Habitat restoration

Healthy Streams Farm Stewardship Program: Chesapeake Logperch Initiative



Partners: Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Location: Lower Susquehanna River Basin of Pennsylvania and Maryland

The need: The Chesapeake logperch is an at-risk species that could avoid the need for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act if partners take the right actions in the right places, while there’s still time.

  • Partners are accelerating the establishment of riparian riparian
    Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.

    Learn more about riparian     forest buffers in priority watersheds for Chesapeake logperch by working with producers to address specific conservation needs of their farming operations
  • Using conservation vouchers that support agricultural best management practices, the program incentivizes a conservation approach that offers multiple ecological benefits and a cost-effective way to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff into waterways
  • The partners focus on opportunities to leverage funds incentivizing conservation of fish and wildlife on farms, including restoring wetlands, planting upland trees, planting pollinator habitat, and improving fish passage fish passage
    Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.

    Learn more about fish passage     while upgrading stream crossings for farm equipment and livestock
  • This project will lead to the installation of at least 160 acres of new riparian forest buffer along more than 18 miles of Chesapeake logperch habitat streams in the Lower Susquehanna