Thinking Like a Salmon Stronghold

Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) is coordinating the 26th Annual Coho Confab on September 13-15 on the South Fork Smith River in Del Norte County. This year’s Coho Confab will be held at Rock Creek Ranch, a beautiful riverfront property owned by Smith River Alliance.

The Coho Confab is a field symposium to learn about watershed restoration and techniques to
restore and recover coho salmon populations. The Confab provides an ideal opportunity to network with other fish-centric people and to participate in field tours highlighting innovative salmon restoration practices. This year, SRF is collaborating with several groups to produce this educational event including Smith River Alliance, Cal Trout, CalTrans, Stillwater Sciences, California State Parks, the Yurok tribe, Tolowa Dee-ni Nation, and California Department of Parks and Recreation. California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program is the primary funder of the Confab.

The Coho Confab will open Friday evening, September 13, with a community dinner and inspiring orientation presentations. Grant Werschkull, Executive Director of Smith River Alliance, and a member of the Tolowa Dee-ni Nation will give a welcome address. Justin Garwood and Michael Kauffmann, the authors and editors, of The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History will present a joint presentation titled,
“Natural History of the Klamath Mountains: How Honesty, Accuracy, and Receptivity Guide Us to Better Stewardship of Defensible Landscapes.”

Marisa Parish, formerly with Smith River Alliance and CA State Parks, and recently hired with NOAA Fisheries Restoration Center will talk about past, present, and future efforts to improve the resilience of the Smith River. Marisa was the primary author and researcher of the Smith River Plain Stream Restoration Plan, so this will be a great retrospective and orientation for Confab attendees.

Part of what is unique about the Confab is that the event offers opportunities to see exciting
restoration projects in remote regions of California that still provide cool water refugia
for Coho salmon.

To see the Confab agenda or to register, please click here