Incorporating State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategies into a Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan A joint project of and June 2007 1 Incorporating State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategies into a Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan A joint project of the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership and The Nature Conservancy This project was conducted with the generous financial support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) under NFWF grant agreement 2005-0005-002. Recommended Citation: Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership and The Nature Conservancy. 2007. “Incorporating State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategies into a Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan.” Nashville, TN. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was funded by a National Fish and Wildlife Federation grant, sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency acting on behalf of the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP). Additional funding for this grant was provided through in-kind contributions from the SARP member agencies. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) led this project in collaboration with the SARP regional aquatic habitat planning committee. The TNC project lead was Sally Palmer, and Joey Wisby of TNC led the CWCS integration database development. SARP Coordinator Scott Robinson, along with Marilyn O’Leary and Ed Comstock assisted in meeting facilitation, logistics, and collecting feedback from SARP member-state CWCS planners. Finally, this project is built upon the expertise of the literally hundreds of participants in the 2003-2005 CWCS planning efforts of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Southeast is a region with more aquatic diversity than any other area of the continental United States (Palmer et al. 2005). The sustainability of these freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats and the economic, social, and cultural benefits they provide is under threat by increasing urbanization and land use changes, nonpoint source pollution, invasive plant and animal species, and incompatible water management. The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership was formed in 2001 with the mission to “with partners, protect, conserve, and restore aquatic resources including habitats throughout the Southeast, for the continuing benefit, use and enjoyment of the American people” (SARP MOU 2001). The SARP member states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas), along with other agency signatories, namely the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), and the Gulf and South Atlantic Fishery Management councils (GMFMC and SAFMC), are committed to collaborative, cross- jurisdictional efforts to improve and protect the aquatic resources of the Southeastern U.S. In 2005 the SARP worked with The Nature Conservancy to launch a regional scale aquatic habitat plan (see Palmer et al. 2005). During this time, the first National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) was completed, which identified national habitat improvement objectives as well as recognizing the SARP as the pilot Fish Habitat Partnership for the Southeastern U.S. (Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 2006). The SARP envisions its regional habitat plan as the primary vehicle for implementing both NFHAP and regional scale aquatic habitat objectives. Also in 2005, all nongame programs in SARP member states, as directed by Congress, submitted their Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategies (CWCS) to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for approval. The state CWCS plans encompass the variety of problems facing state-identified species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) as well as strategic conservation actions aimed at improving habitats and population status of SGCNs (TWRA 2005). While engaged with its pilot regional planning effort, the SARP recognized the importance of trying to incorporate its member state’s nongame CWCS work into the regional aquatic habitat plan. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, acting on behalf of SARP, submitted a grant for this project to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s “State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Support Program,” which was founded with support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The goal of this program is to facilitate regional and/or national coordination in implementing state CWCS plans. The Nature Conservancy was invited by the SARP steering committee to continue participation on its regional habitat planning committee by leading the tasks associated with the objectives of this new grant project. The two primary objectives of this project were as follows: 1. Work with the SARP’s regional habitat planning committee and member state CWCS planners to incorporate the aquatic elements of the state CWCS plans into the Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan. ii 2. Identify potential cross-border conservation strategies and specific opportunities for state and federal integrated conservation planning for shared aquatic resources. This project report is designed to assist the SARP habitat plan committee in its efforts to integrate the aquatic elements of its member state CWCS plans into the SARP regional aquatic habitat plan. By incorporating this CWCS information and engaging with the nongame programs of its member states, the SARP can help develop habitat restoration and protection strategies that cross both programmatic and political boundaries, increasing the effectiveness of existing agencies and organizations while leveraging available funding to maximize the financial resources available to achieve regional-scale conservation objectives. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………..i Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………….ii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….1 Project Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………4 Project Outcomes…………………………………………………………………………………………19 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………………24 References………………………………………………………………………………………………….25 Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………………….27 List of Tables Table 1. Descriptions of Problem Categories used in SARP CWCS assessment database (adapted from TWRA 2005)………………………………………………………………………10 Table 2. Strategy Taxonomy Problem Categories used in SARP CWCS Assessment database (adapted from TWRA 2005)……………………………………………………15 Table 3. USGS Water Resource Regions largely and partially within SARP member-state political boundaries…………………………………………………………………………..20 List of Appendices APPENDIX 1: USGS WATER RESOURCE SUBREGIONS LARGELY OR PARTIALLY CONTAINTED WITHIN SARP MEMBER STATE POLITICAL BOUNDARIES……………………..28 APPENDIX 2: USGS HUC-8 WATERSHEDS COMMON TO MULTIPLE SARP MEMBER STATES. ORGANIZED BY INDIVDUAL STATE………………………………………………36 APPENDIX 3: SARP MEMBER STATE CWCS PRIORITY MAPS……….…………………………….53 APPENDIX 4: SARP MEMBER STATE (+ VA) CWCS CONTACTS………………………………..100 iv INTRODUCTION Project Overview The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership and Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) is comprised of signatories from 13 southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), and the Gulf and South Atlantic Fishery Management councils (GMFMC and SAFMC). The SARP was established by a Memorandum of Understanding between its member agencies in 2001, committing those agencies to work together in partnership to address the variety of conservation challenges related to the management of aquatic resources at a landscape scale in the Southeastern United States (SARP MOU 2001). The mission of the SARP is “with partners, protect, conserve, and restore aquatic resources including habitats throughout the Southeast, for the continuing benefit, use and enjoyment of the American people” (SARP MOU 2001). One of the SARP’s primary focus areas is aquatic habitat, and the partnership began its first effort to draft a Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan in 2003 (Palmer et al. 2005). During calendar year 2005, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) assisted the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) in completing a more formal pilot watershed planning project designed to initiate the development of the SARP’s Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan. This work was funded via a National Fisheries and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) acting on behalf of the SARP. The SARP was also successful in receiving multi-state conservation grant funds from the Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) to continue the planning effort beyond the pilot. While the SARP’s initial regional planning efforts were underway, in 2004 the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies agreed to lead the development of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. The first national plan was completed in 2006 and identifies “Fish Habitat Partnerships” as the “primary work units” of the action plan (Association of Fish and Wildlife Associations 2006). The SARP currently is recognized as a pilot Fish Habitat Partnership the National