28-5
Midwest Fish Habitat Partnerships: Meeting National Fish Habitat Action Plan Goals Through Development of a Coordinated Scientific Network
Maureen Gallagher
,
Department of Geology and Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryville, MO
Fritz Boettner
,
Downstream Strategies Inc., Morgantown, WV
Pam Dryer
,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ashland, WI
Ken Lubinski
,
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, USGS
Louise Mauldin
,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, LaCrosse, WI
Pat Rivers
,
Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources, Brainerd, MN
Jeff Thomas
,
The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, Cincinnati, OH
Since 2006, seventeen new regional Fish Habitat Partnerships (FHP), have organized under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan to approach aquatic species management through a strategic habitat conservation pathway. Development of regional (landscape) scale partnerships that coordinate and apply conservation actions across management jurisdictions pose inherent challenges to achieving conservation goals. There are, however, far greater opportunities in working together, combining assets, and strategically locating and designing conservation actions on the landscape. The adage,
think global – act local applies to the strategic conservation of aquatic habitat. All conservation is local, but deciding the localities is a regional, national, and even global task at times.
Six FHPs in the Midwest and Great Plains have been working together for over three years to develop and support a coordinated scientific network for the Midwest and Great Plains FHPs that will facilitate communication and develop shared knowledge to meet our conservation objectives while enabling the use of common metrics for assessment of progress in restoring and preserving target aquatic populations.
To identify priority areas for regional aquatic conservation, the FHPs are developing geospatial models that provide baseline habitat condition assessments and direct strategic focus of each FHP. Further, we will develop an operational model for providing services to multiple FHPs in a larger geographic region by providing a hub for support services in science, GIS technology, planning, outreach, and coordination.
