“Partnerships are the key to addressing where we have issues and where we have opportunities, and there’s nothing more powerful than cross collaborative communication. The end result from that has always worked out well for the streams and rivers. And, the rest of us get to know we’ve done something that’s enduring.”
Jerry Sweeten, Ecosystems Connections Institute
The Indiana Aquatic Connectivity Team (IN ACT) is a collaborative network of agencies, organizations, practitioners, and community partners working to improve aquatic connectivity across Indiana.
IN ACT brings together people working on dams, culverts, road-stream crossings, fish passage, habitat restoration, infrastructure, outreach, and related issues so that partners can share information, coordinate projects, identify barriers, and build capacity for restoration.
IN ACT works to accelerate aquatic connectivity and river restoration across Indiana by:
- Connecting practitioners and organizations working on aquatic barriers
- Identifying and prioritizing dams, culverts, and other barriers for restoration
- Improving coordination around barrier assessment and project development
- Providing training and technical resources
- Supporting outreach and education around aquatic connectivity
- Sharing funding opportunities, data, tools, and lessons learned
- Building partnerships that help move projects from identification to implementation
IN ACT participants are currently collaborating around several priority areas, including project inventories, barrier assessments, training, outreach and education, policy, and partnership development.
Recent efforts include development of an Indiana aquatic barrier project inventory, road-stream crossing assessment training, coordination around the National Aquatic Barrier Inventory and Assessment Tool, and development of outreach resources for different types of aquatic connectivity projects.
IN ACT Prospectus
“The idea behind a connectivity team is a Community of Practice at the State level; where I can pick up the phone and call somebody about freshwater work. We might have gaps that we can’t cover, but our goals are really that of all of us are trying to do it for Indiana, for the country, and for the globe.”
– Joe Schmees, The Nature Conservancy
Get Involved
Register for Our Next Virtual Meeting!
Join the Indiana Aquatic Connectivity Team (IN ACT) for its fall virtual meeting on Thursday, October 1, from 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. ET. We’ll reconnect following our May working meeting, hear updates from the six IN ACT sub-committees, discuss progress toward their sub-goals, and coordinate next steps for improving aquatic connectivity across Indiana. Current and prospective IN ACT partners are welcome to attend! Spread the word and we'll see you there!
Are You Having Culvert Problems?
Recent record-shattering rainfall and flooding have stressed and exposed problems in our infrastructure in no uncertain terms. No place tells the story of vulnerability to more intense and frequent flooding like our bridges and culverts, or road-stream crossings. The National Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NACC) protocol is useful for assessing and documenting the location, condition, and ranking of such crossings with a simple field survey process. We are offering the opportunity to receive this protocol training as a 1-day field practicum. Help us decide when and where to offer it by filling out the 3-minute survey below:
Want to Serve on a Sub-Committee?
Subcommittees are now beginning to organize around the IN ACT goals we developed in May. If you are interested in joining a subcommittee, please sign up here: