2015 Short Courses

Short Courses

UMSRS will offer the following pre-symposium short-courses to conference attendees. Please register for the short course when you register for the main symposium here.  

1. Riparian Restoration Workshop: Developing Plans for Vegetation and Vegetation Management - Sunday, February 8th, 2015; 1 pm to 5 pm

Instructors: Mimi Wagner, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Iowa State University; Dan Shaw, Vegetation Specialist/Landscape Ecologist, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources; and Chris Seeger, Extension Specialist in Landscape Architecture and Geospatial Technology and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Iowa State University.

Length:            Half day ($100)

Prerequisites:    None

The riparian landscape is dynamic and complex. Restoration efforts can be challenged by flood waters, deposition, flood scour and invasive species. Our session brings together riparian restoration experiences from six locations in Iowa, specifically in near channel areas where flood inundation and disturbance are most likely to occur. These experiences and methods we present are easily transferable within the Upper Midwest region. During the workshop we will work through together several technical methods for assessing riparian condition and developing plant community lists. The latest in riparian invasive species management, both herbaceous and woody, will be included. Lastly, recent innovations in smartphone technology for sub-meter accuracy gps mapping will also be demonstrated.

Materials that attendees need to bring:  Laptops with MS Access (if possible)

2. Fish Passage Invetory and Assessment - Sunday, February 8th, 2015; 8 am to 2 pm

Instructors:     Bob Gubernick and Dale Higgins, USDA Forest Service

Length:           SIX HOURS ($120)

Prerequisites:  None

Materials needed: Computer with FishXing software loaded - you can download it at http://www.stream.fs.fed.us/fishxing/download.html

The workshop is designed to provide students with computational hydrology methods to develop fish passage design flows, understand the required field measurements for modeling fish passage assessment, develop coarse screens for rapid assessment and conduct fish passage assessment based on at station hydraulics of the road crossing structure. Students will use fishXing for a class assessment example.