National Fish Habitat Action Plan

The 10 Waters to Watch list, assembled by the nation’s leading authorities on aquatic conservation, is a collection of rivers, streams and shores that will be cleaner and healthier habitats for the many fish and wildlife species and people who call these areas home.

Thanks to the combined actions of concerned community groups, non-profit organizations, local watershed groups, Native American tribes and state and federal agencies, these waters are being improved by planting stream-side vegetation, removing structures blocking fish from habitat and protecting bodies of water from the effects of industrial processes, agriculture and livestock.

They are representative of freshwater to marine waters across the country including lakes and reservoirs that are improving through the conservation efforts of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan — a bold initiative to reverse persistent declines in aquatic habitat.

Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture

Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Blue Knob State Park, PA Fish and Boat Commission, Bob’s Creek Stream Guardians, Pavia Sportsmen’s Club, Bedford County Conservation District

Under the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture Fish Habitat Partnership, through the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, this fish habitat restoration project will benefit brook trout populations in Wallack’s Branch of Bobs Creek, Bedford County, Pennsylvania by removing fish barriers and creating in-stream habitat. Modifications to five small structures        (including small dams) which currently reduce free movement of trout within the stream in Wallack’s Branch will allow fish to move without impediment through the stream. Additionally, 23 new structures will be installed to provide fish habitat. These structures will include single log vanes, multi-log vanes, stone deflectors, cross vanes, rootwads, and a bankful bench, which help create cover and varying flows for resting and feeding, and help direct water movement during high flow events. The project will begin at the mouth of Wallack’s Branch and extend approximately two miles upstream.

Construction is set to begin the week of July 19, 2010. After construction is completed, a fish survey will be conducted on the stretch of stream in order to assess brook trout populations and compare the population to pre-treatment levels.

Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership

Partners: Ducks Unlimited, Dickinson County Clean Water Alliance, Iowa DNR – Lake Restoration Program, Iowa DNR – Wildlife and Fisheries Bureaus

This restoration project, under the Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership, through the National Fish Habitat Action Plan involves Diamond Lake, a 166 acre shallow natural lake in northwest Iowa.  Historical records indicate this lake once had a thriving and diverse aquatic plant community, clear water, and a healthy aquatic ecosystem.  For the past 80-100 years, however, the lake has exhibited poor water quality, excessive blue-green algal growth, and extremely limited fisheries and wildlife habitat.  

This project focuses on improving water quality by shifting the lake to a clear water state using water-level management to consolidate bottom sediments, re-establish aquatic plants, and control common carp populations.  The restoration of Diamond Lake is Iowa’s inaugural shallow lake restoration project providing resource management professionals with experience and expertise for managing shallow lakes.  The project also provides stakeholders a demonstration of the restoration potential for other shallow lakes.  

Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge), Nevada Department of Wildlife, USGS Western Fisheries Research Center, Amargosa Conservancy, Death Valley Natural History Association

Ash Meadows within the Amargosa River system in southern Nevada is a unique desert wetlands complex supporting one of the highest levels of indigenousness species in North America.  Designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1986, Ash Meadows contains at least 25 unique species and subspecies dependent on these isolated spring and wetland habitats including three endemic fishes, the Ash Meadows and Warm Springs pupfish and Ash Meadows speckled dace, which occur nowhere else in the world.

Through historic development for agriculture, the surface hydrology and aquatic habitats in Ash Meadows have been highly modified by spring diversion, peat mining, irrigation ditches, and water storage impoundments. Anthropogenic landscape alteration has resulted in the loss of habitats vital for the recovery of the Ash Meadows speckled dace and Ash Meadows pupfish and has resulted in the alteration of hydrologic processes that create and maintain those aquatic habitats.

Western Native Trout Initiative

Partners: Western Native Trout Initiative, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bear River Project Environmental Coordination Committee, Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho Department of Fish and game, Bureau of Land Management, Georgetown Irrigation Company, and Bureau of Reclamation.

The Georgetown Road Relocation Project, through the Western Native Trout Initiative under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, is a multi-year project to remove approximately 2 miles of road from the bottom of Georgetown Creek (including 3 impassable culverts) to improve aquatic and riparian habitat, water quality, and fish passage in the canyon. In 2008, the new road was built in the uplands and in 2009 the Caribou-Targhee Forest initiated the removal of the old road.   This project has restored water quality and riparian and in-stream habitat through the removal of the old road and the building of a fish ladder.  Continued work is planned for 2010, reconnecting other segments of the stream. 

