The riverway is managed by the National Park Service (NPS) in cooperation with the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) and its member tribes. Representatives from the NPS, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and GLIFWC developed a Fisheries Management Plan (NPS, unpublished) to provide a unified approach to managing the riverway fishery. Prior to the plan being developed, there was an absence of a unified approach to fish management due to different regulations, management philosophies, and missions among these entities. The goals of the Fisheries Management Plan for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway are to:
- maintain, or, where necessary, restore the integrity of near-natural riverine plant, fish, and wildlife communities;
- maintain, restore, and evaluate habitat to provide sustainable fisheries;
- manage the river corridor to restore or maintain a climax riparian vegetative cover;
- recognize treaty-reserved rights and resources within the riverway;
- develop a fisheries management strategy that places primary emphasis on habitat protection over promotion and development of recreational uses; and
- focus fisheries habitat restoration activities on correcting detrimental, human induced, habitat alterations.
Fish habitat restoration activities will:
- mimic or use natural processes and features; and
- be applied to accelerate well-studied recovery needs.