Waters to Watch

A list assembled by the nation’s leading authorities on aquatic conservation to create cleaner and healthier habitats for the many fish and wildlife species and people who call these areas home

So what is Waters to watch and why Should I care?

The 10 Waters to Watch list, assembled by the nation’s leading authorities on aquatic conservation, is a collection of rivers, streams and shores that will be cleaner and healthier habitats for the many fish and wildlife species and people who call these areas home.

Thanks to the combined actions of concerned community groups, non-profit organizations, local watershed groups, Native American tribes and state and federal agencies, these waters are being improved by planting stream-side vegetation, removing structures blocking fish from habitat and protecting bodies of water from the effects of industrial processes, agriculture and livestock.

They are representative of freshwater to marine waters across the country including lakes and reservoirs that are improving through the conservation efforts of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan — a bold initiative to reverse persistent declines in aquatic habitat.

2021 Waters to Watch

1. Monatiquot River, Massachusetts

Project Submission by: The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership

For many years, the former mill industry along the Monatiquot River impacted historic herring runs and disconnected species from their spawning grounds. Now, the Armstrong Dam is the primary barrier to fish passage on the river. The dam no longer serves its original purpose and is also a public safety hazard. This project, led by the Town of Braintree, will remove the Armstrong Dam. There is also a concurrent project to remove the downstream Ames Pond Dam and install a pool-and-weir fishway around Rock Falls. When these projects are completed, 36 miles of unimpeded upstream access to 180 acres of river herring spawning habitat will be restored. This project, led by the Town of Braintree, will remove the Armstrong Dam. There is also a concurrent project to remove the downstream Ames Pond Dam and install a pool-and-weir fishway around Rock Falls. When these projects are completed, 36 miles of unimpeded upstream access to 180 acres of river herring spawning habitat will be restored.
This project will provide river herring access to spawning grounds, which have been blocked for centuries by dams. The subsequent increase in these forage fish should benefit recreational species such as striped bass and bluefish. The removal of the dam will also improve public safety by removing a flooding hazard.

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2. Lawrence Creek, California

Project Submission by: The California Fish Passage Forum

The recovery of Coho Salmon in Yager Creek is dependent on rapid action to protect or improve conditions in Lawrence Creek (CDFW, 2017). The Lawrence Creek Off-Channel Habitat Connectivity Project, addresses high-priority SONCC Coho recovery actions (also benefitting other important species) by creating off-channel ponds and enhancing and restoring hydrologic connectivity to existing side channel habitat features adjacent to Lawrence Creek. These side channels were disconnected due to altered hydrology and geomorphology resulting from large-scale industrial logging over the past 150 years. Reconnecting and restoring these important existing off-channel habitat provides important winter refugia and restores hydrologic connectivity for listed species. The addition of large wood provides shelter habitat, grade control, and influences the duration and inundation of surface water within the project area. The Eel River watershed, California’s third largest, once boasted one of the State’s most robust salmonid fisheries. Due to the value of this rich resource, much of the watershed and its tributaries are the focus of intense restoration efforts in a quest to retain and recover these ecologically, economically, and culturally important fishes. To this end, a collaborative public-private partnership between Trout Unlimited, the Humboldt Redwood Company, NOAA Restoration Center, and Pacific Watershed Associates was formed to initiate a multi-phased project to restore and enhance hydrologic conditions and historic floodplain habitat on Lawrence Creek, a high priority, core recovery salmon and steelhead stream in the Eel River watershed.

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3. Applegate Watershed, Oregon

Project Submission by: The Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative

Barriers to passage are one of the primary threats to Pacific Lamprey distribution and abundance throughout their range. In recent years, a number of major passage issues have been addressed in the Oregon South Coast Regional Management Unit (RMU), and an unprecedented four dams have been removed from the Rogue Basin in southern Oregon since 2007 opening the door to increased migratory capacity for Pacific Lamprey at all life stages in the region. Despite these important improvements, the Southern Oregon Coast Regional Implementation Plan notes that a number of existing structures continue to impede passage or alter the hydrography to the detriment of fish and aquatic wildlife in the Applegate Watershed (a subbasin of the Rogue River). The Applegate River is known to have spawning lamprey and has been identified as a river to target for lamprey conservation efforts within the Rogue Basin. Smaller dams and water diversions for municipal, irrigation, livestock and other uses are abundant within the South Coast sub-region. Contemporary structures are required to provide passage for migratory fish and maintain screening or by-pass devices to protect fish from impingement or entrainment.

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4. Beaver Lake, Arkansas

Project Submission by: The Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership

Beaver Lake is an 11,500 hectare (28,000 acre) lake located on the upper White River in Northwest Arkansas. The lake functions as a source of flood control, recreational activity, hydroelectric power generation and is used as a source water drinking supply for over 500,000 people including the surrounding cities of Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, Bentonville, Eureka Springs, Harrison and Rogers. Studies by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers indicate that 4.2 million people utilize the recreational facilities on Beaver Lake annually for recreational activities such as fishing, boating, skiing and camping. Using figures from the Rogers Chamber of Commerce, these activities generate approximately $128 million in local revenue and help support the local economy of Northwest Arkansas. Beaver Lake has a variety of habitats, including 450 miles of shoreline.

