National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) 2010 HCI Scores and Human Disturbance Data for Alaska linked to HUC12s for Alaska

Publication Date

2011-04

Start Date

2000

End Date

2007

Type: Download

These data were collected for multiple purposes. First, they were gathered in support of conducting a condition assessment of fluvial waterbodies throughout Alaska in support of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP). Second, these data were intended to be made available to NFHAP Partnerships as well as other users interested in acquiring consistently-organized information for characterizing condition of and potential disturbances to river systems over larger regions. This work was supported by local, state, and federal partners of NFHAP, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. Because the condition assessment was conducted over such a large geographic region, we adopted a landscape approach for assessment which assumed that anthropogenic disturbances as well as natural characteristics in watersheds affect a given unit of fluvial habitat which in turn could affect fishes. It was necessary to use a landscape approach because landscape data are available for every location in Alaska whereas local measures of habitat or biological indicators of habitat condition were only available in a consistent and usable format at a very small percentage of locations throughout the state at the time of this assessment.

• National Fish Habitat Partnership