Bring Back the Natives

Leading factors in native fish species decline include habitat alteration, lack of adequate in-stream flows, and invasive and/or non-native species. Bring Back the Natives awards grants to projects that conserve aquatic ecosystems, increase in-stream flows and build partnerships that benefit native fish species throughout the United States. The program also provides grants to implement the goals of theNational Fish Habitat Action Plan​.

Bring Back the Natives also supports projects that advance innovation in fisheries management, including developing decision support tools, landscape-scale assessments to determine where to implement restoration to maximize native fish recovery, piloting innovative restoration techniques, identifying key flow restoration thresholds that enhance fish habitat and water quality in flow-limited systems, and innovative public outreach methods like crowd-sourcing data or information needed for native fish conservation. 

Priority Landscapes and Species

Bring Back the Natives supports projects benefitting one or more of the following native fish species and focal geographies:

• Pacific lamprey, Chinook salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin
• Salmon in the Central and Northern California coasts
• Intermountain West native trout andchar including Yellowstone/Snake River, Colorado River, San Juan and Greenback cutthroat trout, as well as bull trout, Apache trout and Gila trout
• Native desert fishes in the arid Southwest, including sucker, dace, pupfish and other species, especially those with overlapping distributions with other native fish species of conservation priority
• Great Lakes native fishes, including lake sturgeon, northern pike and eastern brook trout
• Southern and southeastern native fish, especially endemic species of concern in the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mobile (Alabama/Coosa) River drainages
• Native fish of eastern U.S. Rivers, especially river herring and American shad in the Chesapeake and Delaware watersheds