Long Range Transportation Plan for Fish and Wildlife Service Lands in Region 1 U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service Page 1

Planning Update 1 

Long Range Transportation Plan 

for Fish & Wildlife Service Lands 

in Region 1

January 2009

Pioneering 

Planning Effort

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Region 1 (Oregon, Washington, 

Idaho, and Hawaii) is undertaking a 

pioneering effort to develop a long 

range transportation plan (LRTP) for 

its wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. 

This plan will help the Service identify 

and prioritize needed transportation 

improvements demonstrated 

through documented Department 

of Interior databases highlighting 

unmet mission critical needs. 

The purpose of this pilot project is 

to serve as a model for region-level 

transportation planning within the 

Service, seek alternative funding 

sources, implement coordinated and 

cooperative transportation partnerships 

in an effort to improve the Service’s 

transportation infrastructure, bring the 

Service into compliance with Federal 

legislation requiring all Federal Land 

Management Agencies to conduct 

long range transportation planning 

consistent with State and Metropolitan 

plans, and establish a defensible 

structure for sound transportation 

planning and decision-making.

Although often overlooked, 

transportation infrastructure supports 

Department of Interior initiatives by 

connecting people with nature, improving 

the condition of parking areas, public and 

service roads and trails assets all while 

resulting in meeting the mission of the 

Fish and Wildlife Service. Understanding 

the connection between transportation 

and conservation, the Service has 

established a transportation mission 

and goals to serve as benchmarks 

for evaluating improvements to the 

transportation system within Region 1 

as part of this LRTP. Together with an 

understanding of existing transportation 

infrastructure deficiencies in the 

region, this plan will enable the region 

to make better decisions regarding its 

most critical transportation needs.

At a time when resource and 

infrastructure funding is scarce, this 

LRTP will also arm leaders with a 

toolkit to use in working with gateway 

communities, counties, Metropolitan 

Planning Organizations, other Federal 

land management agencies, and 

stakeholder agencies outside Service 

boundaries, many of whom could 

potentially contribute funding or in kind 

services to advance priority projects. 

(Continued on page 2)

USFWS
Long Range Transportation Plan for Fish and Wildlife Service Lands in Region 1 Page 2

LRTP Benefits to FWS

In addition to those mentioned 

above, the LRTP brings multiple 

benefits to the Service.

■■ Enables leaders to make informed 

decisions based on long term 

transportation and mission, goals.

■■ Provides the Service with a better 

picture of future transportation needs 

and information for discussion regarding 

transportation reauthorization.

■■ Provides a long-term view of 

transportation in relation to core 

operations and Service priorities.

■■ Enables leaders to direct funding 

to the most beneficial and highest 

priority transportation projects.

■■ Enables leaders to find alternative 

funding from Federal sources 

that are administered by states or 

Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

■■ Enables leaders to synchronize 

transportation planning with refuge 

and hatchery efforts such as refuge 

comprehensive conservation plans 

(CCPs), comprehensive hatchery 

management plans (CHMPs) and 

other regional planning efforts 

outside Service boundaries.

■■ Provides current data on 

multimodal transportation issues 

and needs across the region.

■■ Provides an opportunity for 

Region 1 and individual refuges and 

hatcheries to partner and discuss 

areas of mutual interest with the 

public and regional entities such 

as minimizing carbon footprint, 

alternative transportation systems, 

and transportation systems linkages.

Mission of Long Range 

Transportation Plan

To support the U.S. Fish & 

Wildlife Service’s mission by 

connecting people to fish, wildlife, 

and their habitats through 

strategic implementation of 

transportation programs.

Goals:

■■ Ensure that the transportation 

program helps to preserve and 

enhance fish, wildlife and plant 

resources and their habitat(s).

■■ Ensure that the transportation 

program provides safe access 

and circulation while enhancing 

visitor experiences. 

■■ Integrate appropriate 

transportation components into 

internal FWS plans and processes. 

■■ Optimize partnering to maximize 

resources and develop integrated 

transportation solutions. 

■■ Adopt and promote sustainable 

transportation practices that 

address climate change. 

HAWAII

P a c i f i c O c e a n

±

Fish & Wildlife

Service Lands

in Region 1

National Fish Hatchery

National Wildlife Refuge

Interstate

State Boundary

#*

Pioneering Planning Effort

(Continued from page 1)
Long Range Transportation Plan for Fish and Wildlife Service Lands in Region 1 Page 3

The Region 1 Fisheries program is a 

unique program funded by resource 

management and reimbursable 

funds to mitigate for fish losses 

due to hydroelectric dams, provide 

subsistenance and ceremonial salmon 

to Native American tribes, and provide 

sport and commercial fisheries in the 

Columbia River and its tributaries. 

