The Ohio River Basin fish habitat partnership strategic plan

Over the course of three in-person planning workshops and additional video conferences in 2008-09, the Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership (ORBFHP) utilized a rigorous open source planning method known as Conservation Action Planning to focus on key targets and to develop habitat protection and restoration strategies.  Selected conservation targets include large and great rivers (watersheds > 3,681 sq miles); medium rivers (watersheds 200-3,681 sq miles); headwater and small streams (watersheds < 200 sq miles); off-channel systems (oxbows, sloughs, and other secondary channels); sensitive mussels (non-pool species); and native aquatic vegetation.  The key ecological attributes (needs) provided by each habitat type (based on signature species or biotic group) were identified.  Then the root causes of the top threats to the key ecological attributes provided by each habitat type were determined.  Based on these determinations, habitat protection and restoration strategies were developed for each habitat type and the basin as a whole.  ORBFHP planners selected an interim list of early action sites/watersheds based on a combination of outstanding occurrences of conservation targets and state conservation agency priority areas.   Funding within the purview of the partnership will be prioritized largely to these sites.