Contacts Bruce Woods (907) 786-3695
9/22/05

Fish Passage Projects Return Fish to 73 Miles of Alaska Rivers and Streams

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?s Fisheries Program and its partners in 19 states will spend a combined $7.4 million this year to remove or bypass more than 150 barriers to fish passage.

The popular National Fish Passage Program enlists municipal, state, tribal and other federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations, to open habitat in the Nation?s streams and rivers by removing or bypassing dams and other obstructions and improving or replacing culverts under roads or railroad tracks.  Partner participation is strictly voluntary.

Completion of the 2005 projects will open more than 1,500 miles of waterways and more than 5,000 acres of habitat, allowing fish to access important historic spawning and rearing areas that were unavailable for years.

Here in Alaska, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has invested $421,112, backed by an additional $185,615 in matching funds from our various partners, to remove a total of 17 barriers to fish passage. When completed, these projects will reopen more than 73 miles of waterway to salmon and other fish species.

"The National Fish Passage Program is a natural for Alaska," said Rowan Gould, Alaska Regional Director for the Fish and Wildlife Service.  "We have plenty of willing partners because this is a program where everyone wins. These relatively small investments result in more fish being found in more miles of river and stream where more people can enjoy them."

Before and after video clips of one of the Alaska fish passage projects are available to media on request. Contact Bruce Woods at the number above.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.  The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas.  It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations.  The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts.  It also oversees the Federal Aid Program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

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For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visit our home page at http://www.fws.gov

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