Rivers in the Pacific Northwest support 

some of the largest populations of 

iconic fish such as steelhead and 

salmon that are declining in numbers. 

Responding to the great need for fish 

habitat conservation and restoration, 

Region 1 supports a network of 37 field 

offices including 17 fish hatcheries 

and various other field stations.

Transportation plays a key role in 

mission critical activities for Fisheries, 

such as transporting fish from hatcheries 

to acclimation ponds and tributaries 

each spring for release to develop 

sustainable populations in specific 

waterways. However, the Fisheries 

program does not currently receive 

transportation specific funding as part of 

the current Surface Transportation Act. 

Instead, transportation improvements 

or new facilities must be constructed 

from deferred maintenance funds 

that are already stretched thin. 

By participating in the regional 

transportation planning process, the 

Fisheries program is demonstrating 

a strategic need for transportation 

infrastructure improvements by 

influencing policy and planning level 

decisions that will affect project 

prioritization once Federal funding 

becomes available. Currently, the 

Fisheries program has $2.7 million in 

proposed mission critical transportation 

projects in need of funding.

Refuge Roads 

Program

The Refuge Roads Program has 

been in existence since 1998, with 

approximately $2 million allocated 

each year in Region 1. These funds 

can be applied to improvements on 

existing public use refuge roads, 

parking lots, and trails on national 

wildlife refuges. Across the region, the 

Service maintains over 500 road miles, 

138 parking lots, and 158 trail miles. 

Through the Refuge Roads Program, 

the Service is working to improve 

public access to refuges and provide 

a better overall visitor experience 

for those who wish to experience 

wildlife-oriented outdoor recreation. 

In Region 1, the Refuge Roads Program 

already has an informal project selection 

process in place. However, this process 

lacks the formal structure or quantifiable 

evaluation criteria for project 

prioritization typically associated with 

long range transportation planning. This 

LRTP will improve project selection by 

integrating defensibility and justification 

for why certain projects are selected 

for advancement and implementation. 

Beyond project selection, this LRTP 

will also make better use of refuge road 

funding by promoting partnerships 

with other agencies. Partnering will 

support reaching the Service’s goal of 

facilitating cooperation and identifying 

opportunities to work together to 

help conserve wildlife habitats.

USFWSUSFWS USFWS

Fisheries 

Resources
Long Range Transportation Plan for Fish and Wildlife Service Lands in Region 1 Page 4

Public 

Involvement

In order to meet its mission to connect 

people with natural resources at Region 

1 wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries, it 

is essential for the Service to coordinate 

and develop partnerships with local, 

county, and state departments of 

transportation to leverage available funds 

to implement transportation projects. 

Because wildlife refuges and fish 

hatcheries are accessed by local, county, 

and state road networks, it is important 

for the Service to coordinate with the 

corresponding jurisdictions to identify 

their transportation priorities and 

leverage funds where common interests 

exist. This is especially important for 

projects that could not be initiated or 

completed through sole source funding.

Public involvement strategies 

for this LRTP will include:

■■ Providing updates on planning 

milestones on the Service website

■■ Distributing planning update newsletters 

to select stakeholders at key milestones

■■ Distributing e-blasts with update 

information on the planning 

process at key milestones

■■ Conducting outreach meetings with 

select stakeholders via face-to-face 

meetings and web-conferences

■■ Providing portions of the draft document 

for key stakeholder review and comment

■■ Collecting comments on the 

planning process and document 

via the Service website

Due to the nature of multi-agency 

agreements and the socioeconomic 

and cultural diversity of Region 1’s 

programs, stakeholder input will be 

sought to capitalize on institutional 

knowledge and expertise in order to 

achieve goals outlined in the Region’s 

LRTP. Stakeholders for this planning 

effort will include State Departments 

of Transportation, metropolitan and 

rural planning regions, and local 

Friends groups. The Service will 

also seek to make a larger number 

of interested groups aware that the 

planning activities are taking place.

USFWS

USFWS

For more information contact:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Jeff Holm

Region 1 Transportation 

Program Coordinator

911 NE 11th Avenue

Portland, Oregon7232-4191

503/231-2161

fw1lrtpcomments@fws.gov