Photo caption:  Flow study on Town Fork Creek, North Carolina.  Photo credit:  Steve Reed, NC Division of Water Resources.

The Southern Instream Flow Network (SIFN) is continuing to leverage the work it is doing with partners to refine resources for application in the South Atlantic states and throughout the SARP region.  Following the Southern Instream Flow Research Agenda, SIFN is leading the development of a number of valuable tools, such as a literature survey of regional flow-ecology relationships, a stream classification for southern rivers based on hydrology, and a risk-assessment of flow alteration.  SIFN is working closely with the South Atlantic LCC (SALCC) to develop a regional hydrologic model that will help assess flow alteration at a fine temporal and spatial scale under current and climate change scenarios.  Opening lines of communication among the SARP states about instream flow issues continues to be a primary objective.  SIFN’s collaboration with Virginia and North Carolina is particularly significant at this time, as both states are taking progressive approaches using hydrologic and biological information to inform policy and develop practices to best protect instream flows and aquatic resources. 

Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is leading a statewide instream flow project that closely follows the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework.  Their hydrologic foundation is being developed at the NHD+ catchment level which will be assessed with ecological data from INSTAR (INteractive STream Assessment Resource; http://instar.vcu.edu/) to develop flow-ecology relationships.  Strong hydrologic modeling and statistical analytical support for this project will advance our understanding of ecological responses to flow alterations. 

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) is under a legislative mandate to develop basin-wide hydrologic models for each of the 17 major basins in the state.  The Department will characterize the ecology in each river basin and identify the flows necessary to maintain ecological integrity for water management planning purposes.   

NCDENR has created an Ecological Flows Science Advisory Board (SAB) to advise them on such issues as statewide stream classification based on hydrology.  They are also testing an approach for using habitat versus flow relationships modeled at reference sites to develop a statewide approach for determining ecological flow targets.  The SAB is focusing its work on the science of ecological flows to better inform the decisions that will eventually be made by policy-makers.

With funding from the SALCC, SIFN is contributing resources and expertise to the Virginia and North Carolina efforts while utilizing their findings to further refine products of the Instream Flow Research Agenda and research priorities.  SIFN is hosting a January 2012 workshop to continue developing the flow-ecology relationships and further prioritize instream flow research needs in the SALCC region.  Information and opportunities to participate are forthcoming and will be posted on the SALCC and SARP websites, as well as the SIFN electronic newsletter.  For more information contact Mary Davis, SIFN Technical Advisor, at mary@southeastaquatics.net or (404) 213-3122.