The National Fish Habitat Action Plan has unveiled the 2011 10 “Waters to Watch” list, a collection of rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries that will benefit from strategic conservation efforts to protect, restore or enhance their current condition over the next year.
The 10 “Waters to Watch” are representative of freshwater to marine habitats across the country including rivers, lakes, reservoirs and estuaries that benefit through the conservation efforts of these Fish Habitat Partnerships formed under the Action Plan—a bold initiative implemented in 2006 to avoid and reverse persistent declines in our nation’s aquatic habitats.
“Our approach—teaming state, local, tribal, and federal agencies with private partners and stakeholders—is helping to dramatically improve the condition of these waters and in many cases bring these waters back to life in an extremely efficient way,” said Kelly Hepler, Chairman of the National Fish Habitat Board. “With the Waters to Watch initiative announcing its 50th project in 2011, we have seen a variety of these projects turn the corner since 2007, watching these conservation practices take effect in real time. Through sound science and research and through the work of locally driven partnerships, these select Action Plan projects can be held high as a vision of what quality habitat should and can be, and how it benefits all people throughout the United States.”
The 10 Waters to Watch in 2011 include:
- Alewife Brook/Scoy Pond, New York –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership)
- Au Sable River, Michigan –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Great Lakes Basin Fish Habitat Partnership)
- Barrataria Bay, Louisiana –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership) - Batten Kill River, New York –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture)
- Cottonwood Creek, Alaska –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership) - Duchesne River, Utah –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Desert Fish Habitat Partnership) - Llano River, Texas –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership)
- Manistee River, Michigan–
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Great Lakes Basin Fish Habitat Partnership) - St. Charles Creek, Idaho –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Western Native Trout Initiative) - Waipa Stream, Hawaii –
(National Fish Habitat Partnership – Hawaii Fish Habitat Partnership)
To date nearly 1,700 partners have pledged their support including a range of organizations and individuals interested in the health of the nation’s fisheries such as fishing clubs, international conservation organizations, federal agencies, angling industries and academia.
These ten habitat conservation efforts highlighted in 2011 are a small sample of the many habitat conservation projects implemented under the Action Plan. The 2011, as well as past 10 “Waters to Watch” lists can be viewed at www.fishabitat.org along with complete information on the scope of the Action Plan.