Declining water quality and aquatic habitat in America’s reservoirs is an issue of great local significance and even greater national concern.

Multiple impairments are found in reservoir systems. These impairments, exacerbated by human population growth and projected changes in temperature and rainfall caused by climate change, adversely affect fish, other aquatic species, and their habitats and diminish the quality of life for people. To address these, State and Federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and committed individuals formed the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership (RFHP), recognized by the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) in October, 2009.

The RFHP is a national collaborative partnership established to promote the protection, restoration, and enhancement of habitat for fish and other aquatic species and communities in reservoir systems through cooperative and voluntary actions. The RFHP provides strategic coordination and direction in the conservation of fish and aquatic habitat in reservoir systems. It is committed to integrating watershed conservation, in-reservoir management, and the management of downstream flows to attain more holistic and coherent strategies for addressing aquatic habitat impairment issues in reservoir systems. The RFHP works through partnerships to implement conservation actions needed to achieve and sustain healthy reservoir systems. It does this by facilitating, informing, equipping, and supporting a bottom-up approach to implementation of conservation – enabled, in turn, by the partnership’s wealth of technical expertise.

 The Friends of Reservoirs (FOR) is a 501 (c) (3) Corporation that serves as the banking and outreach arm of RFHP. Donations to RFHP and FOR to further reservoir habitat restoration efforts are tax-deductible.

The RFHP and FOR are guided by the Executive Committee, but our members also serve on the National Fish Habitat Partnership Board.

National Fish Habitat Partnership Board Members from RFHP

Gene Gilliland ( - 2024)