Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Supports Fish Passage, Recreational Opportunities, and Flood Prevention Projects Across the Country

$200 million dollar investment in rivers, wildlife, and communities. 

Clean free-flowing waterways are vital to wildlife, people, and ecosystems. But across the country, millions of barriers fragment rivers, block fish migration, and put communities at higher risk to flooding. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is a once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness. We were directly appropriated $455 million over five years in BIL funds for programs related to the President’s America the Beautiful initiative.

Learn more about Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
, signed in November 2021, includes $200 million for restoring fish and wildlife passage by removing in-stream barriers and providing technical assistance under the National Fish Passage Program. The funding is distributed over five years and delivers $38 million to 40 projects in 23 states and Puerto Rico in 2022 alone, providing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our nation’s rivers, streams, and communities. 

Obsolete or poorly designed dams, culverts, stream crossings, and levees keep fish, and other aquatic species from moving freely to feed, migrate, and reproduce.  These challenges put fish populations at risk, undermine the health of the rivers, and reduce fishing opportunities. These barriers also fragment aquatic habitats and are often more susceptible to flooding or drought.  

Across the country National Fish Passage Program projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help restore rivers, protect wildlife, support communities, and improve climate resilience. 

The Potomac Headwaters Fish Passage Restoration will implement up to 17 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.

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barrier removal projects, including dam removals and road-stream crossing replacements, to reconnect over 195 miles of habitat for brook trout and American eel in the headwaters of the Potomac Watershed across three states (West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland). This project is part of the Potomac Headwaters River restoration effort where other partners have been collectively working for over 15 years to reconnect high quality, limestone underlain spring fed, brook trout patches.  

In Arizona the Apache Trout Recovery Fish Passage Infrastructure project will remove barriers on several creeks and replace culverts, most of which are on Tribal land. The project will help create larger populations of Apache trout in addition to re-opening access to 52.4 miles of habitat.

Across coastal Florida, Dam Removal and Stream Restoration in Florida projects will remove two dams and restore streams on the Apalachicola, Myakka, and Econlockhatchee Rivers. The projects will benefit five federally listed mussel species as well as Gulf sturgeon and Florida manatee. 

The Tyonek Creek Culvert Replacement for the Benefit of Subsistence Resources project will restore access to 10.8 miles of coho salmon spawning and rearing habitat by replacing an undersized culvert on one of the largest and most important salmon streams near the village of Tyonek, Alaska. 

In the Pacific Northwest the West Fork Grays River Fish Passage project will work with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to remove derelict water intake infrastructure. The intake removal will restore fish passage to over 15 miles of upstream spawning and rearing habitat, benefiting threatened populations of winter steelhead, coho, fall Chinook and chum salmon.

Fish and Wildlife Service staff visit a fish-friendly culvert where a road crosses a salmon stream in Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

The National Fish Passage Program combines technical expertise with a track record of success.

Implemented primarily through the Service's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices, the National Fish Passage Program provides financial and technical assistance to partners across the country. Since 1999, the program has worked with over 2,000 local communities, Tribes, and private landowners to remove or bypass over 3,400 barriers to fish passage and reopen access to over 61,000 miles of upstream habitat for fish and other animals. Staff have expertise in fish migration and biology as well as financial, engineering, and planning assistance to communities, Tribes, and landowners to help them remove barriers and restore rivers for the benefit both fish and people.

The rivers, streams, and coastal systems of North America once supported vast annual runs of fish such as Pacific salmon, American shad, blueback herring, Pacific lamprey and American eel. These species and many others, including some at-risk and listed species, depend on connected streams and high-quality habitat to survive. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish Passage Program are committed to reconnecting rivers for the benefit of all.

FY22 National Fish Passage projects with funding from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Project Name

Location

Funding

Gustavus Alaska Landscape Scale Watershed Restoration

AK, Hoonah-Angoon Census Area

 $600,000

Little Tonsina River Bridge Installation

AK, Valdez-Cordova Borough

 $1,318,604

Tyonek Creek Culvert Replacement

AK, Kenai Peninsula Borough

 $1,614,106

Trispot Darter Culvert Replacements

AL, St. Clair

 $1,125,000

Apache Trout Recovery Fish Passage Infrastructure Project

AZ, Navajo / Apache

 $2,310,000

Bylas Springs Habitat Expansion and Barrier Removal

AZ, Graham

 $240,000

Dam Removal and Stream Restoration in Florida

FL, Gadsden/Sarasota/Volusia

 $600,000

Mill Creek Fish Passage

ID, Caribou

 $60,000

Charles Mill Dam Removal

IN, Grant

 $325,000

Markle Dam Removal on Otter Creek

IN, Vigo

 $109,500

High Street Dam Removal in the Taunton River Watershed

MA, Plymouth

 $1,550,000

Sabattus River Restoration

ME, Androscoggin

 $350,000

Hamilton Dam Removal

MI, Genessee

 $855,650

Brooklyn Dam Removal

MI, Jackson

 $800,000

Increasing Bull Trout and Arctic Grayling Fish Passage in Montana

MT, Powell/Lewis & Clark/Beaverhead

 $250,000

Upper Clark Fork Fish Passage for Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat

MT, Ravalli and Deer Lodge

 $230,000

Gila National Forest Fish Passage Project

NM, Catron

 $430,740

Carson National Forest Valle Vidal Culvert Replacement Project

NM, Taos

 $151,120

Numana Dam Fish Passage Project

NV, Washoe

 $8,292,215

Illingsworth Creek Fish Passage Improvement

OR, Tillamook

 $150,000

Myrtle Creek Fish Passage Improvement

OR, Tillamook

 $500,000

Samson Creek Fish Passage Improvement

OR, Tillamook

 $100,000

Henderson Marsh Reconnection Project

PA, Philadelphia/ Delaware

 $900,000

Culebrinas Dam Removal/Bypass

PR, Aguada/Aguadilla

 $1,500,000

Culvert Replacements for Fish Passage in South Carolina

SC, Lancaster/Greenwood

 $860,000

Harm's Mill Dam Removal

TN, Lincoln

 $500,000

Albert and Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area Dam Removal

TX, Kendall

 $130,000

Pinto Creek Road Crossing Improvement Project

TX, Kinney

 $480,000

Gigliotti Diversion Dam Removal on the Price River

UT, Carbon

 $1,500,000

Virgin River Fish Passage Initiative in Zion National Park

UT, Washington

 $3,520,000

Clinch River Watershed Fish Passage Restoration

VA, Tazewell

 $200,000

Anton & Cedar Creek Fish Passage Restoration

WA, Clallam

 $992,000

Johnson Creek Fish Passage Improvement

WA, Okanogan

 $600,000

Schafer Boom Road Camp Creek Fish Passage Barrier Corrections

WA, Grays Harbor

 $75,900

South Fork Tieton Bridge Fish Passage Improvement

WA, Yakima

 $400,000

West Fork Grays River Fish Passage Project

WA, Pacific

 $99,800

Wisen Creek Fish Passage Restoration

WA, Clallam

 $551,000

Cheat River Albright Power Station Dam Removal

WV, Preston

 $1,000,000

Potomac Headwaters Fish Passage Restoration

WV, VA, MD

 $1,150,000

Upper Bear River Fish Passage for Native Bear River Cutthroat

WY/UT, Uinta/Rich

 $1,390,000

Story Tags

Aquatic connectivity
Climate change
Environmental justice
Fish migration
Fish passage