Landscape-level stream fragmentation caused by hanging culverts along roads in Alberta’s boreal forest

Abstract

Hanging culverts (i.e., outfall elevated above the stream surface) can fragment fish communities in streams by creating upstream movement barriers. We conducted a retrospective study of culvert stream crossings along industrial roads in Alberta’s boreal forest to describe factors relating to the occurrence of hanging culverts and to quantify watershed fragmentation. One-half (50%; 187/374) of culverts surveyed in four watersheds during 2002 and 2003 were hanging. Logistic regression showed that the occurrence of a hanging culvert was positively and significantly related to culvert age and reach slope. We quantified fragmentation in the watersheds as the length-based percentage of stream reaches above hanging culverts. In three watersheds, stream fragmentation was approximately 5%, whereas one watershed showed 20% fragmentation. Extrapolating our results to Alberta’s entire boreal forest, we estimated that several thousand hanging culverts were fragmenting tens of thousands of kilometres of streams in 2003. These numbers are likely increasing as a result of continued road development and ageing culverts. We conclude that the traditional management approach of road builders and regulatory agencies has failed to prevent the development of hanging culverts and fragmentation of small boreal streams in Alberta. We provide recommendations for future study and management of this growing problem.