Agency in Brief: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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What does USFWS do?
The Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is an agency of the federal government within the U.S. Department of Interior. The agency is tasked with the management of natural habitats: “to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”
Why does USFWS matter for TU?
Trout Unlimited partners with USFWS staff and utilizes funding from USFWS research and conservation programs to support habitat restoration projects across the country.
Key USFWS Programs and Partnerships
The USFWS oversees a number of important programs, including the following:
Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF): This program includes Recovery Land Acquisition Grants and support for Habitat Conservation Planning — both programs are designed to support local communities in developing solutions to balance commercial activity with species protection and recovery. These programs are especially critical to TU’s collaborative partnerships in the Pacific Northwest, where salmon recovery is a long-term priority. Specific examples include:
- TU’s Upper Klamath water transaction partnerships: Recovery Land Acquisition program supports TU’s water transaction work in the Upper Klamath River Basin of southern Oregon and northern California. Land and water acquired through this program does not go into federal ownership, but instead is protected by states, tribes, or NGOs.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife: Through voluntary agreements the Partners program provides expert technical assistance and cost-share incentives directly to private landowners to restore fish and wildlife habitats. The PFW Program’s strong partnerships help leverage program dollars at a ratio of 4:1 or greater, and have led to the voluntary restoration of more than 3,991,891 acres of upland habitat and 1,207,553 acres of wetlands on private land 1987. These acres, along with 12,501 miles of enhanced stream habitat, provide valuable habitat for Federal trust species.
- TU and USFWS restore connectivity in the Upper Sprague (Klamath): http://www.tu.org/blog-posts/deming-creek-restoration-benefits-klamath-bull-trout-redband
The National Fish Passage Program: a voluntary, non-regulatory initiative in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides funding and technical assistance to reconnect aquatic habitats.: Since the program launched in 1999, the National Fish Passage Program has helped remove or bypass over 1,430 barriers and reconnect 21,101 miles of river and 156,751 wetland acres across the nation. It has a 3:1 ratio of non-federal dollars to federal dollars invested, and has supported over 200,000 jobs
- Lower Pebble Creek Restoration Project: Designed to improve stream bank stability to help achieve the TMDL goals of reducing sediment in Pebble Creek and the Portneuf River. Riparian re-vegetation will occur through a combination of willow and other riparian transplants, sod transplants, and willow staking.
- Burgess Creek: In a partnership with Colorado members of TU, the FWS plans to remove two fish barriers (impassable culverts) from a native cutthroat stream
The National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP): including the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) and the Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership (ORBFHP).
