Waters to Watch

A list assembled by the nation’s leading authorities on aquatic conservation to create cleaner and healthier habitats for the many fish and wildlife species and people who call these areas home

So what is Waters to watch and why Should I care?

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.

2023 Waters to Watch

1. Annette Island, Metlakatla Indian Community

Project Submission by: The Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership

This project will utilize NFHP funding to support engineering designs for 2 culverts that currently restrict fish passage for Coastal cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden Char, Coho Salmon, and Pink Salmon on Graveyard Creek, located on Annette Islands Reserve. This is the only Native American reservation in the State of Alaska and is home to the village of Metlakatla and the Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC) who rely on local salmon stocks for their robust commercial fishing industry and for subsistence harvest. This project will produce shovel ready engineers designs that will be used to leverage future Infrastructure BIL funding for implementation. Additionally, this project helps set the stage for building local technical expertise and capacity to address fish passage needs across Annette Island through a new partnership between the MIC, Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition (SAWC), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

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2. Finn Rock Run, Oregon

Project Submission by: The Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative

Pacific Lamprey were once abundant and widespread in streams and rivers throughout the West Coast, but their populations have declined significantly throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California. Losses since European colonization have been driven largely by human impacts to water quality, passage barriers, and ocean conditions due to climate change. Degradation of streams and floodplains is recognized by the Conservation Agreement of the Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative (PLCI) as a top threat to Pacific Lamprey. Restoration of critical spawning and rearing habitats for the species aligns with PLCI objectives and also benefits many native salmonid species.

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3. Galena River Watershed, Illinois

Project Submission by: The Fishers & Farmers Partnership

A farmer-led group formed in the Galena River watershed, IL after a couple of their members attended Watershed Leaders Network Workshops (2016-2018) led by Fishers & Farmers staff and partners. This farmer-led, grassroots group actively participated in the development of a watershed plan to proactively address land use issues affecting water quality and habitat degradation with a focus on benefits to fish species in greatest need of conservation.

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4. Island Park Reservoir, Idaho

Project Submission by: The Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership

Projects funded by the Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership (RFHP) have revived coldwater fish habitat and populations in Island Park Reservoir on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Idaho. During three years of extreme drought between 2020 and 2023, the Henry’s Fork Foundation’s water-conserving Farms and Fish program—funded in part by the RFHP—has helped increase fish populations by over 150% compared to years without water conservation in Island Park Reservoir and its tributaries.

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5. Lower Heʻeia Watershed, Oahu, Hawaiʻi (2015 Retrospective Project)

Project Submission by: The Hawai'i Fish Habitat Partnership

The Lower Heʻeia Watershed is located on windward Oahu and includes the lower reaches of Heʻeia Stream, several small tributaries, the stream-mouth estuary, and adjacent coral reef habitat within Kaneohe Bay. The Lower Heʻeia Stream Project was selected as a 2015 Water to Watch. Starting with a Community Conservation Plan in 2009, the Hawaiʻi FHP collaborated with local conservation groups to provide seven finanical assistance awards totaling over $465,000 for technical assistance and on-the-ground aquatic habitat restoration at multiple locations within the Lower Heʻeia Watershed.

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6. Matheson Wetland, Utah

Project Submission by: The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

The Razorback Sucker is endemic to the Colorado River basin and protected under the Endangered Species Act. Once found throughout the warm water reaches of the basin, the Razorback Sucker’s basinwide decline is believed to be a result of myriad anthropogenic habitat alterations and negative interactions with introduced fishes. Razorback Sucker spawning occurs as spring runoff increases river discharge. Upon hatching from eggs deposited in river substrate, larvae drift with river current into flooded off-channel nursery habitats. Despite ongoing stocking of Razorback Sucker into the Colorado River, studies show that natural recruitment necessary for self-sustaining wild populations is lacking, and populations in the upper Colorado River continue to require maintenance via stocking of adult fish.

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7. Mid Klamath Tributary, California

Project Submission by: The California Fish Passage Forum

Since 2001, the Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC) and the Mid Klamath Watershed Council (MKWC) have been working together, alongside other partners, to identify and manually treat barriers to anadromous fish passage on key tributaries in the Klamath watershed. Seasonal low flow barriers into these anadromous streams will be manually reconstructed using hand tools to allow for adult and juvenile fish passage. The proposed project will improve juvenile and adult salmonid fish passage into 30 to 40 tributaries in the Klamath and Salmon River subbasins through manual modification of natural and anthropogenic barriers.

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8. Native Fish Passage in the San Joaquin River, California

Project Submission by: The California Fish Passage Forum

For over 60 years, the San Joaquin River saw no adult spring-run Chinook Salmon make their annual migration from the ocean to spawn – the fish had been cut-off from their native spawning grounds by Friant Dam and subsequent water diversions that dried up over 60 miles of channel. Chinook Salmon runs had been extirpated from the San Joaquin River upstream of the Merced River confluence. But all of that changed in 2019 when the San Joaquin River Restoration Program (SJRRP) documented its first returning adult spring-run Chinook.

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9. Spread Creek, Wyoming

Project Submission by: The Western Native Trout Initiative

Spread Creek, located outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, traverses through relatively pristine National Forest and National Park lands before joining the Upper Snake River approximately 15 miles below Jackson Dam. Spread Creek showcases a diversity of life histories for native Snake River Cutthroat (Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout subspecies) trout important to the resilience of the population and species into the future. The lower section serves as a migration corridor for large, fluvial fish, while the upper portion of Spread Creek serves as important spawning and rearing habitat for fluvial fish and year-round habitat for resident fish.

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10. Big Lake, Alaska (2013 Retrospective Project)

Project Submission by: The Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership

Big Lake, located in the fast-developing Mat-Su Basin, is a large well populated and heavily recreated lake in the growing community of Big Lake just west of the City of Wasilla. The lake itself, with 26 miles of shoreline, and two streams in its basin, are used by spawning sockeye and coho salmon each year, and host resident populations of Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout, and other fish.

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