Oregon Coastal Salmon Restoration Initiative |
Development of this Conservation Plan, based primarily on state and local government and grassroots efforts, has been assisted in various ways by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). One aspect of this assistance is a document prepared by NMFS describing essential elements of a conservation plan relative to Endangered Species Act (ESA) determinations.
The purpose of this chapter is to summarize Oregon's interpretation of the NMFS document and to present a general sense of how the OCSRI Plan responds. Outlined in the NMFS document are the nine critical elements of a conservation plan. These are highlighted in this chapter, along with a discussion of the manner in which the OCSRI Plan addresses each element.
Element 1 - Identify, at appropriate scales, the major factors that have contributed to the decline in the ESUs.
As noted in other sections of this document, a variety of human activities and natural processes have contributed to the decline of anadromous salmonids in Oregon. Prominent among these are activities related to the management of harvest, hatcheries, and habitat. In some geographic regions, hydropower is also considered a general risk category. In Oregon, however, large dams are not common in coastal basins, so hydropower is not considered a broad risk category for Oregon coastal coho. In the OCSRI Plan, dams are considered under the habitat factor. Poor environmental conditions for coho salmon in the ocean off Oregon for the last two decades have contributed to recent declines in coho.
While recognizing that many factors have contributed to the decline of coho in Oregon coastal rivers, no scientific analysis has been conducted that is capable of assigning proportional responsibility for the decline in coho populations to specific factors. In all likelihood, such an analysis is impossible. Clearly, however, if too many fish are harvested, too few will survive to spawn and populations will decline. There will also be a population decline if spawning and rearing habitats or migratory routes are degraded by land-use practices. If hatchery practices cause hatchery fish to have deleterious genetic or ecological interactions with wild fish, the populations will decline. And, if the ocean rearing environment is unfavorable to survival of coho salmon, production will decline, even if all other factors remain favorable.
Previous risk factor analyses by both ODFW and NMFS have acknowledged the likelihood that all of these factors have played a role in the decline of Oregon coastal coho. Direct evidence has been presented which indicates that harvest rates of wild coho were much higher than intended by management plans and, further, that even the intended harvest rates would have caused coho populations to decline under adverse ocean conditions. Data have been sufficient to demonstrate that freshwater rearing environments have been significantly altered from historic conditions and from conditions that are optimum for the species. The current adverse effect of the ocean environment has been well documented and appears to be consistent with large-scale climate and oceanic cyclic events. Data on the occurrence of hatchery coho in natural spawning populations, the numbers and sizes of hatchery fish released, and transfers of fish out of native basins are sufficient to establish significant concerns regarding the effects that these practices may have had on wild populations.
The OCSRI Plan proposes remedial actions coastwide that are expected to address all of the major risk agent categories and improve survival of coho salmon at all life stages. While recognition of the general activities that have contributed to the decline of coastal coho is useful, it does not immediately lead to a detailed restoration prescription.
The OCSRI Plan is based on an assumption that factors limiting production in individual basins must be identified on the watershed level and corrected at that same level. To this end, factors for decline have been identified and are discussed generally in Chapter 17B (State Agency Measures). Efforts will be made through the OCSRI to identify factors for decline for individual basins and design remedial actions. An understanding that over-wintering habitat limits coho production coastwide is not particularly useful in the context of a specific watershed where degraded riparian habitats have contributed to summer water temperatures that are too warm for coho. Similarly, watersheds that experience unacceptably high sediment loads may not benefit very much from projects that simply add large wood to stream channels. Ultimately, limiting factors must be identified and addressed watershed-by-watershed. This is the process that the OCSRI Plan expects to occur within the context of the watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, and other grassroots organizations.
With increasing emphasis on management of anadromous fish at the population, rather than the species level, and considering the hundreds of populations distributed throughout Oregon, decision makers must often choose to focus management attention on some populations at the expense of others. While many populations are legitimate candidates for restoration, limited resources are available. This situation forces choices to be made, which means that some activities related to restoration will be conducted while others will not.
The habitat that supports coho populations varies considerably, as do the characteristics of the populations. For example, individual populations are supported by habitats that range from large to small basins, from well protected and stable to poorly protected and unstable, and from an ideal rearing environment to a marginally tolerable rearing environment. Some populations may be capable of supporting fisheries, but some are depressed to extremely low abundance levels.
The Conservation Plan does not establish a priority list of major basins that will be emphasized in coho restoration efforts. Instead, priorities will be established in relation to a variety of factors, as described here.
Since the OCSRI Plan seeks to make improvements in all basins in the coastal area through active grassroots efforts, some level of effort to conserve and restore coho will occur simultaneously coastwide. Within each basin, efforts will be prioritized, first, to secure core areas for anadromous fish, and second, to improve habitat and populations in suitable recovery areas nearby.
Core area maps will serve as a starting point of consideration to focus efforts for state and federal management actions and voluntary landowner contributions. For example:
Allocation of resources to conservation and restoration will also be prioritized in relation to availability of resources. For example, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) has been asked to focus implementation of SB 1010 in three basins: Tillamook, Umpqua, and Rogue. This emphasis is based on the resources of ODA in these basins and the potential for changes in agricultural practices in these basins to benefit coho and other anadromous salmonids. Similarly, the Oregon Department of Forestry has been asked to focus resources on the Tillamook State Forest because of the extensive state forest holdings in this area, the high anadromous fishery values in the region, and the impending harvest of substantial amounts of timber there. These are just a few examples of how the OCSRI Plan addresses prioritization of conservation and restoration efforts for coho and other anadromous species.
