A major threat to salmon recovery is the lack of data about fish and watershed health. RFEGs help to fill the information gap.

Lack of current information limits the ability to measure precisely the impact of salmon recovery efforts or estimate future numbers of fish.

The Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups help fill this gap by regularly implementing cost-effective scientific monitoring programs through the use of trained citizen scientists to assess long-term impacts of habitat restoration projects, analyze cost effectiveness and feasibility of projects, and provide assistance to the co-managers in quantifying salmon populations.