The following is a guest blog from Joshua Raabe.  Josh is the NCSU graduate student responsible for the construction and regular monitoring of the weir under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Hightower. 

 

 

I thought I would take a moment away from the workshop to provide an update on the Little River fish weir.  But first, I would like to thank Restoration Systems for funding and assisting in the purchasing of products for this portion of the project.  It has been very beneficial to be able to obtain high quality materials that will allow the weir to function properly, safely, and to be used for numerous field seasons. I knew this would be a large project to undertake and the majority of the work has been what I expected. 

Numerous types of equipment and products have been utilized to cut, fine tune, connect, seal, and drill close to 3,000 holes in wood, metal, plastic, and cable.  It is the small details and fabrications that really take a lot of thought and time.  The project has tested and also improved my “handy man” skills and I’ve been enjoying the experience.  A little more time would have been nice – but that’s almost always the case. 

Everything is starting to come together though, which is good, as we are getting antsy because the fish are too.  The two live cages are fully constructed, the resistance board weir is currently being assembled, and holes are being drilled for the picket weir.  We plan on beginning installation early next week and everything should be up and running by the end of the week.  Needless to say, I’m very excited about the thought of that. 

Well, back to the workshop I go… Josh