Pacific Region Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal Program Strategic Plan July 2010 UPDATE Table of Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Overview of Region 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Five Program Goals from the Service Vision Document .............................................................. 7 Goal 1: Conserve Habitat .................................................................................................................. 7 Goal 2: Broaden and Strengthen Partnerships ....................................................................................... 15 Goal 3: Improve Information Sharing and Communication ................................................................... 17 Goal 4: Enhance Our Workforce .......................................................................................................... 18 Goal 5: Increase Accountability ............................................................................................................... 20 Figure 1: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Islands Ecoregion .............................................................. 6 Figure 2: U.S. EPA Level III Ecoregions in the Pacific Region ..................................................................... 6 Figure 3: Regional Map of Pacific Northwest Partners Program Focus Areas ................................................ 9 Figure 4: Regional Map of Pacific Island Partners Program Focus Areas..................................................... 10 Figure 5: Regional Map of Pacific Northwest Coastal Program Focus Areas ............................................... 11 Figure 6: Regional Map of Pacific Island Coastal Program Focus Areas ...................................................... 12 Appendix A: Pacific Island Partners Program Focus Areas Appendix B: Pacific Island Coastal Program Focus Areas Appendix C: Oregon Partners Program Focus Areas Appendix D: Oregon Coastal Program Focus Areas Appendix E: Washington Partners Program Focus Areas Appendix F: Puget Sound Coastal Program Focus Areas Appendix G: Idaho Partners Program Focus Areas Appendix H: Stakeholders Contacts Appendix I: Table of References 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 in Oregon and Washington, to glacial lakes and streams in the Northern Cascades of Washington and Northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho, to arid shrub-steppe habitat in southern Idaho, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington. 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 potential projects to assess which ones 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, We will improve our efficiency and increase results by • broaden and strengthen partnerships, focusing our partnership building and habitat • improve communication, improvement actions within 35 Partners Program and 9 Coastal Program Focus Areas. • enhance our workforce, and • 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 the 35 Partners Program Focus Areas and 9 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 because they are 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, and prioritizing those projects that will achieve our Focus Area goals, we will strategically deliver conservation actions. 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, coastal meadow, 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. 2 By the end of Fiscal Year 2011, we anticipate our Partners Team will have improved habitat for approximately 7,600 acres of wetland habitat, 24,400 acres of upland habitat, 420 miles of riparian and instream habitat, and removed over 175 fish passage barriers. We anticipate our Coastal Team will have improved habitat on approximately 1,800 acres of wetland and coral reef habitat, 950 acres of upland habitat, 60 miles of riparian, instream and shoreline habitats, and removed over 25 fish passage barriers. In addition, we will work with our partners to improve our effectiveness monitoring and adaptive management efforts. Broaden and Strengthen Partnerships We will continue to serve as conservation problem-solvers by maintaining, developing, and improving long-term partnerships with private landowners, States, Tribes, indigenous island communities in the Pacific, other island Governments, other Federal agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other Service Programs. Through these partnerships, we will develop and implement collaborative species and habitat conservation strategies. Improve Information Sharing and Communication Through specific steps described in this Plan, we will improve and expand our communication and information sharing capabilities with all stakeholders and partners to maximize our conservation results. Enhance Our Workforce We will maintain and support an adequately-sized, strategically positioned workforce with state-of-the-art training in habitat restoration, conservation techniques, and partnership activities. Increase Accountability We will measure, assess, and report on the effectiveness, efficiency, and fiscal integrity of our habitat conservation programs and activities. Introduction This document is the Region 1 Step-Down Plan for the national Partners and Coastal Programs strategic planning process. The national Partners and Coastal Strategic Plan consists of three parts: Part 1 consists of two separate but related vision documents: one for the Partners Program and one for the Coastal Program. These vision This document is the documents were completed in 2006 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Regional Step-Down Plan for 2006a and 2006b), and provide a national overview of the Partners and the national Partners and Coastal Programs and the five Program goals that will be comprehensively Coastal Programs national addressed in Parts 2 and 3; strategic plan. Part 2 consists of regional strategic plans that "step-down" the national vision to the regional level; and Part 3 is the national summary document. This document is the Partners and Coastal Programs Strategic Plan for the Pacific Region, (FY 2007 through FY 2011), and will be referred to as the Plan for the remainder of this document. This Plan addresses each of the five Program goals established in the Vision Documents: • Goal 1: Conserve Habitat • Goal 2: Broaden and Strengthen Partnerships • Goal