Best Management Practices for Enhancing Fish Habitat in Reservoirs

Using as a starting point a recently completed habitat impairment survey conducted by the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership, we are identifying Best Management Practices (BMPs) for a broad range of impairment factors. Some of these include sedimentation, water clarity, water quality, eutrophication, water regime, catchment disturbances, and others. Within each of these major factors there are multiple impairments that need addressing. Suitable BMPs are being compiled from state and federal agency manuals, handbooks, journal articles, websites, and policy statements. Information will be made available as a BMP manual available online and as a hard copy downloadable from the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership website. The BMPs are intended to provide direction on what to do and local direction will provide direction on how to do it. Thus, whereas detail guidance and monitoring procedures will be developed, the guidance will not attempt to directly address every local situation. Instead, the goal is to provide a standard set of core BMPs broadly applicable at the national level, and when appropriate, fine-tuned to the regional level.