A STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY'S LEADERSHIP TO THE PUBLIC POLICY OF STREAM CROSSINGS: THE NEW HAMPSHIRE EXPERIENCE

In the mid-2000s, New Hampshire experienced several major floods, one of which led to a catastrophic culvert failure that took 7 lives in 2005. The cause was a culvert that had become plugged with material, eliminating its ability to transport water through it during an extreme rainfall. In 2008, the New Hampshire legislature created a flood study commission, and one final recommendation was the establishment of a multi-agency partnership to collect data on every stream crossing in the state to identify those most at-risk for failure, while also accounting for those that are fish passage impediments. From the beginning, the New Hampshire Geological Survey has provided the scientific and technical leadership for program implementation, supervision of data collection and its quality assurance, construction of the statewide database, and scoring of culverts for their compatibility with geomorphic processes and ability to pass aquatic organisms. Today, through the efforts of NHGS and other state entities, approximately 5600 stream crossings have been assessed, about 30% of the statewide total. As a result of close partnerships it has built in recent years, NHGS has been able to hire a total of 17 summer interns during the past 3 field seasons, which have greatly added to the state database. NHGS is now the primary state co-lead in New Hampshire’s stream crossing initiative, encompassing multiple state and non-governmental partners, as the state moves toward funding replacements of identified problem crossings, based on the collected data, with properly sized and appropriate structures. This presentation will describe some of the strategies that have led to NHGS’ leadership role in a successful multi-agency initiative related to a relevant geoscience and water resources public policy issue.