April 24, 2007
With the exception of the month of December, we are still waiting for much of our winter rain. During several weeks in December, salmon were able to spawn in the upper parts of the Mateel watersheds. January 07 was one of the driest on record. February brought more precipitation, both rain and snow, that raised the rivers--accommodating spawning for steelhead. Intense cold periods in February eased into a mild and warm early March, almost hot in places--coming in like a lamb rather than a lion. I'm hoping for abundant spring rains, on into May and June, to tide the watersheds' fish and people over to the fall rains.
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One of my joys this time of year is the annual conference of the Salmonid Restoration Federation. This year was the 25th SRF Conference, held in Santa Rosa. (The venue goes from place to place in the state--wherever salmon or steelhead are at home.) The Conference started in the early 1980s as the nascent movement for watershed and fisheries recovery sought to come together to educate, share experiences and insights, improve skills, and have a heckuva good time. Restoration workers and organizations, agencies (especially Fish & Game), and academic and "practitioner" experts have all come to view the Conference as a time to renew the inspiration to engage in efforts to restore watersheds and abundant runs of salmon and steelhead.
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Three of the main speakers shook up the audience with dire messages: Research Zoologist Nate Scholz showed graphic pictures and video of Coho dying before being able to spawn in urban streams around Seattle--the highest mortality coming with the first large storms; and author and restorationist Freeman House and fisheries expert Professor Peter Moyle each offered his own long view of salmon survival and the impacts of climate change. The ocean level under the Golden Gate Bridge has risen more than 6 inches in the last 50 years and is expected to rise up to 3 feet in the next 50 years. Things are looking good for estuaries.
Almost 70 half-hour presentations were made during the concurrent sessions of the Conference. It's always hard to choose--especially when three you're really interested in happen at the same time. Some of my favorites or must-attend presentations this year were an "Overview of DF&G's Recovery Strategy for California," DF&G's Scott Downie on "Salmon Habitat Indicators," Sanctuary Forest's Tasha McKee and Eric Goldsmith on "Stream Flow & Water Storage" in the Mattole Headwaters, Todd Steiner on "Highly Impacted Lagunitas Creek Tributaries" (western Marin County), and other presentations including a session on "Toxic Cyanobacterial Blooms" behind dams on the Klamath River (by Susan Corum from the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources), new rural strategies for "Land Use, Water Quality, and Stream Habitat" (by Mark Lancaster & Sandra Perez from Trinity County and the Five Counties Salmonid Conservation Program), and "Strategies for Sediment Control in Ecologically Valuable Watersheds" (by Todd Kraemer and Danny Hagans from Pacific Watershed Associates).
A special dual session, "Timber Harvest, Turbidity, and Salmonid Sustainability in North Coastal Streams--Part 1: Physical Processes, and Part 2: Salmonid Responses," was presented by hydrologist Randy Klein and fisheries biologist Dr. Bill Trush, respectively. The gist of their presentations, based on 28 turbidity recording stations on various North Coast rivers and streams, is that salmonids begin to be significantly adversely impacted when the rate of logging is more than 2% per year, or 20% in ten years. Ideally this dual presentation can be made in other venues such as meetings of the Board of Forestry, the Fish and Game Commission, and legislative committees.
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Two newer awards--"The Golden Pipe" for creative innovation and "The Lifetime Achievement Award"--went to the Mattole Restoration Council's (MRC's) Chris Larson, and DF&G's/California Conservation Corps' John Schwabe, respectively. Chris has used common sense, creativity, inspiration, and fundraising skills to build MRC into the largest employer in the Mattole River Valley--these are jobs in fuel hazard reduction, road improvements, watershed restoration, and recovery planning activities. John Schwabe has inspired more than a generation of young restoration workers and his coworkers in the CCC and elsewhere. He became an ultimate authority and practitioner in the art and science of instream habitat improvement. He also was an on-the-ground leader in the early 1970s effort to protect the giant redwoods of Redwood Creek for Redwood National Park--a fifth-generation North Coaster.
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Coho Recovery Strategy
In my description of the SRF Conference, I mentioned the Coho Recovery Strategy. Well, it's not looking too good. DF&G has no personnel staffing the Coho Recovery Team, nor active leadership. There is seemingly no will to implement the Recovery Strategy, which has hundreds of recommended measures. Proposition 84 (that passed last year) has $45 million for "Coho Recovery." It looks like almost all of that is going to the DF&G Grants Program over the next four years, with some amount going to a monitoring program that's being determined in some mysterious venue. Keeping the DF&G Restoration Grants Program viable is important, but there are other areas pertaining to Coho Recovery and implementation of the Recovery Strategy where funding is essential.
