Oral Presentation International Conference on River Connectivity (Fish Passage 2018)

Region-wide expansion of the Salmon Superhighway, USDA Forest Service prioritization of fish passage barriers in the Pacific Northwest Region of the US (#167)

James M Capurso 1
  1. USDA Forest Service, Portland, OR, United States

The USDA Forest Service is a member of the Salmon Superhighway partnership, restoring fish passage in the Tillamook and Nestucca drainages on the Pacific Coast of Oregon. Over the last 5 years, the partnership used the Anadromous Fish Passage Optimization Tool (APASS) (O’Hanley 2011) to develop a portfolio of prioritized passage projects, restoring access to 90% of historical fish habitat in those drainages at a fraction of the cost of restoring all access. With 3,690 anthropogenic fish migration barriers remaining to be treated on National Forest System Lands in Oregon and Washington and newly completed fish migration barrier and fish distribution databases, the agency is applying the Salmon Superhighway prioritization approach region-wide. This presentation updates the progress of the Salmon Superhighway partnership, recounts the creation of the regional fish migration barrier and fish distribution databases, and describes how all three were used to prioritize treatment of the remaining fish migration barriers throughout the Pacific Northwest Region of the USDA Forest Service.