Dr. Orth,
I have enjoyed this semester very much. I liked your approach to teaching the subject of stream habitat management. I don't always learn when I am in a class that consists of boring lectures and tests with specifics that I only remember for the short term. I can truthfully say that leaving your class I have knowledge that will remain with me throughout my career. I liked the fact that there were many types of assignments that allowed me to learn from different angles. I filled out the background knowledge sheet you provided us before and after the semester and can honestly say that I improved on almost every concept, principle or descriptor. The rhetorical precis and reflective analysis helped me to be better prepared for class as I had to read the papers in detail. They are also nice in that I will always have them to jog my memory about papers I have already read and can quickly review the main points for future research needs. The blog was fun, as I had never done anything like it before. It was a good learning tool as I was able to read other people's posts and apply it to what we were doing in class. I also liked the discussions, as I was able to critically think about the issues and share my opinion. I also learned a lot seeing it from other people's points of view. Lastly, I liked developing the principles, because it made me step back and think of everything involved in this science. It helped me think of the principles from scientific, stakeholder, legislative, and the animals' points of view.
The parts I enjoyed the most were hands on. I enjoyed the fields trips to the New River and Stoney creek, as well as my group excursion to Crab creek. I wish there were more! I know we are graduate level students, and don't need anyone to hold our hands. But with busy lives and other classes, it is hard to remember you need to get out and kick around and learn something on your own without someone assigning it. I thought it would be helpful to assign groups and specifically require one or two trips with a short report for homework to get us outside. I think I would have learned more in a situation like this.I liked looking at the broad view of what we were learning this semester and trying to apply it when I was doing field work. Although our group didn't finish the Stoney creek lab, it was great to see how important planning can be when trying to get field work done. Managing people is as big a part of the job as trying to rehabilitate the reach of stream one is giving. It was also humbling to think of how much money and time went into a project like the one on Stoney creek. I was also able to put into perspective how important monitoring is at a site like that one. The New River trip helped me think more about the various requirements for fish. Every fish has its own niche. Therefore, managers need to remember to think outside the box when approaching a task like providing habitat for the entire fish community. Also, I was able to think about the fact that fish use certain habitats parts of the time and other habitats at other times. This would mean it is necessary to study the entire life history of a species of concern and provide multiple habitats for their existence. The Crab creek survey helped me understand how to gather information and analyze it on a reach of stream. There were more aspects we could have tried to study, but we all felt comfortable knowing how to gather them. The trip also helped me to step back and just look at an altered stream and notice little things that could be done to make a big difference for the aquatic life. Some of these things were habitat structures in the channel and riparian buffer strips, as well as vegetation on the banks to provide shade.
I liked how we looked at overall concepts for approaching stream habitat management as opposed to specifics all of the time. I learned having a guiding image is one of the most important factors approaching any stream habitat rehabilitation project. Having goals, and then doing work and monitoring aspects of the stream to know if one has met those goals, is one of the most important things to remember. Also, having a multi-disciplinary approach is important. I am a biologist. I am not an engineer. Having some background knowledge is essential as far as hydro-engineering is concerned, but it is okay to step back and let a professional help when approaching alterations of stream reach. However, it is okay for me to step in and give my two cents to engineers about biological requirements of the animal communities. By working together we can all get much more done, as well as get more done in a shorter amount of time. I learned biological indicators are good ways to monitor rehabilitation projects. Fish, macroinvertebrates, plants and primary producers all tell the true tail of how well projects are working at taking a stream back to past unaltered states. The communities of animals evolved in unaltered streams, therefore providing information on how rehabilitated a reach may be. I very much like thinking about issues from an ecosystem point of view. Everything biologically is interconnected and not always obvious to the general bystander. I learned that hydrology is of course very important when approaching stream restoration. Having a background now in how to properly assess a stream will undoubtedly help in planning goals and figuring out remedies for altered reaches. I also liked to look at real life scenarios. This was the number one best way for me to understand the concepts in class. It showed the problem managers were faced with, how they approached tackling it, techniques to fix the problem, and monitoring results for how well it worked. I like case study examples very much and think this course could be even more helpful with more of these.
Thanks for an enjoyable semester. I hope I can use some of my knowledge in the future and hopefully apply it toward mussel and stream fish work. Hopefully we can turn around some of these populations in decline during my career.
Cheers,
Tim Lane
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