Fish need water: that’s a given. But habitat is more than water alone. Stream-dwelling fishes need connected habitats. Waters fragmented by large dams or small, poorly placed road culverts keep fish from accessing habitat. Fish need certain waters at particular times of the year, times of day, or times of their lives, so as to live out their lives as accustomed by nature.
Not all fish migrations are as storied as iconic Pacific salmon leaping into cascading falls, moving hundreds of miles to spawn and die. Diminutive darters, sunfishes or minnows in Midwest streams may need to migrate mere feet to find refuge through a warm low-water period. Trout in the West may need to find deep water to over-winter, or a place to spawn in the spring.
No matter the reason or the season of need, the National Fish Passage Program, a voluntary, non-regulatory initiative in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides funding and technical assistance to reconnect aquatic habitats.
Conserving America's Fisheries
The Fisheries Program applies scientific data to focus conservation activities on high-priority species and habitats. We are committed to protecting and maintaining stable populations and healthy habitats and restoring degraded habitats and depleted populations. The healthy habitat is vital to well managed aquatic resources, continuing ecological, recreational, commercial, and subsistence contributions to our nation’s prosperity.
Contact Fish Passage Program - Mountain-Prairie Region
Listed as:
- Department of Interior - Fish and Wildlife Service Programs
Contact Fish Passage Program - Mountain-Prairie Region
Bill Rice
Fish Passage Coordinator
P.O. Box 25486
Denver, CO 80225
Phone: (303) 236-7905
Service Area
Statewide Program in:
- Colorado
- Kansas
- Montana
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Wyoming