Multi-Criteria Assessment of Pallid Sturgeon Habitat Restoration for the Missouri River

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in cooperation with other agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently planning, designing, and constructing projects designed to restore habitat for the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus Albus) and associated species in and along the Missouri River. Management and restoration of habitat is a complex process with many and often conflicting priorities, and habitat restoration success is difficult to measure, in part because there is often a significant lag time between the restoration activity and the biological response by the target species. This project develops a multi-criteria assessment tool to help the USACE and cooperators assess the status and the progress of the habitat restoration efforts on the Missouri River. The multi-criteria assessment method uses composite programming which assesses the overall condition of the habitat based on multiple indicators (e.g., water velocity, depth, substrate). Indicator values were determined at different locations and times, and weights were assigned to the indicators to represent their relative importance. The result obtained from the assessment is a river bend-scale value that characterizes the overall quality and quantity of habitat at different points in time for that bend. Conversely, the method can be used to characterize conditions before and after a habitat restoration project or to compare the effectiveness of different habitat restoration methods on different bends within the river reach. The assessment method will also be used to identify data gaps and deficient habitat components that require further restoration.