You can help fish species’ chance of survival by building habitat structures at Monroe Lake, Sept. 18.

The volunteer day is part of the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife's Reservoir Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Program (RAHEP). RAHEP’s purpose is to build fish habitat in reservoirs where natural structure is lacking.

Volunteers will assemble 40 wooden structures from pallets that will give fish a place to live and hide from predator fish, according to Sandy Clark-Kolaks, RAHEP coordinator and south region fisheries research biologist.

The workday runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the DNR office at 5596 E. State Road 46, Bloomington. Volunteers should dress for working outside and bring snacks and water, protective eyewear, gloves and cordless drills.

Advanced registration is encouraged and can be completed at wildlife.IN.gov/8301.htm. Unregistered walk-in volunteers are welcome.

Monroe Lake is a 10,750-acre reservoir near Bloomington. It was chosen for the program due to the property’s strong partnerships with local entities. This is the first of several volunteer days planned for this year at Monroe Lake, with an overall goal of building 200 structures.

DNR fisheries biologists will place the structures on the lake bed during summer and fall. Once the structures have been placed, maps will be created to show the GPS coordinates, depth and structure type. These maps will be available to the public.

Learn more about RAHEP at wildlife.IN.gov/7665.htm.

To view all DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.

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Media contact: Sandy Clark-Kolaks, south region fisheries research biologist, 812-287-8304