Below you will find a list of projects that we would like to work on and seek funding through listing with Social Markets , were the social return on your investment is guaranteed.
SIM-Stream Software – Phase I $40,000, Phase II $80,000, Phase III $40,000
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Sim-Stream is a tool to help the people who use the river better understand how low river flow affects fish populations. Sim-Stream is built from a Microsoft Access database and can be used to easily organize thousands of records describing river features important for animals, calculate their suitability and report on the status of their watery homes. With this tool, the dam operators, water suppliers, developers, and river managers will have guidelines for the proper river flow to protect and restore fish populations. The Sim-Stream software has been developed to aid the data management and computation of instream habitat models that are used for planning ecological river restoration and flow to protect fish and other aquatic animals. This software supports the MesoHABSIM approach first developed at Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst that is currently applied for determination of Protected Instream Flows in New Hampshire. Although the software is presently available for use, additional funding is needed to incorporate recent improvements of the MesoHABSIM method as well as to provide documentation and a user’s manual. Rushing Rivers will use the money donated to this project to make the software more user friendly. Also in this phase, the graphical interface will be improved to allow better 3D-visualization and educational gaming for the next generation of environmental scientists.
Stream Scouts -$50,000
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In this project, called StreamScouts, Rushing Rivers Institute is developing a program to “teach” a computer to recognize fish habitat from aerial photographs of rivers and streams. This will allow us to simulate much more of the many thousands of rivers and streams that shape our landscape. A team on the river will use handheld PC’s and a tablet computer to annotate very recent and detailed airborne images. The computer first estimates from patterns in these photographs how, for example, riffles and pools are distributed in the river. The team on the river will then get these estimates via their PocketPCs (Scouts). The teams members will either correct or confirm this information then send it back to the main computer for new calibration. This process is repeated until there is a satisfying match between the estimates and reality. The collected data is then used to calculate the value of the observed features for fish and other animals, and to create accurate models of the river or stream. The models are an important tool in water management as they allow ecologically sound regulations of water withdrawals and hydropower operations, as well as for science and education. The seed funding for this project has been provided by the Microsoft e-science program and helped us get started by supporting graduate students and technicians at the University of Massachusetts. In subsequent processes, we were able to develop central pieces of data management, image recognition and communication procedures. We are seeking more funding to complete this development and fully implement the above ideas.
River training courses - $100,000
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Currently, the Rushing Rivers Institute offers a series of courses to teach the habitat simulation method developed by our scientists. The courses aim to offer this technique to professionals and students to create a more effective means to plan conservation, restoration, and river management. Many local watershed associations are also interested in this technique, but they cannot afford to pay for these courses. We would like to offer these, as well as additional courses on the ecological basics of fish habitat, at no-fee to these organizations. These hands-on courses will increase the technical knowledge of conservationists and activists that, in turn, will lead to more sophisticated negotiations and the reduction of conflict potential between parties promoting competitive uses of water resources. Educational materials, including a film project publicizing the incomparable beauty and complexity of running water ecosystems, are in preparation. Some initial footage has been gathered, and a short promotional video can be viewed at: http://www.rushingrivers.org/movies/mesohabsimfilm.html/.
Fort River- $350,000
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The Fort River, which flows through the towns of Hadley and Amherst, is the longest un-dammed tributary of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. Parts of the river have been identified as containing a prime habitat for fish (including species of special concern such as bridle shiner), endangered dwarf wedgemussels, and other species. In addition to the diverse natural resources present within the Fort River watershed, its accessibility and central location within the Five College area make it a prime resource for research, education, and public outreach. Rushing Rivers Institute has initiated a collaborative partnership with scientists from local colleges and the University of Massachusetts to establish a long-term monitoring program that would bring this river the attention that it deserves, as well as providing access to quality controlled experimental data about the river (such as status reports, and water quality and quantity findings) to resource managers, scientists, students, area environmental advocacy organizations, and the local community. Long-term data that documents changes in the dynamics (seasonal flow changes, flood events, etc) over time of an un-impacted river like the Fort will set benchmarks that can then inform ecological management plans and establish specific restoration goals for other, more impacted waterways throughout New England. Data (including recordings from the underwater video cameras and hydrophones) will be uploaded to the Internet, creating a World Wide Web portal with real-time access to the study from around the world. The information obtained concerning water quality and quantity, seasonal changes in river dynamics, ecological status, and the impacts of human activities, would in turn be made available to the Towns of Amherst and Hadley, to be incorporated into planning and management decisions which impact the river system.