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SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT 

 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



A Short History of Watershed and 



Fisheries Habitat Management 



on the National Forests 



SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT, THE FOREST SERVICE HAS BEEN MANAGING 

 WATERSHEDS AND ANADROMOUS FISH HABITAT. 



Providing for favorable condition of water flow and maintaining 

 hydrologic function is a primary goal of the Organic 

 Administration Act of 1897. The Forest Service's watershed 

 management program provides for protection of watershed 

 condition in the conduct of other activities by providing 

 technical support to ensure that practices are designed to 

 minimize impacts to acceptable levels. The Forest Service's 

 nonpoint source management strategy is a preventive program 

 based on design and application of practices that are expected 

 to provide the necessary protection of water dependent ■ 

 resources, monitoring to determine effectiveness of practices, 

 mitigation to correct for unforseen problems, and adjustment of 

 practice design where appropriate. 



In addition to preventing problems from ongoing activities, the 

 Forest Service has a program to restore watersheds impacted by 

 past activities. We have a current inventory of those National 

 Forest System lands that are in need of improvement. This 



