During its October 2011 Meeting, the National Fish Habitat Board endorsed an enhancement to its communications and messaging to reflect the importance it places on the partnerships that drive its efforts. From now on messaging and communications will focus on the National Fish Habitat Partnership, increasing emphasis on the coalition of groups working to reverse declines in fish habitat across the United States. In the past, messaging and communications were focused on the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, which is the primary tool that the coalition uses to guide its activities.
Through a Fish's Eye: The Status of Fish Habitats in the United States 2010
Available Now! The National Fish Habitat Board has released a first of its kind report summarizing the results of a detailed national assessment of fish habitat across the entire United States. The report focuses on the freshwater and estuarine fish habitats of the 50 states. Please Click the report cover to the right to view the full report (PDF), or CLICK HERE. Access the NFHAP interactive map on the Science and Data page, where you can visualize the assessment results in detail and download data files and map services or visit, http://ecosystems.usgs.gov/fishhabitat/.
Partnership!
This is what the National Fish Habitat Action Plan is all about — locally-driven efforts that build private and public partnerships to improve fish habitat.
Fish Habitat Action Plan partnerships are self-identified, self-organized, and self-directed communities of interest formed around geographic areas, keystone species, or system types.
2012 Waters to Watch List Highlights Partner Priorities
2012 List Features Freshwater to Marine and Lake Projects
(Washington, DC) - The National Fish Habitat Partnership (www.fishhabitat.org) has unveiled its 2012 10 “Waters to Watch” list, a collection of rivers, streams, estuaries , watershed systems, shores and lakes that will benefit from strategic conservation efforts to protect, restore or enhance their current condition.
These waters represent a snapshot of this year’s larger voluntary habitat conservation efforts in progress. These and other locally driven conservation projects are prioritized and implemented by regional Fish Habitat Partnerships that have formed throughout the country.
The National Fish Habitat Action Plan is currently under revision and will be unveiled in April 2012. The revised Plan will be built on the below objectives and will also feature case studies and a vision for the future of nation’s aquatic habitats.
The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership (DFHP) was initiated in 2005 to conserve native desert fish by protecting, restoring, and enhancing their habitats in cooperation with state and tribal fish and wildlife agencies, federal resource agencies, research and private organizations, and engaged individuals. DFHP seeks to address critical fish and aquatic habitat conservation needs in the Great Basin and Mohave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts in southwestern United States.
Secretaries Salazar, Vilsack and Bryson Sign Agreement on NFHP
(Washington, DC) – The Secretaries of the Interior (Ken Salazar), Agriculture (Tom Vilsack) and Commerce (John Bryson) on Friday March 2, committed to signing an agreement to promote collaborative, science-based conservation of the nation’s waterways and fisheries through the National Fish Habitat Partnership. The agreement ensures that Federal resources are effectively focused on locally supported conservation strategies developed by fish habitat partnerships. The announcement was made at the White House Conference on Conservation, Growing America’s Outdoor Heritage and Economy.
UPDATE: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed (March 2012)
NFWF/NOAA Grant Program Seeks Requests for Proposals
An important component of NFHP's approach is the protection of fish habitats through voluntary, non-regulatory conservation activities. NOAA Fisheries and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation seek to promote the protection of coastal and marine fish habitats through the NFHP Fish Habitat Partnerships. Protection under NFHP consists of voluntary and non-regulatory actions that maintain, or prevent the decline of, aquatic habitat and aquatic resources that depend on those habitats. Through this grant program, NOAA Fisheries and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation solicit projects to support the protection of coastal and marine fish habitats through NFHP Fish Habitat Partnerships.
Please check out the Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership's (SARP) Year In Review. The review highlights notable activities and successes of SARP and its partners in 2011.
Grant County, Wisconsin. The project area is located on the Big Spring Fishery ground owned by the Wisconsin DNR (WiDNR) and a small segment owned and operated by Menke Brothers Farms. It has been a stream under close surveillance by the WiNDR for the past several years, which continues to supply excellent information as to the effectiveness of the project. It is in conjunction with projects from years past; as you can see in the map below upon completion of the 2009 planned project there will be a continuous stretch of approximately three and a half miles of restoration.