Now, a cooperative effort is being launched to save the salmon -- a colossal undertaking that involves fixing an entire ecosystem while also safeguarding resource-based local economies.

It requires long-term collaboration among fishing, farming, timber, mining, and ranching interests, private landowners, local, state, and federal government agencies, watershed and environmental groups, scientists, resources managers, and others.

Many Causes of Decline

Many different conditions, both natural and human-generated, contributed to the decline of coho salmon, steelhead trout, and other anadromous fish -- those that swim from the ocean to freshwater streams to spawn.

Natural contributors to the fish decline include drought and severe flooding, changes in food supply, competition from non-native fish species, growing numbers of predators, and the warm ocean current El Nino, which causes unusual atmospheric changes.

Human activities such as logging, road-building, development, and dams, have adversely affected healthy coastal spawning streams, slowing the flow of water, scouring away gravel beds where salmon deposit their eggs, and removing rocks and trees that shelter fish from predators.

The coho, though hardy, cannot adapt fast enough to these impacts, as evidenced by its listing under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) from Santa Cruz to the Oregon border.

A Collective Effort

To save salmon and other anadromous fish from further decline and help restore their populations will require major watershed restoration, University of California, Davis biologist Peter Moyle told the California Biodiversity Council at its summer meeting in Roseville in June.

"It's going to be slow, and it's going to be expensive, but it's going to be worth doing," Moyle said. Anadromous fish are species that swim from salt water to fresh water to spawn.

In communities where anadromous fish spawn, migrate, or are harvested, local watershed groups have taken the lead in restoring and protecting their habitat, some creating coordinated resource management plans.

A preliminary list shows more than 60 watershed projects involving planning, monitoring, and restoration in the 10 Northern California counties most impacted by salmon declines: Del Norte, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Trinity, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.

Bill Hoy, chairman of the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors, told the Council that local citizens involved in watershed programs must work with federal and state agencies in managing the habitat of listed species.

"In reality, we know the listing of the coho or any other species will require a cooperative effort," Hoy said. "It will be necessary to pool resources for the effective management of the watershed."

Hoy highlighted two successful projects in Siskiyou County: the Shasta River Conservation Resource Management Plan, which boosts cold water flows for salmon smolts, and French Creek Watershed Advisory Group, which improved water quality and salmon habitat while allowing for compatible timber management.

Communities seek economic certainty and avoidance of the confrontational atmosphere that has often plagued timber and water conflicts.

Charles Peterson, chairman of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, told the Council that communities need the assurance of state and federal governmental agencies that if they work together, resources will be made available to help them, and there will be relief from the Endangered Species Act.

"Bringing back the fish is a worthwhile can-do goal," Peterson said.

Listing the Coho

In December 1995, the California Fish and Game Commission listed coho salmon as endangered south of San Francisco to Santa Cruz under the state ESA. In 1996, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed coho as threatened under the federal ESA from Santa Cruz to Mendocino County, and extended the listing in 1997 to the Oregon border and two inland counties: Siskiyou and Trinity. Listing prohibits commercial and recreational fishing and other potentially harmful activities.

Additional information about watersheds and coastal salmon is available on the Watershed Information and Technical System (WITS) at http://ceres.ca.gov/watershed/

Even before the listings, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which regulates fisheries in the federal waters off the Pacific coast, banned commercial coho harvests on the West Coast, and only recreational fishing was allowed.

Tackling the Problem

Two years ago, hoping to stave off a listing of coho through proactive conservation efforts, state and federal agencies and interested groups participated in a Coastal Salmon Initiative (CSI) to plan ways to manage and restore watersheds. The program was intended to help motivate and support community based watershed planning and management, technically and financially.

"The reality is that the salmon problem is very complex," said Nat Bingham, habitat director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, who represented the commercial fishing industry on the CSI. "We think it's best to have a comprehensive approach, in which all impacts in the life history are equitably accounted for and treated. Our whole society is the problem, and only major changes in how we live and work will solve it."

The CSI addressed three dimensions of coho protection outlined by the NMFS: harvest, hatcheries, and habitat. Proposals involved setting harvest levels, harvest technology, illegal catch, hatchery operations, genetic integrity, and habitat conservation guidelines that would meld with state and federal resource protection laws and offer science-based assistance for landowners developing watershed plans.

The coho listings sidelined the CSI effort, but its collaborative relationship has survived.

In July, Governor Pete Wilson issued an executive order creating the Watershed Protection and Restoration Council (WPRC), which will coordinate state efforts and provide guidance on programs to protect and enhance watersheds and conserve and restore salmon and other anadromous fish.

The WPRC is composed of the secretaries of five state agencies: Resources; Environmental Protection; Food and Agriculture; Business, Transportation and Housing; and Trade and Commerce. It will work with numerous other state officials, a science panel, and an advisory committee of local government, landowners, agricultural and fishing interests, and others.