Georgetown Creek Background:
Georgetown Creek is a tributary to the Bear River that was identified as high priority, for the restoration of Bonneville cutthroat trout in the Nounan Reach of the Bear River.  The Nounan Reach has the highest concentration of migratory Bonneville cutthroat trout in the Bear River in Idaho and has the most connected tributaries.  Idaho Department of Fish and Game has tracked migratory Bonneville cutthroat trout into lower Georgetown Creek but their upstream migration is blocked by some barriers.  The Road Relocation Project is a component of an overall watershed restoration strategy for Georgetown Creek that also includes fish passage around a hydroelectric diversion headgate on Bureau of Land Management land and passage over an irrigation dam on private land.

Past phosphate mining in Georgetown watershed created a road up through the bottom of Georgetown Canyon. Slag from the mine added to the road fill increased the width and height of the road.  Three impassable culverts are eroding causing water quality problems and filling adjacent floodplains and springs/wetlands with sediment.

Western Native Trout Initiative/Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

Partners: Trout Unlimited (TU), Jackson Hole One Fly Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), BLM, USFS, USFWS, USDA-NRCS, Wyoming Game and Fish, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Green River Valley Trust, The Conservation Fund, Wyoming Water Project, Cottonwood Ranch, Ute Indian Tribe, and Utah State University.

Both the Desert Fish Habitat Partnership and the Western Native Trout Initiative, under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, have recognized the outstanding aquatic resources of the Green River Basin. Both partnerships support projects, directly and indirectly, that benefit fish populations and habitat in ways that place local projects within a larger basin-wide perspective. Projects initiated by the multiple agencies and partners to date include: 

1) Restoring native cutthroat trout and habitat in LaBarge Creek, Muddy Creek, Severy Creek, the North Fork of the Little Snake River and Cottonwood Creek, Wyoming;

2) Reconnecting headwater and mainstem habitats of the Duchesne River, Utah for native suckers and chub, and

3)Restoring floodplain habitat to benefit native suckers, chub, and potentially Colorado River cutthroat, in the San Rafael River, Utah.

Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership

Partners: The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Bristol Bay Native Association, Funding support was also provided by an association of Bristol Bay commercial fishermen.

The Koktuli River in Southwest Alaska is a major tributary of the Mulchatna River in the Nushagak River watershed.  This remote region of the state has a sparse human population, limited developments and is world renowned for its relatively pristine conditions and associated fish and wildlife productivity.

The Koktuli River and other waters in the Nushagak watershed sustain highly valued recreational, commercial and subsistence fisheries.  The Koktuli River is a major spawning stream for king (chinook) salmon and has healthy runs of silver (coho) and red (sockeye) salmon.  Popular resident recreational fish include rainbow trout, northern pike, arctic grayling and Dolly Varden.

Koktuli River Featured in Trout Unlimited (With Video)

Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership

Partners: U.S. Steel, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The purpose of this project is to protect undeveloped shoreline and provide public access to the land and water via a state park, scheduled to open in 2010.  The state of Minnesota will acquire 3,000 acres and 4.93 miles of undeveloped shoreline on Lake Vermilion, St. Louis County, MN.  It is expected that this park will quickly become one of the most visited parks in the state, with an estimated 500,000 visitors per year.
Lake Vermilion, Minnesota’s fifth largest lake at 39,271 acres with 365 islands and 340 miles of shoreline, is an outstanding recreational fishery, most noted for walleye, muskellunge and smallmouth bass.

Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership

Partners: The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA - NRCS

The Southeast Aquatics Resources Partnership (SARP), under the National Fish Habitat Action plan through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) District 1 Fisheries personnel completed a cooperative project with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’s Pvt. John Allen National Fish Hatchery to stabilize a section of stream bank and improve habitat for Gulf Coast Strain (GCS) walleye on Mackeys Creek in Prentiss County.  This was the first phase of a GCS walleye restoration project on this headwater stream of the Tombigbee River.  The stream bank had washed out due to downstream modifications of the stream channel.  An 80-ft long rock dike was constructed, with fill material backfilled behind it to restore the natural slope.  The bank was seeded, and will be planted with willow tree shoots in the coming weeks.  Washed gravel was placed in the adjacent shoal to create a potential GCS walleye spawning site.  Future plans include creating or enhancing additional GCS walleye spawning habitat, and stocking hatchery-reared fish.  This partnership includes all southeastern state fish and wildlife agencies, as well as all federal agencies responsible for natural resources management in the southeastern U.S.