NRCS Enters Partnership To Improve Trout and Salmon Aquatic Habitat

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2003--USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Bruce Knight today announced a new cooperative partnership with Trout Unlimited, Inc. to help improve the nation's trout and salmon aquatic habitat.

“The Department of Agriculture and NRCS are committed to conserving natural resources and fish and wildlife habitat,” Knight said. “Partnerships such as this help promote common sense environmental stewardship practices that benefit aquatic habitats, trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds.”

The agreement, the first between the two organizations, establishes a framework of cooperation that encourages conservation projects to maintain and enhance wetland, riparian and aquatic habitats; provides technical assistance and public information programs for landowners to inform them about aquatic and riparian habitat conservation practices; and fosters enhanced collaboration on aquatic and riparian habitat enhancement projects and conservation techniques.

“The agreement will help us work together to enhance the aquatic habitat for trout, salmon and other aquatic life,” Knight said. “Wetlands and aquatic habitats and the species that inhabit them are two of several key resource concerns in the agency's ecosystem-based approach to conservation planning.”

For more than 40 years Trout Unlimited has been dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. NRCS provides conservation planning, technical assistance and financial incentives to conserve natural resources on private lands.

For additional information on NRCS conservation programs, go to <http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/>. Information on Trout Unlimited can be found at <http://www.tu.org/>.
 

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