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This stretch looked very healthy even though upstream portion from here is developed. There are a lot of fish to the extent that I thought I could scoop them out. Water striders were also everywhere. I might have killed some of them with my steps. The picture shown below is the riverbed. As a reference, a picture of a riverbed in the main stream of the NW branch is shown, which was taken at a site 2 miles upstream from Colesville Rd. The difference is clear.

River bed at 232101 site in Bel Pre Creek River bed of the main stream of the NW Branch,
2 miles upstream from Colesville Rd,
5 miles downstream from 232101 site

232105 (Fish Barrier) (N39.1018, W77.0577833)

Site #	Date	Blockage	Type	Reason	Drop(In)	Depth(In)
232105	6/23/2005	total	unknown	too high	60	-

This chunk of concrete is a fish barrier. This picture is taken from inside of an ugly pipe arch.
The corrugated metal outlining this picture is the part of pipe arch. Above the arch a road is crossing this stream. The significance of the fish barrier is NOT serious because this stretch is the first order stream, which means there is not a long stretch upstream from here. However, my question is why this barrier is needed and if it is needed why we could not install it more environmentally and esthetically friendly.

232107 (Commnet) (N39.0992167, W77.0604)

See the difference of riverbeds between upstream and downstream of a check dam. The check dam, which is also a fish barrier, encourages sedimentation upstream. You can see the natural streambed downstream. These pictures were taken just upstream and downstream from the check dam for the exactly same stream.

Upstream of the check dam Downstream of the check dam

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