Aquatic and Riparian Health

• Do you have questions about fish passage on your property?
  •  The Family Forest Fish Passage Program (FFFPP) assists private forestland owners in removing culverts and other stream crossing structures that keep trout, salmon, and other fish from reaching upstream habitat. Landowners who harvest less than 2 million board feet per year are eligible.
     
• Are you interested in a conservation easement?
  • The Rivers and Habitat Open Space Program is available to eligible Washington state landowners who would like to sell a permanent forestland conservation easement to the state.
  • The voluntary Forest Riparian Easement Program (FREP) reimburses landowners for the value of trees they are required to leave behind near streams, wetlands, seeps, or unstable slopes. 
     
• The Small Forest Landowner Office now has a fish and wildlife biologist who provides technical assistance to help small forest landowners with Forest Practices Riparian and Wetland Management Rules on their forestland, including onsite expertise when determining stream typing, fish presence and barrier assessments, and wetland. Email Landon Shaffer or the Small Forest Landowner Office.
   
• Service foresters can also assess aquatic or riparian habitat. Contact fish and wildlife biologist Ken Bevis for more information. 
   
• Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan
   
• Watershed Resilience Action Plan
   
• Washington State Integrated Forest Management Plan Guidelines
   

Suggested reading

• Two DNR Programs Helping to Conserve Forestland in the Chehalis Basin
   
• Down by the Water: Forest Riparian Habitats