The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is providing $3.17 million in grants to 18 partners in 34 states to improve fish habitat and stem declines in native fish populations.
The funding will help partners restore and enhance stream banks, remove barriers to fish passage, reduce erosion from farm and ranchlands, and address other conservation needs in stream, lake and coastal environments.
2015 NFHP grantees include:
The Fishers and Farmers Partnership, which will work to reduce the impact of various farming practices on aquatic habitats in the Red Cedar and St. Croix watersheds of Wisconsin
The Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership, which will work with volunteers and partners to conserve salmon habitat in Alaska
The Western Native Trout Initiative, which will restore habitat crucial to cutthroat trout, Gila trout and bull trout, all of which are imperiled species.
Work conducted by FHPs aims to stop and reverse fish population declines by protecting and maintaining aquatic ecosystems, preventing further degradation of fish habitats that have been adversely affected, reversing declines in the quality and quantity of aquatic habitats to improve the overall health of fish and other aquatic organisms, and increasing the quality and quantity of fish habitats that support a broad natural diversity of fish and other aquatic species.
Approximately 700 species of North American fishes are imperiled, according to USFWS.
For more information about the NFHP, visit www.fishhabitat.org.
source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service