ditch and Junk Ditch [...]

Contacts

Principal Investigator :
Paul M Buszka
Associate Project Chief :
Sandra Morrison
Lead Organization :
Indiana Water Science Center

Attached Files

Purpose

Eagle Marsh has been classified as a high risk pathway for Asian Carp migration from the Wabash River to Lake Erie. Adult bighead carp have been confirmed in the Wabash River basin for at least 15 years. The Wabash River basin connects with the Maumee River basin (Lake Erie basin) through a former glacial channel at Eagle Marsh in northeast Indiana during floods that occur after heavy rains and snowmelt. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Little River Wetland Project and Federal partners built a temporary adult carp barrier fence across a part of Eagle Marsh in 2010 to prevent movement of adult Asian Carp into the St. Mary’s and Maumee Rivers from the Wabash River when Eagle Marsh floods. Real-time alerts of water levels were needed to indicate flooding conditions so that fence inspections could take place, identifying the presence or absence of adult Asian Carp in Eagle Marsh. Real-time information about water levels, streamflow directions and water temperatures was also needed in waterways that connect Eagle Marsh with the Wabash and Maumee River basins. This information is essential to designing permanent Asian Carp barriers that preserve use of the marsh as habitat and local flood relief, but prevent the expansion of this invasive species.

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  • Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

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