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For project proponents including volunteer groups, property owners and transportation engineers, and for permit reviewers, grant administrators, and planners, Aquatic Habitat Guidelines will facilitate the consistent application of good science and technical practice for projects affecting aquatic and riparian ecosystems. Each guideline volume will be based on the scientific background provided by a series of white papers, and using a set of guiding principles. The white papers address our current understanding of impacts of development and land management activities on aquatic and riparian habitat, and potential mitigation for these impacts. Additional white papers nearing completion address freshwater dredging and gravel mining, and channel crossings, which deals with bridges and utility crossings. Guidelines will follow for these and other topics, depending on continued funding for the AHG Program.
The State of Washington Salmon Recovery Strategy recommends the development of comprehensive and integrated guidelines for aquatic and riparian habitat restoration and mitigation projects. The AHG program addresses the scientific and technical need for design and analysis criteria for this work, and for other types of activities which may affect the state's aquatic and riparian habitats including transportation infrastructure, docks and marinas, irrigation diversions, mining and dredging. The AHG program is a technical assistance program and not a regulatory program.
For more information on the AHG project, as well as online versions of the seven completed state-of-the-knowledge white papers on guidance subject matter and drafts of the existing guidelines, visit Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife's Aquatic Habitat Guidelines Project website.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
