Fish Passage Program to Receive Federal Funding

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced that 40 fish passage projects in 23 states and Puerto Rico will receive a total of nearly $38 million in Fiscal Year 2022 funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

With a total of $200 million in investments in the National Fish Passage Program over the next five years, the law will bolster efforts to address outdated, unsafe, or obsolete dams, culverts, levees, and other barriers fragmenting rivers and streams in the United States, which will help restore fish passages and aquatic connectivity.

The National Fish Passage Program, facilitated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, supports aquatic ecosystem restoration projects and restores free-flowing waters, allowing for enhanced fish migration and protecting communities from flooding.

“Across the country, millions of barriers block fish migration and put communities at higher risk of flooding,” said Deb Haaland, department secretary. “President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our nation’s rivers, streams, and communities and help restore habitat connectivity for aquatic species around the country.”

Several of the projects receiving funding will directly address issues related to climate change and serve disadvantaged communities, while also spanning the U.S. geographically and addressing a wide array of diverse aquatic resource issues.

As part of the announcement, Shannon Estenoz, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife, and Martha Williams, service director, visited the Albright Power Station Dam near Albright, W.V., which is among the recipients of the new funding. During the visit, the leaders met with staff and partners to discuss the dam’s removal and the positive impact it will have on neighboring communities. Removing the obsolete dam, built in 1952 on the Cheat River, will help increase public access and recreational opportunities and improve public safety. Engineering is underway and removal is planned for 2023.

“Aquatic restoration projects are important examples of how naturebased projects can enable ecosystems and communities to be more resilient to climate change,” said Williams. “In addition to providing benefits for fish and aquatic species, the National Fish Passage Program’s work to restore degraded and fragmented aquatic habitats decreases public safety hazards, improves infrastructure resilience, creates jobs, and stimulates the local economy.”

The program has decades of proven experience implementing infrastructure projects, with partners to improve the health of the nation’s waterways, reconnect rivers, and improve climate resilience. The program provides financial, engineering, and planning assistance to communities, tribes, and landowners to help remove barriers and restore rivers for the benefit of fish and people.

Since 1999, the program has worked with over 2,000 local communities, states, tribes, and private landowners to remove or bypass 3,202 barriers to fish passage and reopen access to 57,736 miles of upstream habitat and 193,783 acres of wetland habitat for fish and other animals.

The rivers, streams, and coastal systems of North America once supported vast annual runs of fish, such as Atlantic salmon, American shad, alewife, blueback herring, and American eel. These species—and many others that include some at-risk species— depend on connected streams and highquality habitat to survive. During the past 200 years, many of these populations have decreased drastically.

Across coastal Florida, dam removal and stream restoration projects will remove two dams and restore streams on the Apalachicola, Myakka, and Econlockhatchee rivers. The projects will benefit five federally listed mussel species, as well as Gulf sturgeon and the Florida manatee.

For more information about the National Fish Passage Program and the 40 funded projects, visit the Fish Passage Program website at www.fws.gov/program/nationalfish-passage. S