In July of 2006, DF&G (backed by the administration and the Resources Agency) moved to try and "meld'"the DF&G Section 2112 regulations with the Forest Practice Rules--most notably the Threatened or Impaired Rules which went into effect in July 2000, mainly to protect listed anadromous salmonids, and have been extended several times, currently through 2007. This attempt has devolved into a Coho only, Incidental Take only, set of regulations that would be applied only if DF&G determines that a logging plan would result or likely result in a Take of, or Jeopardy for, Coho Salmon. All parties agree that this determination is unlikely to ever be made. In February the timber industry at least conceded that the Threatened & Impaired (T/I) Rules would apply in Coho watersheds; by the March Board of Forestry meeting they said even that "was off the table." The pitiful drama continues into April as the Board tasked the Departments of Forestry and Fire Protection (now CalFire) and Fish & Game to come up with a version for a 45-Day Notice hearing--a version only requiring approval by the Chair of the Board. All this has been complicated by an industry/agency-sponsored "technical literature review" overseen by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). This review and various recommendations are expected late this year. A fight over extending, or making permanent, the T/I Rules will begin any month now.
Cultural Resources and Other News
Reforms in the Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Protection Program of CalFire are in the offing. A lack of adequate personnel and oversight has significantly compromised the program. The Native American Advisory Council to CalFire and the Native American Heritage Commission will be cosponsoring a 1- to 3-day workshop to deal with these issues sometime in the near future.
The pilot project for a Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR) for the Mattole River watershed has begun. The steering Committee will meet in the first half of April, with community meetings soon thereafter. This pilot project, which will include watershed cumulative impacts processes reform, is sponsored by the Mattole Restoration Council (MRC) with strong support from landowners, agency personnel, and the public. Seth Zuckerman has been hired to head up the pilot project. In exchange for higher standards of stewardship and overall environmental protection, landowners would be able to tier much less cumbersome and less expensive Program Timber Harvesting Plans (PTHPs) to the PTEIR. Fire hazard reduction, watershed restoration, restored timberland productivity, and cooperation amongst landowners to achieve these goals are among the highlights of the pilot project.
The Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI) has been working by itself and in partnership with the Conservation Fund and others to achieve large-scale stewardship-model forestry on the North Coast. The Conservation Fund and the Nature Conservancy acquired over 24,000 acres in the Garcia River Watershed for such a model. A project similar to the Garcia by the Conservation Fund is happening for 16,000 acres of Salmon Creek and Big River along the Mendocino County Coast--acquired from Hawthorne Timber Company as facilitated by the Campbell Timber Management Company. Other projects elsewhere, maybe even in Humboldt County, may be possible. Pacific Lumber (PL) as a Community Forest? With PL/Maxxam et al. under Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy, the possibility has never been greater. Check out the RFFI website: www.rffi.org. Get involved.
The Sinkyone Wilderness State Park (SWSP) Draft General Plan was approved on November 3rd. Most of the SWSP is now Sinkyone State Wilderness, part of the California Wilderness System. Small areas that remain as SWSP include the Usal area, a small area around the Needle Rock House, the coastal part of the Briceland Road, and the Park holdings along the upper Mattole River. The Commission included new language in the General Plan directing the Department to meet at least once a year with citizen advisory groups. Issues not adequately dealt with in the General Plan include wildfire hazards, trails and roads, and hunting and fishing. An ad hoc committee has set a May 19th workshop at the Garberville Vets Hall to explore facets of the General Plan, and the potential and the energy available for forming an advisory group or groups.
As we go to press:
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This was a significant issue since 2004, when the grove was included in a PL/Scopac THP called "Horse 04." The area is adjacent to Horsecollar Creek. There were Water Quality issues also. PL/Scopac submitted a new THP that excluded the grove area. The new THP was approved and has reportedly been operated on.
It was strange that as of the 19th, the League, P&R, and PL/Scopac have not made any public utterances about the grove acquisition. I talked to Ruskin Hartley today, and he said they'd get something together. Ruskin Hartley has replaced Kate Anderton as Executive Director of the League.
Yahoo for the Horsecollar Creek Grove, and the public pressure and institutional responses that established protection for the grove!
Get in touch with EPIC at 707-923-2931 and Humboldt Watershed Council at 707-822-1166 for the latest information on many of the above topics and other issues. Please get involved in ways that are effective and meaningful for you, and that contribute to real solutions.--rg
Sidebar
Coho was State-listed in 2004: Endangered between San Francisco Bay and Punta Gorda (south of the mouth of the Mattole River), and Threatened from Punta Gorda to the Oregon border. This listing sprang from a Petition for Listing from July 2000 by the Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Coalition (SSRC). The Fish and Game Commission opted to do a Recovery Strategy prior to listing. (Check it out at: www.dfg.ca.gov/nafwb/CohoRecovery/RecoveryStrategy.html) Concurrent with the listing the Commission directed the F&G Department to start preparing rules according to Section 2112 of the F&G Code for the protection and recovery of Coho and for the issuance of Incidental Take Permits.
In June 2005 the California Forestry Association (CFA) and others (including the Eureka Chamber of Commerce) brought a lawsuit to overturn the listing. California Trout (CalTrout), the Northcoast Environmental Center, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations intervened in support of the listing. A Superior Court ruled for the listing and against CFA in June 2006. The CFA et al. gave notice of appeal of that decision on October 10th. The appeal continues in 2007. Many conjecture that this is yet another stalling tactic by the industry--stalling that's been going on for at least two decades. This means yet another unwarranted financial burden on DF&G and the Intervenors.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Spring 2007