A general approach to prioritizing conservation and restoration decisions in Oregon has been based on staff work by ODFW and a prioritization process described in a document often referred to as the Bradbury Prioritization Process. The approach is based on evaluating the status of populations and habitat, and considers such factors as population size, biological characteristics, fishery value, limiting habitat, improvement potential, and availability of resources.
A prioritization process to guide development of the OCSRI Plan must:
Based on previous assessments, five coastal basins (Nehalem, Tillamook, Siletz, North Umpqua, and Rogue) stand out on the basis of species richness, high biological value, and high social value of the salmon and steelhead populations they support.
This list is provided as an example to demonstrate that the OCSRI intends to consider priorities for coho conservation and restoration within a broader context that includes all anadromous species.
Element 3 - Establish explicit objectives and timelines for correcting factors for decline and achieving desired population characteristics.
The OCSRI Plan recognizes the need to establish quantitative objectives for populations and risk factors, including timelines for correcting limiting factors. Several approaches to providing this information have been used. Descriptions of management measures prepared by state agencies should describe quantitative aspects of desired conditions that the measure will achieve. For example, escapement goals or harvest management measures should describe quantitative objectives; hatchery management measures should describe numbers and locations of coho releases. Quantitative objectives for many habitat features have been provided in Chapter 17B. Many of these will need to be revised in the future because baseline conditions have not been established for all basins; also, considerable variation exists within and among basins.
Several basic concepts have provided guidance for development of the OCSRI Plan. These include:
Element 4 - Establish quantifiable criteria and standards by which progress toward each objective will be measured.
The OCSRI Plan includes a proposal for a comprehensive monitoring program that would permit assessment of progress toward conservation and restoration goals for coho and other anadromous salmonids in Oregon coastal basins (see Science Team Attachment). This is an extremely ambitious proposal that will be capable of detecting population increases and decreases of coho within gene conservation groups. The proposal includes the need to refine the monitoring program in the future to make it more sensitive to other species as well. This monitoring program will provide data needed to establish baseline conditions and evaluate progress toward rebuilding.
The OCSRI has proposed a series of population benchmarks and interim indicators that may be used to evaluate trends in populations and their supporting habitat. These benchmarks and indicators will be reviewed by scientists and managers before agreement is reached regarding which will provide a formal basis for tracking progress.
Element 5 - Adopt measures (actions) needed to achieve the explicit objectives.
Identification of management measures designed to assist conservation and restoration of salmonids is central to the OCSRI Plan. This draft contains management measures submitted by state and federal agencies, watershed councils, and local county and city governments (see Chapter 17A-D and 17G).
Element 6 - Establish a comprehensive monitoring program, including methods to measure whether objectives are being met and to detect population declines and increases in each ESU.
A coordinated monitoring program is considered an essential element of efforts to conserve and restore coho salmon populations. The strength of the Conservation Plan hinges on the management measures that are designed to assist the populations, as well as the management program that will be used to evaluate actual performance of the populations and the habitat that supports them.
The monitoring program is:
A comprehensive, interdisciplinary, interagency monitoring program has been discussed before, but discussions have never resulted in an on-the-ground program. Continued future implementation of this monitoring program depends on: agreement on responsibility for accomplishing distinct monitoring elements, establishment of a leadership structure to supervise synthesis and reporting of results, and funding for the program's elements.
Details on sample sites, criteria, methods, frequencies, and other aspects of sampling plans have not been determined for all elements of the proposed program. The monitoring program is designed to evolve and gradually expand in scope and intensity over a period of years.
Element 7 - Provide high levels of certainty that the identified measures and actions will be implemented.
The Conservation Plan recognizes the need for accountability. Consequently, state and federal agencies were asked to provide the following information in a matrix form that described each proposed management measure.
State and federal agencies have produced written workplans to facilitate accountability for all measures that are included in the Plan.
Element 8 - Integrate federal, state, tribal, local, corporate, and non- governmental activities and projects that are designed to recover salmon populations and the habitats upon which they depend.
The watershed council process is Oregon's approach to integrate conservation and restoration efforts of all parties. Additional detail about the watershed council process and the Governor's Watershed Enhancement Board in relation to the OCSRI Plan is provided in Chapter 17A. In Oregon, watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, and other grassroots organizations and entities will enlist the assistance of state and federal agencies, as well as local cooperators, such as For The Sake Of Salmon and the National Resources Conservation Service.
One objective of the watershed council concept is to develop assessments of limiting factors within each basin and subbasin, and to develop cooperative conservation and restoration action plans based on the biological needs of the various species that are the target of the restoration effort. A major premise of the watershed council process is that all government, tribal, corporate, and private interests in the basin will be included in the decision making and problem solving aspects of the action plans that are developed.
Element 9 - Utilize an adaptive management approach that actively shapes management actions to generate needed information.
The monitoring program will establish an adaptive management team that will provide leadership and continuity of active adaptive management principles, supported by a comprehensive monitoring program. This action is based in part on the premise that many management actions will proceed without being certain of their outcome. The proposed approach involves the following:
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Created April 4, 1997
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