U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ohio River Valley Ecosystem

USFWS Field Stations Fifteen field stations are located in this Landscape Priorities ecosystem: 7 National Wildlife Refuges, 5 ■ Restore native mollusks Ecological Services Field Office, 1 National Reverse the decline of native aquatic Fish Hatchery, 1 Law Enforcement mollusks focusing on listed and Office, and 1 Fishery Resources Office. candidate species and species of This ecosystem is located in three U.S. concern. Fish & Wildlife Service regions. ■ Restore migratory landbirds Partners Reverse the decline of migratory West Virginia Department of Natural landbirds and other bird species of Resources, Ohio Department of Natural concern and achieve stable viable Resources, Illinois Department of Natural populations. Resources, Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources, Indiana Department ■ Restore native fishes of Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Fish Reverse the decline of native fishes and Boat Commission, Natural Resources focusing on interjurisdictional, listed, Conservation Service, U. S. Environmental and candidate species and species Protection Agency, U. S. Army Corps of of concern. Engineers, Kentucky Waterways Alliance ■ Protect karst and cave habitat Ecosystem Description Protect and restore karst and cave The Ohio River Basin drains a total area habitat supporting listed and candidate of approximately 141,000 square miles species and species of concern. and includes portions of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, ■ Protect wetland, riverine, and riparian Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and habitat West Virginia. The Ohio, the ecosystem’s Protect and restore wetland, riverine, primary river, is formed by the and riparian habitat for the protection confluence of the Allegheny and and enhancement of migratory Monongahela rivers at Pittsburgh, waterbirds and other wetland- Pennsylvania. Major tributaries flowing dependent species of concern. into the Ohio, from upstream to downstream, include the Muskingum, ■ Protect imperiled species Kanawha, Guyandotte, Big Sandy, Reduce the decline and promote the Scioto, Licking, Great Miami, Kentucky, recovery of rare resources identified as Green, and Wabash rivers. The Ohio threatened and endangered species, flows 981 miles in a southwesterly candidate species, and species of direction, joining the Mississippi River concern. at Cairo, Illinois. Contacts Numerous Service trust resources are in Kurt Snider, Team Leader, 931-528-6481; the ecosystem, including many federally Leslie TeWinkel, Biologist, 612-713-5164. listed plants, mussels, fish, birds and mammals, waterfowl, other migratory Web Address water birds, and neotropical migratory http://orve.fws.gov land birds. Much of the region’s economic activity (agriculture, lumbering, mining, and recreation) is based on the watershed’s natural resources. Resources of the area are threatened by land conversion, poor landuse, physical alteration of the area’s rivers and streams, mountain-top removal, acid mine drainage, destruction of wetland habitats, and discharges of pollutants.

Great Lakes - Big Rivers Region