8020

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8020
• Author: Horak, G. C.
• Title: Proceedings of the Symposium on Mitigating Developmental Impacts on Fish and Wildlife.
• USFW Year: 1979.
• USFW - Doc Type: March 1979.
• Copyright Material: NO

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INTERDt REPORT ON THE EVALUATION OF PLANNING FOR FISH
AND WILDLIFE AT CORPS OF ENGINEERS RESERVOIRS

INTRODUCTION

The Fish and Wildli{e Coordination Act of 1958 (P.L. 85-624), as amended,

(16 U.S.C. 661 et. seq.), mandates that fish and wildlife conservation

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shall receive equal consideration with other project purposes and be co-

ordinated with other features of water resources development programs.

In the years following passage of the Act, there has been a growing real-

ization that the legislation has not always advanced the desired objec-

tives of fish and wildlife conservation.

Although opinions vary widely with regard to the frequency and severity
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of the problem, it is generally believed that the legislation has failed

to consistently provide for conservation of populations of fish and wild-

life in association with local, regional and national water development

projects. Conclusive evidence of the impacts to fish and wildlife resour-

ces can only be realized through comprehensive on-site evaluations of fish

and wildlife community structure and density at existing projects and com-

paris on of these data against accurate measurements of these same res our-

ces made prior to construction. At the same time, basic research at ex-

isting projects to quantify and document losses and benefits to fish and

wildlife would clearly constitute an accountable method of describing pro-

bable project impacts, and thus influencing the difficult decisions in-

volved in site selection, design, construction and operation of water de-

velopment projects.

The planning responsibility for fish and wildlife at federal water develop-

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