Pacific Region Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal Program Strategic Plan
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Pacific Region Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal Program Strategic Plan July 2007 Table of Contents Executive Summary..............................................................................................................................1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................2 How to Use This Plan ...............................................................................................................3 Summary of Stakeholder Input .................................................................................................3 Overview of Region..................................................................................................................4 Ecological Diversity......................................................................................................5 Land Ownership Patterns..............................................................................................7 Threats.......................................................................................................................................7 Pacific Northwest..........................................................................................................7 Pacific Islands ...............................................................................................................8 Region 1 Conservation Initiatives.......................................................................................................10 Cross Program Results............................................................................................................10 Candidate Conservation..........................................................................................................11 Organizational Structure of the Region 1 Partners and Coastal Team ...............................................12 Five Program Goals from the Service Vision Document ..................................................18 Goal 1. Conserve Habitat .........................................................................................................18 Focus Area Development........................................................................................................18 Conservation Objectives .........................................................................................................19 Habitat Improvement Targets .................................................................................................20 Monitoring and Adaptive Management..................................................................................23 Goal 2. Broaden and Strengthen Partnerships...........................................................................26 Goal 3. Improve Information Sharing and Communication ......................................................28 Goal 4. Enhance Our Workforce...............................................................................................29 Goal 5. Increase Accountability.................................................................................................30 Appendix A. Pacific Island Coastal and Partners Program Focus Areas ..........................................34 Appendix B. Oregon Focus Areas .....................................................................................................60 Appendix C. Western Washington Focus Areas................................................................................88 Appendix D. Upper Columbia Basin Focus Areas ..........................................................................106 Appendix E. Snake River Basin Focus Areas..................................................................................122 Appendix F. Stakeholders Contacts.................................................................................................136 Appendix G. Comparison of Strategic Plan and Operational Plan Targets.....................................146 Appendix H. Table of References....................................................................................................150 List of Tables Table 1. Region 1 Partners Program Focus Areas and Five-Year Performance Targets (FY 2007 - 2011) .............................................................................................................22 Table 2. Region 1 Coastal Program Focus Areas and Five-Year Performance Targets (FY 2007 -2011) ..............................................................................................................23 List of Figures Figure 1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Islands Ecosystem ........................................4 Figure 2. U.S. EPA Level III Ecoregions .................................................................................. 6 Figure 3a. Locations of Region 1 Partners and Coastal Program Field Stations and Focus Areas in the Pacific Northwest.................................................................................13 Figure 3b Locations of Region 1 Field Stations and Focus Areas in the Pacific Islands ......... 14 Figure 4 General Organizational Structure of the Region 1 Partners and Coastal Team ....... 16 Executive Summary Region 1 encompasses extraordinary ecological diversity with habitats ranging from tropical forest and coral reefs in Micronesia, to old-growth rainforests west of the Cascade mountain range of Oregon and Washington, to glacial lakes and streams in Washington's Northern Cascades, to arid shrub-steppe habitat in southern Idaho. These habitats support over 400 endangered and threatened species, many unique and endemic plant and animal communities, and a variety of economic and land-use considerations. Our partners are varied―agricultural and natural resource dependent communities, rural landowners, Native American tribal governments and indigenous island communities, watershed councils, coral reef advisory groups, universities, land trusts, State and Federal agencies, and many others. Our Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (Partners Program) and Coastal Program Team recognize that this diversity in habitats, landowner needs, and partnerships presents many opportunities for us. This abundance of opportunity in Region 1 requires program focus to ensure our limited staffing and project dollars are allocated to benefit the highest priority resources and achieve the highest quality results for our Federal trust species. The Region 1 Partners and Coastal Program Team has developed a reputation for having the ability to effectively deliver technical assistance and habitat restoration projects in a timely, efficient, and cooperative manner. In order to remain within our capacity and to meet our partners' expectations, Partners and Coastal Programs biologists carefully evaluate project proposals to assess which sites best meet the Focus Area objectives. We seek to leverage limited program funds by providing needed technical assistance to complementary restoration programs in a watershed or ecoregion. Ultimately, through collaborative partnerships with other agencies and programs, our Partners and Coastal Programs’ limited funds are leveraged to restore habitat and conserve our valued natural resources. In this Plan, we describe how we will improve the overall effectiveness of our Partners and Coastal Team to: • conserve habitat, • broaden and strengthen partnerships, We will improve our efficiency and increase results by • improve communication, focusing our partnership building and habitat • enhance our workforce, and improvement actions within 40 Partners Program and 14 Coastal Program Focus Areas. • increase accountability. Conserve Habitat Region 1's diversity in ecoregion and habitat types, their associated threats, and extensive partnership opportunities call for creative and energetic efforts to conserve habitat. To meet this challenge, our Partners and Coastal Team will improve our efficiency and increase results by focusing our partnership building and habitat improvement actions within 54 Focus Areas (40 Partners Program Focus Areas and 14 Coastal Program Focus Areas). The Focus Areas represent landscapes where broad fish and wildlife conservation goals could best be met, and are consistent with our program’s voluntary approach. Some question how voluntary conservation efforts can be strategic as they are by nature opportunistic and shaped by landowner interest and funding availability. However, opportunistic conservation is not necessarily random. By targeting our actions within the Focus Areas described in this Plan, our actions will strategically create conservation opportunities. The Partners and Coastal Team efforts in Region 1 will focus on the restoration of wetland, coral reef, grassland, savanna, tropical and temperate forest, upland bog, shrub-steppe, stream, and riparian habitats within these Focus Areas. These Focus Areas overlap with high concentrations of listed and candidate species, with key migratory bird corridors, National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) lands, and with priority State- led conservation efforts for species at risk. 1 Over the next 5 years, we anticipate our Partners Team will improve habitat on approximately 4,300 acres of wetland habitat, 7,960 acres of upland habitat, 114 miles of riparian habitat, 25 miles of instream habitat, and remove 83 fish passage barriers. We anticipate our Coastal Team will improve habitat on approximately 1,233 acres of wetland and coral reef habitat, 604 acres of upland