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5. Holly Creek, Georgia

Project Submission by: The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership

Holly Creek directly provides habitat for a diverse assemblage of native fish and freshwater mussels and is home to six federally listed and one at-risk species. Holly Creek including the habitat at the project site supports a cool-water recreational fishery. The aquatic habitat has been degraded from poultry pollution caused by insufficient riparian buffers along streams and incompatible land management techniques. This watershed is a high-priority watershed with The Nature Conservancy, Limestone Valley RC&D as well as USFWS and SARP. TNC and the Limestone Valley have been using the SARP Protocol to survey culverts and determine high-priority restoration sites. The project will restore the riparian buffer by planting native vegetation and use natural channel design techniques to stabilize the eroding stream bank.

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6. Buckhorn Ranch Alum Fork Saline River, Arkansas

Project Submission by: The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership

The Alum Fork Saline River is an Extraordinary Resource Waterbody and an Ecologically Sensitive Waterbody that is the home to several threatened, endangered, and at-risk species as well as species of greatest conservation need. This project serves as a demonstration project for other landowners that are seeing erosion issues and unsure of how to address the issues. Reducing the sediment entering the stream will improve water quality for many uses as well as for ecologically and economically important species including recreationally targeted species. The project will stop sediment inputs from getting into the Alum Fork Saline River, by using rock vanes that point upstream and replant native vegetation.

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7. Heath, Rice, & Wolf Creeks-Cannon River Watershed, Minnesota

Project Submission by: The Fishers & Farmers Partnership

This project brings together partners that include the local Bridgewater Township, Circle Lake Association and Tri-Lakes Sportsmen’s Club, and creates opportunities for non-farm and farming community members to learn from and support each other, adding great potential for sustained and perpetual practice change. It also creates farmer-to-farmer learning opportunities that promote best management practices and addresses farming impacts at the watershed scale. In addition, opportunities are created for students at St. Olaf College to gain long-term in-field and in-stream knowledge about agricultural practices, water quality testing and habitat assessment. Because Rice Creek contains a self-sustaining Brook Trout population, Bridgewater Township sponsored the 2013 Rice Creek Assessment Project carried out by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Olaf College, Trout Unlimited, and Clean Water Partners. Contributors were Rice Soil and Water Conservation District, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and the Rice Creek Concerned Citizens Group. Minnesota Trout Unlimited received Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council funding to enhance Rice Creek. Additionally, St. Olaf College uses Rice Creek for long-term macroinvertebrate studies.

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8. Jordan Creek, Alaska

Project Submission by: The Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership

Jordan Creek flows through a heavily urbanized part of Alaska’s capital city (Juneau, Alaska) and is listed as an impaired water body by the state of Alaska. Official impairments include excess sediment and debris inputs and no or low levels of dissolved oxygen in streambed gravels where salmon eggs incubate and aquatic insects live. Jordan Creek and the surrounding watershed form an important system for supporting anadromous fish populations due to the availability of spawning and rearing habitat and have historically supported populations of wild coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), chum (Oncorhynchus keta), sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) and pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) salmon, Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma), steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki clarki). In 2019 member groups of the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership (SEAKFHP), led by the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Alaska Department of Fish and Game, teamed up to strategically address urban stormwater pollution and support long-term efforts to address water quality impairments with a focus to fully restore the health of Jordan Creek and make it the first salmon stream removed from the state’s impaired waterbodies list. Projects underway in Jordan Creek include water quality treatments, invasive species and riparian management and direct outreach to local businesses and communities to engage the community in long-term stewardship for the creek and surrounding watershed.

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9. Eklutna River, Alaska

Project Submission by: The Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership

The initial Eklutna Hydroelectric dam, built in 1929, blocked the migration of spawning salmon and was the first of two severe impacts to the Eklutna River system by hydroelectric projects. Over the course of 2017 and 2018, the defunct lower Eklutna dam was successfully removed in the most ambitious river restoration project ever attempted in Alaska. The Conservation Fund, the Native Village of Eklutna and Eklutna Inc. completed the 5- year, $7.5 million effort to remove the Lower Eklutna River dam. Known to its ancestral inhabitants as Idlughet, this area is among the traditional lands of the Eklutna Dena’ina who would overwinter along the shores of Eklutna Lake (Idlu Bena). The Eklutna River, Idlughentnu, and its wild salmon runs have long supported the Eklutna Dena’ina, however historic hydroelectric development on the river has greatly diminished the formerly flourishing salmon fisheries. The Lower Eklutna River dam was built in 1929 as part of Alaska’s first hydroelectric project. Located in a dramatic 400-foot deep canyon, access to the dam site was a severe challenge during the construction and later demolition of the dam. In construction, a tram cart delivered concrete down the cliff face to the workers below. Workers toiled throughout an entire Alaskan winter to complete the dam in a year’s time. The dam was 70 feet wide, 100 feet tall and 9 feet thick at its base. This structure pooled and diverted water through a half-mile tunnel to a generating station nearby. Power ran by wire to Anchorage until the early 1950s when it was decommissioned.

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10. Bear Creek, Wisconsin (2012 Retrospective Project)

Project Submission by: The Driftless Area Restoration Effort

The National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) with the Trout Unlimited Driftless Area Restoration Effort (DARE) and the Aldo Leopold Chapter of TU (ALCTU) is critical to Bear Creek’s restoration. The purpose of the project is to reduce erosion and siltation within Bear Creek to provide high-quality cold-water habitat. This partnership can change Bear Creek’s Class II stream status to a Class I stream, thereby providing sustainable native and wild cold-water fish populations. Stabilized stream banks will improve water and substrate quality resulting in long-term benefits to the entire stream habitat.

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