Coho salmon recovery
plan designed to prevent listing of fish
ADAM PEARSON,
December 22, 2005
About a year-and-a-half ago, a proposal was made to list
Oregon Coast coho salmon under the Endangered Species Act. Since that time, a
concerted effort has been made to prevent that from happening.
In order to prevent a future listing, the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration have come
together in a partnership that is working to devise plans that will help coho
salmon recover.
On Tuesday, Jim Muck, ODFW’s Roseburg District fish biologist, laid out
priorities and assessments of the department’s plan to the Partnership for
the Umpqua Rivers at the ODFW office in Roseburg.
Until Tuesday, Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers was known as the Umpqua Basin
Watershed Council.
The presentation Muck gave prioritized the most important areas for Oregon
Coast coho restoration, with the lower Umpqua and its flood plains listed as
the highest.
According to Muck, the Umpqua rivers system contains habitat for 23 to 28
percent of the Oregon Coast coho salmon population.
The tricky part of the recovery plan, Muck says, is figuring out how more coho
salmon will help or hurt neighbors on the banks.
There are many factors to consider in the recovery plan. Among those are
industries and populations that surround fisheries habitat. Those interests
include agricultural lands, livestock lands, anglers, environmental groups,
the timber industry and water users — especially cities.
| Council adopts new name |
The Umpqua Basin Watershed Council voted
Tuesday to change its name to Partnership for the Umpqua
Rivers. The vote was prompted because the group is often
confused with the local environmental group Umpqua Watersheds.
Umpqua Basin Watershed Council was formed in 1995 as an
advisory committee to the Douglas County commissioners. In
2000 it incorporated as a nonprofit.
There are 17 directors on what will now be known as
Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers board. Of those members, one
is elected and the rest are appointed by county commissioners.
They serve two-year terms, with half of the board’s terms
ending each June 30. A director can serve two terms.
The board is made up of agriculture, timber, fishing,
environmental and other interest groups. The board directs
projects that improve fish habitat, culverts for fish passage,
watershed testing and quality, and fish habitat education.
Since 2003, two other watershed councils formed in Douglas
County. They are the Smith River Watershed Council and the Elk
Creek Watershed Council. |
|
“Where does society think that economically and resource
wise, where fish should be managed into the future? That is what will
determine what we call our desired outcomes,” Muck said.
Muck says wild coho have rebounded since their decline in the past.
And the species has rebounded drastically since it was heavily harvested from
the 1960s to the 1980s, a period that earned it an earlier listing under the
ESA.
“Right now it is coming back. It still has a way to go. It has shown some
improvement since 1997, some of it ocean related and some of it I’d like to
believe are efforts of the community and restoration,” he said.
Some of those improvements, he said, are related to different management
practices concerning harvest, hatcheries and hydropower facilities.
“Those type of restoration activities have helped stabilize the
population,” Muck said.
Muck said ODFW’s new recovery plan is about continuing those activities at
society-accepted levels.
Bob Kinyon, coordinator for Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers, says the
organization’s main concern is working to improve fish habitat. Therefore,
its board and members are working with local ODFW biologists toward the
outcome of furthering Oregon Coast coho recovery.
“We are fish-centric, so to speak,” Kinyon said. “We don’t want the
coho to be listed as an endangered species and then the feds telling us,
‘This is how you need to recover the fish.’ We think that the Oregon plan
is a good plan. It’s got a lot of vocal, grass-roots support, and that’s
the plan that we want to use to recover the fish.”
Rosemary Furfey, NOAA’s Oregon Coast Coho Recovery coordinator, who is
working on an Endangered Species Act Recovery Plan that is a partnership with
the state’s Native Fish Conservation Plan, says a final draft for the coho
recovery plan should be ready by December 2006.
“Both have the same needs, so we’re working together,” Furfey said.
• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.