Initially, the WPRC will review and compile existing regulatory, non-regulatory, and voluntary conservation efforts, studies, and other data involving anadromous fish and water quality and recommend action to protect and conserve fishery resources.

Last January, the Governor announced a $3.8 million Watershed Initiative based on the rational that watershed-based strategies are better than the piecemeal project-by-project.

Its goal is to protect and enhance environmental and economic values of water sheds by supporting and assisting community based watershed restoration with grants to Resources Conservation Districts and other local groups and technical assistance.

Watershed protection and restoration is a major focus of resource managers and policy-makers statewide, from local-level Coordinated Resource Management Plans (CRMPs) and habitat conservation plans, to broader state and federal programs.

To improve water quality on 16 North Coast rivers found to be impaired by excessive sediment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state's North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board agreed to implement a watershed assessment program and strategy for meeting water quality standards by the year 2007. They are starting with the Garcia River in Mendocino County and the South Fork of the Trinity River.

Other Species in Peril

Coho is one of seven species of Pacific salmon, which also include Chinook, pink, sockeye, chum, steelhead, and masu. Pink salmon are extinct in California and chum have dwindled to only three small populations. Winter-run chinook already are listed by both the state (endangered) and federal governments (threatened).

But it isn't only salmon that are struggling, says Doug Wheeler, California's secretary for resources and chairman of the California Biodiversity Council.

"The plight of the coho is a red flag that signals widespread environmental damage in their terrestrial habitat," Wheeler said. "Saving the fish means restoring the streams and improving water quality and watershed health. Clearly, we need a multi-species approach that sustains both environmental and economic needs throughout the region."

Steelhead Listing

On Aug. 11 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) listed steelhead trout as endangered in Southern California from northern Los Angeles County to northern Santa Barbara County and threatened in Central California from Sonoma County to Santa Barbara County.

The NMFS deferred for six months steelhead listings for the Central Valley and North Coast, two areas where listings likely would have a significant impact on economic activities such as water diversions for agriculture and urban needs, fishing, farming, timber harvesting, ranching, mining, housing, and other land uses.

Private Landowners

Restoring and protecting coastal salmon habitat involves a multitude of stakeholders, a labyrinth of environmental laws, and numerous local, state and federal programs. Efforts are underway to coordinate them.

Since much of the salmon habitat is private property, landowners clearly will play a role in restoring and protecting coastal streams and riparian areas.

Most landowners take pride in being good stewards and would rather practice good management than tangle with regulatory action, said Bob Whitney, a private timberland owner, consultant, and environmental and economic planner in Mendocino County. Detrimental activities usually are the consequence of projects or ignorance and can be avoided, he said.

"I have never met anybody who said they dumped a load of silt into the river and felt good about it," Whitney said.

Salmon Mysteries The life cycle of coastal salmon is intriguing for its mystery and sheer heroics. Salmon lay and fertilize their eggs in the gravel of clean freshwater streams. The young "fry" live in fresh water for a year or two, then migrate to the ocean. As they pass through estuaries where fresh and salt water mix, they lose the mottled camouflage appearance that helped them blend into the stream environment and take on their signature silvery hue. In the Pacific Ocean, salmon grow to maturity, two feet or more in length. Then, responding to nature's signal, they begin an incredibly arduous journey back to the same freshwater stream of their birth to spawn, overcoming great obstacles and difficulties along the way. After spawning, their life cycle ends and new life begins.

Whitney, who has represented private landowners in salmon protection planning, said most small landowners would prefer to develop their own land management program, perhaps in conjunction with the University of California Cooperative Extension or a local watershed management committee.

"You have a positive feeling that you're in control, that you're doing it on your own," he said.

Whitney said he has protected his own 98-acre parcel of redwood and Douglas fir east of Fort Bragg with a conservation easement that requires sustained yield harvesting.

Glenda Humiston, president of the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, told the Council that landowners are willing to do the work to restore and protect salmon habitat, and there are numerous training workshops to help them.

Being Flexible

Industry and environmentalists agree that flexibility in salmon habitat management is desirable because science is evolving, and new findings may warrant changes.

Mark Rentz, vice president of environmental and legal affairs for the California Forestry Association, recalled for the Council that as a forester some years ago, he was required to remove woody debris from streams.

"The debris was considered an impediment," Rentz said. "But we have long since learned that it was a critical element of the habitat."

Larry Moss, executive director of the Smith River Alliance, said environmentalists generally favor having highly protective standards that could be relaxed later in certain areas, if scientifically warranted.

"We're opposed to the concept of not doing anything until we do individual plans," Moss said. "This procedure would continue the erosion and degradation."