Community-based habitat restoration program

Summary form only given. As follows: The Restoration Center is working to forge closer ties between NOAA and local constituencies. In FY96, the Restoration Center began a community-based restoration initiative to enable staff to become more directly involved in local habitat restoration activities that benefit NOAA trust resources. To date, this effort provided funds for 20 habitat restoration projects at the local or community level, where the Center participation served as a catalyst or essential element for project implementation. Through community-based restorations, the Center hopes to form strong partnerships with local government agencies and volunteer organizations, as well as promote stewardship and a community conservation ethic for natural resources. The Adobe Creek Fish Passage Project in California is an example of community-based partnership in which a permanent step-pool fish ladder system was constructed to provide passage for steelhead trout past a 12 foot blockage at the base of a culvert. The project involved a partnership with the United Anglers of Casa Grande, California Department of fish and Game, and three Sonoma County Agencies. This solution makes it possible for fish to ascend the perched culvert and continue swimming upstream to spawn. Local high school students are the stewards of the creek and will maintain the fish ladder and monitor its success. Another example is the Duck Creek Project; the restoration of an impaired urban stream in Juneau, Alaska. Salmon no longer reproduce in the creek because of high fine sediment concentrations and low oxygen levels in the spawning gravel. Such conditions typically result from urban development, highway maintenance, runoff, and stream pollution. As part of a joint effort involving community groups, the city of Juneau, the State of Alaska and other federal agencies, the Restoration Center has begun to remove fine sediments and reconfigure the stream channel to enable Duck Creek once again to support the spawning of coho salmon, chum salmon, and cut-throat trout. Much of the work will be done voluntarily