BLM-AK- CCS- Fisheries Population Monitoring and Inventory

The Challenge Cost Share (CCS) Program was started in 1985 when Congress appropriated funding for partnership conservation projects to benefit wildlife. The CCS programs provides funding for the following types of fish and wildlife activities and projects: (1) research, monitoring and inventory of fish and wildlife resources; (2) implementation of habitat improvement projects; (3) providing for enhanced recreational experiences relating to fish and wildlife; (4) development and implementation of species conservation and recovery plans; and (5) environmental education. The Program maintains diverse collaborative partnerships with non-governmental organizations at the local level to advance fish and wildlife conservation. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed to work to monitor fisheries populations and habitat (i.e. Gulkana king salmon, Delta River Arctic grayling, Tangle Lake's lake trout, Gulkana steelhead, etc.) on both BLM and State of Alaska lands. In the past, the State of Alaska, Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) has provided a well-established monitoring and assessment of fisheries resources. BLM has shared costs, field staff and expertise to actively manage fisheries resources on BLM managed lands and neighboring State of Alaska land. The ADF&G has conducted comprehensive, systematic, standardized basin-wide fish distribution and habitat inventories and have produced more than (14) published reports on BLM-managed fisheries resources within the Glennallen Field Office. The current proposal continues this effort. Comprehensive fish-distribution and population/abundance information is required for effective land use planning, conservation, and restoration to identify sensitive and important habitats. Bureau of Land Management plans such as the Gulkana Wild and Scenic River Management Plan and the East Alaska Resource Management Plan identify fisheries and fish habitat as Outstanding Remarkable Values and this is based in large part on the known fish population/abundance and distribution of fish within the watershed. Landscape planning efforts also rely heavily on knowledge of fish distributions and aquatic habitat characteristics and their spatial and temporal relationship to other resources and activities.