The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) offers technical assistance to ensure your hydraulic project is designed and constructed in a way that protects fish. Contact your local habitat biologist at the earliest stages of planning a hydraulic project. They will help you develop a fish-friendly project and answer questions.
Technical assistance providers
Complex projects may require professional services for technical design and permitting, such as:
- Environmental permitting
- Geotechnical and hydrologic assessments
- Habitat restoration
- Seagrass/macroalgae habitat surveys
- Forage fish spawning surveys
WDFW maintains a list of professionals available to provide technical assistance for hydraulic projects. Inclusion on the list is not an endorsement by WDFW. You can verify whether a business is registered to work in Washington State through the Washington Department of Revenue. You can verify veteran or minority and women owned business certifications through the Department of Veteran Affairs and Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprises, respectively.
Add your business: Complete a Technical Assistance Provider application to add your business to the list of service providers.
Note: We recommend viewing the technical assistance provider list in full screen mode. If you use a keyboard for navigation, please see the list of keyboard shortcuts that work with the list below.
Project resources
WDFW offers many tools to help people design fish-friendly hydraulic projects.
Planning and mapping
Knowing which fish species are on or near your project site will help you develop fish-friendly plans.
- SalmonScape – Learn about salmonid distribution and occurrence data
- Priority Habitats and Species – Learn about priority fish species at your project site with PHS on the Web
- Forage Fish Spawning Map – Learn about documented spawning locations of forage fish
Project guidelines
Designing climate change-resilient culverts and bridges - WDFW's water crossing guidance now considers stream changes due to climate change. We will help you design culverts and bridges using future stream condition data to avoid project failure and maintain fish passage.
Aquatic Habitat Guidelines - Guides to help you with hydraulic project planning and design.
- Marine Projects
- Freshwater Projects
Engineering drawings
The Department offers example drawings and checklists for common hydraulic projects to help you develop a complete drawing package.
- Construction drawing checklists
- Example engineering drawings (for reference only)
Protocols
- Fish and habitat surveys
- Fish exclusion, handling, and electrofishing
Mitigation and project enhancements
- Mitigation Guidelines – Hydraulic Project Approvals (HPAs) ensure hydraulic projects protect fish. You must mitigate project impacts that exceed allowable limits.
- Washington Native Plant Society – Offers plant lists by county and native plant and seed sources that can help you restore vegetation, per your Hydraulic Project Approval.
- Living with Wildlife - Beavers – Learn about ways to prevent conflicts with beavers.