Pacific Southwest Region Aquatic Conservation Strategy – 2013

The Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS) for Region 5 of the Forest Service covers the 18 national forests within the state of California.  Fundamental goals and essential components of the ACS that are common to all National Forests in Region 5 include:

• Habitat connectivity within and among watersheds to support ecological integrity, biodiversity and resilience of aquatic resources
• Physical integrity of the aquatic system, including shorelines, banks, and bottom configurations, to promote resilient aquatic habitats
• Water quality necessary to support healthy riparian, aquatic, and wetland ecosystems
• In-stream flows sufficient to create and sustain riparian, aquatic, and wetland habitats and to achieve desirable patterns of sediment, nutrient, and wood distribution
• Habitat to support well-distributed populations of native plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate aquatic and riparian-dependent species
• Sediment regime, including the timing, volume, rate, and character of sediment input, storage, and transport, that supports identified beneficial uses
• Timing, variability, and duration of floodplain inundation and water table elevation in meadows and wetlands to provide groundwater recharge, stream flow, and maintenance of riparian areas
• Aquatic species composition and distribution in lentic and lotic habitats that reflect inherent biodiversity and productivity
• Species composition and structural diversity of plant communities in riparian areas to provide riparian functions and processes including shade, wood recruitment, and sediment capture.

In order to achieve these goals, the Region 5 Fisheries Program, in partnership with the Hydrology and Watershed Programs, will implement the ACS by focusing on the following core elements:

• Development and implementation of species recovery plans, conservation assessments and strategies to conserve and recover TES aquatic species in collaboration with state and federal agencies and other organizations.
• Collaboration in the design and management of in-stream flows associated with hydropower, flood control, agricultural and municipal water operations that will maintain or restore aquatic resources (e.g. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing process).
• Assessment and restoration of aquatic organism passage at road-stream crossings to provide for unobstructed migration and dispersal, and reconnect habitats needed to fulfill the life-history requirements of aquatic species.
• Treatment of sediment delivery sources associated with roads, trails, and abandoned mines to reduce or eliminate sediment delivery where fine sediment is limiting the biological productivity of the water body
• Meadow restoration to re-establish or improve hydrologic processes and natural biotic communities
• Eradication or control of non-native aquatic species where they compromise the biological integrity of a water body and prevention of aquatic invasive species introductions through education, inspection and decontamination
• Silvicultural treatments in young riparian stands to accelerate the development of mature forest conditions and promote shade-producing canopy, vegetative diversity, wood recruitment, and a broader complex of habitats for aquatic and riparian species.
• Developing and sustaining partnerships to restore and enhance aquatic resources