The 19th annual River Restoration Northwest symposium is this week in Stevenson, Washington. Representatives from Aspect’s Seattle, Wenatchee, and Portland offices are attending to cheer on presentations by two of our colleagues focused on removing fish passage barriers in the Pacific Northwest.
Senior GIS Analyst Robyn Pepin’s presentation “Data-Driven Decision Making: An Innovative Prioritization Tool for Restoration (and more!)” showcases the methodology behind the GIS-based tool she created in partnership with the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board that synthesizes and streamlines numerous data sets to prioritize what barriers are most need of removal in the Wenatchee Basin.
Spencer Ambauen is presenting his poster on the Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil-Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS). This bridge construction system is made from alternates layers of compacted structural fill soils and a mesh-like geosynthetic reinforcement that can be used in many subsurface and seismic conditions. For public agencies looking to replace hundreds of aging, undersized culverts and other structures hindering riparian habitat, GRS-IBS bridges are a less expensive option that are easier to construct and maintain. These bridges becoming more common across the east coast, but so far there have been only two constructed in Washington state. Spencer is well familiar with the GRS-IBS system; masters thesis involved numerical modeling to evaluate how these bridges behave under surcharge loading, and he completed design for an GRS-IBS bridge for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to enhance fish passage at Tolmie State Park near Olympia.
