Fish Habitat and Riparian Buffer Field Day

Mifflin County Conservation District partnered with local DEP biologist Matt Shank to host an educational electrofishing field seminar designed to educate local landowners on the importance of stream projects such as riparian buffer plantings and the installation of fish habitat structures. The event was held on a farm outside of Belleville where a riparian buffer planting and fish habitat structures were installed in the summer of 2017. The seminar consisted of electrofishing approximately 100 meters of the property – netting fish – and placing them in buckets to be examined. Fish were then identified and their function in the ecosystem and significance to Kishacoquillas Creek were explained. Pollution sensitivity in species captured was discussed as well as how the fish habitat and riparian buffer projects directly benefit aquatic life.