Review of Tools for Identifying, Planning, and Implementing Habitat Restoration for Pacific Salmon and Steelhead

Abstract

AbstractA key challenge in watershed restoration is identifying the appropriate assessments, data, and analyses needed to identify disrupted natural processes, lost and degraded habitats, and limiting factors to ultimately identify and design successful restoration projects. This has proven particularly challenging for large restoration programs focused on recovery of threatened and endangered salmon and trout where numerous tools, models, and other assessments have been developed to assist with habitat restoration at the watershed, reach, and project scale. Unfortunately, it is often unclear which step in the restoration process these various assessment tools will actually address. To assist with identifying the appropriate assessment tool (e.g., model, data collection, analysis, and survey), we reviewed major categories of watershed restoration assessment tools to determine their goals, inputs, outputs, and their utility in helping plan, prioritize, and implement restoration actions. The major categories of assessment tools reviewed were: (1) life cycle and fish–habitat models, (2) watershed assessment methods and techniques, (3) reach assessments, (4) prioritization tools, and (5) common monitoring methods to identify, prioritize, and plan river and watershed restoration projects. We specifically indicated whether these assessment tools directly or indirectly assisted with the key steps in the restoration process that are required to develop successful restoration plans and projects. These steps involve assessing watershed conditions, identifying limiting habitats and life stages, identifying problems and restoration actions, selecting restoration techniques, prioritizing restoration actions, or designing actual restoration projects. It is important to recognize that no single assessment tool will address all the steps in the restoration process. Selecting appropriate assessment tools requires a clear understanding of the goals of the restoration program and which step in the restoration process will be addressed by a particular tool. We provide recommendations for how restoration practitioners and managers can use our review to help select the appropriate assessment tools needed for their watershed.