This article examines past stream enhancement research in the Rocky Mountains. Streams have a remarkable ability to recover once stress is removed, however, not all streams are candidates for enhancement. The best fishery habitat management practice is to maintain theses unaltered aquatic habitats in their natural condition. In degraded streams, land managers should devise and implement management techniques that will eliminate deleterious artificial factors and permit natural processes to return these streams to their pristine conditions whenever possible. Managers should carry out enhancement efforts only on degraded streams where the fish habitat will not return to a natural state in a reasonable amount of time. Streams that are not endowed with good aquatic habitat should be enhanced only after careful study. Stream enhancement often fails in the Rocky Mountains because the real fish-limiting factors are not treated and because of improper application, placement, and design of structures or improvements (for example, logs). More research needs to be done on natural streams in order to better predict the consequences of various land-management actions on watersheds.
Citations and enhanced abstracts for journals articles and documents focused on rangeland ecology and management. RSIS is a collaboration between Montana State University, University of Idaho, and University of Wyoming.