Fisheries Habitat Management On Public Lands PDF Download

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages over 85,000 miles of stream fish habitat, many lakes and reservoirs, and a wide variety of unique habitats. Fisheries resources managed by BLM on public lands contribute nearly $100 million to the economy. A variety of laws, Executive Orders and policy statements require BLM to manage fisheries and associated aquatic resources on a sustained-yield basis, within a multiple-use framework, without long-term loss of habitat capability, and with special attention given to aquatic resources with unique values. Policy directions is incorporated into resource management plants (RMPs) which prescribe general management practices and land use decisions for the management of fisheries resources. More detailed and site-specific plans, including fish and wildlife habitat management plans, are prepared where necessary to help implement RMP decisions on the ground. Monitoring and evaluation are integral elements of all plans prepared. In july 1987, the Bureau Director appointed a team of managers and biologists inside and outside the agency to review the Bureau's fisheries program and to develop recommendations and strategies to clarify and strengthen the program. The team found that during the past decade BLM has experienced a two-thirds reduction in fisheries biologist positions, leaving many field offices without adequate fisheries technical skills. This situation often puts the BLM in the position of conducting multiple-use management without representation from fisheries professionals and of being unable to capitalize on fish and riparian habitat improvement opportunities. The reduction in fisheries personnel has resulted from a low priority for funding and a lack of understanding for the value of and need for fisheries resource management on BLM lands. These percentual problems remain both inside and outside the Bureau. Even thought BLM has recently made progress in coordinated riparian management, the overall condition of fisheries and aquatic resources on public lands has not improved.