Habitat Management

Fish habitat in the Pacific Northwest Region extends over 20,000 miles of streams and 200,000 acres of lakes.

This habitat is critical for maintenance of wild stocks of fish. For example, it is estimated that 70% of the remaining high quality habitat for wild salmon and trout in the Columbia River basin is located on National Forest system lands. Also, the location of the National Forests, covering most of the headwaters of Oregon and Washington's major rivers, makes them particularly important for their delivery of high quality water off the National Forest, to habitats and homes in the valleys below.

To protect these precious aquatic environments, the National Forests of the Pacific Northwest Region are managed by a broad Aquatic Conservation Strategy, consisting of:

• Riparian reserve network, with special management guidelines for activities;
• Key Watersheds, a system of refugia for at-risk fish species;
• Watershed Analysis to define needs for monitoring and restoration activities;
• Watershed Restoration, comprehensive, long-term programs designed from the whole watershed perspective.

Restoration activities include road removal or improvements (for fish passage, or to reduce erosion), slope stabilization, stream-side planting, channel reconstruction, and adding in-stream structure (like trees or boulders.) Over the last decade, the Region has improved conditions on more than 2000 miles of streams, as well as removing over 2000 miles of roads and improving 7000 miles on other roads to reduce impacts to water quality and fish.

Restoration efforts are closely coordinated with State, Federal and Tribal salmon and water quality recovery efforts. Forest biologists and hydrologists work closely with partners in watershed councils to analyze conditions, identity needs, prepare work plans and implement projects. We realize that to restore fish habitat, we must look at whole watersheds and work with many landowners to achieve success.(see Whole Watershed Restoration)

Restoration activities are quided by an Aquatic Restoration Strategy (ARS) that specifies focus areas and appropriate investment and treatments (see ARS). Prioritization starts at the river basin scale, and progressively scales down to watershed and subwatershed levels. Once a focus watershed has been selected by the partners, an action plan is prepared, identifying key habitat forming processes, limiting factors, and the core actions needed to put the watershed on a track of rapid recovery (see Watershed Action Plans). Once these actions are completed, partner focus shifts to the next focus watershed. The region and partners have completed high priority restoration actions in over 20 watersheds in the last decade.

Links for Additional Information about Habitat Management

• Natural Resources Conservation Service (1)
• Natural Resources Conservation Service (2)
• Bonneville Power Administration
• National Marine Fisheries Service
• Northwest Power Planning Council
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Bureau of Land Management
• Forest Service - Pacific Northwest Region
• Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds
• Washington Salmon and Watershed Recovery Funding
• Idaho Department of Fish and Game
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Trout Unlimited
• British Columbia Watershed Restoration Program
• Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission