I am back from the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, WV. I went there to participate in a Rosgen Level III shortcourse on river assessment and monitoring.
The course is hosted at the NCTC by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). USFWS researchers and administrators from NCTC, Alaska, the Chesapeake Bay Field Office, Florida, and Washington DC, serve as field instructors for the course. The focus was on evaluating stream stability and sediment supply. Field sites were tributary to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, and provided excellent analoques for modified streams in Indiana.
Course participants came from 21 states and Canada, and included fluvial geomorphologists, engineers, and fisheries biologists (aka “fish squeezers”). It was a wonderful opportunity to learn and compare methods with a broad spectrum of river scientists. – Bob