North Coast Salmon Project

Project Motivation

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched the North Coast Salmon Project (NCSP) in 2018 as part of an effort to expedite and enhance recovery of endangered Coho Salmon in California. The NCSP is focused on developing strategies to be applied in four specific watersheds; these approaches will then be extended across the entire North Coast. The four initial watersheds are:

• Lagunitas Creek
• Russian River tributaries: Dutch Bill, Green Valley, Mill, and Willow creeks
• Mendocino Coast streams: Noyo, Garcia, Ten Mile, and Navarro rivers, and Pudding Creek
• South Fork and Lower Eel River

The Project is guided by an Advisory Team consisting of representatives from conservation groups and resource management agencies who work in the North Coast region. In addition, the Department has and will continue to seek input from local stakeholders in each of the four initial watersheds identified above.

Objectives

The overall goals of the NCSP are to identify and implement actions that will enhance Coho Salmon recovery. The Project will assess the effectiveness of past actions by various Department programs, including the funding of restoration projects, the collection of population monitoring data, and the effect of permitting laws. The Department will also work with the Advisory Team and local stakeholders to develop ways to improve and integrate these programs to accelerate Coho Salmon recovery and expand fishing opportunities. The Department and Advisory Team have identified several specific objectives:

• Develop detailed roadmaps for identifying and implementing high-priority recovery actions in each of the initial four watersheds. Approaches include the Priority Action Coho Team (PACT) Report, the Salmon Habitat Restoration Priorities (SHaRP) framework, and the Recovery Strategy for California Coho (PDF)(opens in new tab). The South Fork Eel River SHaRP Final Plan(opens in new tab) has now been released, and SHaRP efforts are underway in the three other NCSP watersheds.
• Review the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program (FRGP) process and advise the FRGP and other Department grant programs on how to improve support for recovery actions, including incorporating the results of watershed-specific recovery prioritization into grant funding criteria. To accomplish this the NCSP team analyzed grant data and wrote an Assessment of Restoration Projects Funded from 2004 to 2018 Supporting Coho Salmon Recovery in Four Focus Areas Along California's North Coast (PDF).Assessment of Restoration Projects Funded from 2004 to 2018 Supporting Coho Salmon Recovery in Four Focus Areas Along California's North Coast (PDF).(opens in new tab)
• Evaluate the various Department programs that affect Coho Salmon recovery to increase internal and external efficiencies and collaboration, including streamlining permitting for habitat restoration, facilitating grant opportunities, and exploring other avenues such as instream flow, water conservation, timber conservation, and landowner incentive programs. The NCSP developed and administered a Habitat Restoration Stakeholder Survey (PDF)Habitat Restoration Stakeholder Survey (PDF)(opens in new tab) to tease out specific limiting factors that restoration professionals face in the permitting and granting sphere, and to discuss opportunities to address these factors. The NCSP will work to incorporate data collected from this survey internally in CDFW, and communicate these efforts back to stakeholders.
• Assess Coho Salmon population and habitat monitoring projects and data in the four initial watersheds. Where data exist, identify factors limiting spawning, rearing, or migration success and the quantity and quality of essential habitat by life-stage, and where data are absent, develop monitoring strategies to collect data.
• Develop locally driven, sustainable conservation efforts to support Coho Salmon recovery. Possible strategic approaches include Regional Conservation Investment Strategy (RCIS), North American Salmon Stronghold, Wild Steelhead, Natural Community Conservation Program (NCCP), or other comprehensive, locally driven approaches.