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Land Use Programs

Recovery relies on the integration of land use program and salmon and steelhead priorities.  \

The Recovery Plan was based in part on the assumptions that regulatory programs protect habitat baseline conditions, conservation programs protect what regulatory programs cannot, restoration programs improve upon baseline conditions, and that monitoring of programs will identify successes and areas where more effort is necessary. It is essential that these assumptions are reviewed and adapted over time. 

New! Land cover is assessed through the Lower Columbia Regional Land Cover Analysis Project 

The LCFRB partnered with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Inter-Fluve to identify and summarize land cover and land cover change data across the lower Columbia River Lead Entity Area. Land cover conditions are summarized at land use program, subbasin and riparian scales to answer questions regarding status and changes in tree and impervious surface coverage over time. 
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Land cover types across the lower Columbia. The majority of the Lead Entity Area is covered in trees, although urban and rural residential/agriculture areas between urban and forest lands have greater impervious surface coverage and potential land conversion activities through reduced tree cover. 
Land Use Program reviews started with a 2018 - 2019 pilot assessment in the East Fork Lewis River watershed.
Key take homes from the East Fork Lewis River assessment are: 
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  • Recovery Plan expectations for partner programs do not provide enough supporting details for successful alignment
  • LCFRB staff have limited capacity to fully engage with recovery partners on all programs
  • Supporting program data is limited, and not structured to support effective assessment of program success
  • Available habitat restoration project data does not support assessment of freshwater habitat threats to salmon and steelhead.
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