EPA Tools for Fish, Habitat and Stream/River Restoration
On this page:
Efforts to recover salmon populations in the Columbia River basin is a multi-million dollars per year enterprise, involving a wide array of stakeholders and managers, including Tribes, States, federal agencies, and utilities. Successful and efficient restoration of fish habitats and populations requires making well-informed decisions about when and where to implement various conservation practices. In the Columbia River Basin, funding and actions are being informed by approaches and tools to aid in prioritization of restoration efforts. In this presentation, we will provide a brief overview of datasets and tools under development and use at the US Environmental Protection Agency that could help inform salmon habitat restoration efforts. Examples include spatial datasets such as StreamCat and LakeCat, as well as water quality modeling tools like VELMA, HAWQS and WASP. Water quality tools and models can help supplement decision-making based on physical habitat needs and identify areas where salmon recovery may be constrained by water quality limitations. Tools are also available for informing watershed and water management best practices. Water quality and habitat assessments will also be best informed if future changes due to climate-change related risks can be taken into account, and we will describe one such approach under development.