Recommendations for Aquatic Organism Passage at Maryland Road-Stream Crossings

Description

The Chesapeake Bay Program's Habitat Goal Implementation Team (GIT 2) funded the Fish Passage Workgroup to develop a set of recommendations to increase the number of fish-friendly culverts in Maryland. The resulting document is the product of discussions, stakeholder meetings and several rounds of edits by state, federal and non-governmental partners, and presents recommendations to promote stream continuity, aquatic organism passage and in some cases, terrestrial wildlife passage at new and replacement road-stream crossings in Maryland. It is meant to inform local conservation groups, city and county engineers, highway departments, resource agencies, and the general public on the importance of stream continuity to the health of Maryland streams.

Coastal Resources, Inc. completed a literature and grey literature review and coordinated the writing of the report. This living document may be updated as the Fish Passage Workgroup and its partners learn more about implementing road-stream crossing projects to allow fish and aquatic organism passage in Maryland. It can also be used as a template to guide the development of similar documents in other Chesapeake Bay states.