This project will revise existing priority protection and restoration watersheds for 5-7 aquatic guilds and 4-8 priority aquatic species across the Grassland Ecosystem. The project will utilize and update the original model platform used to create the first priorities for the Great Plains Fish Habitat Partnership (GPFHP) in 2011 and utilize input from the Partners Council fishery experts of the GPFHP, which is composed of twenty state and federal agencies and nonprofits focused on aquatic conservation in the Great Plains. Benefits of the proposed outcome will be a broad consensus on input data for the analysis and locations for focused implementation of habitat conservation and monitoring to address the multiple goals of strategic habitat conservation. The $55,000 SA investment supports conservation priorities for the Grassland Ecosystem. This project is leveraged by $50K in matching funds and $37K in-kind support from the Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation Program.
