Oregon Coastal Salmon Restoration Initiative

If placed in a logical order, a chapter discussing the overall adequacy of this Conservation Plan should be at the end of the document. Instead, it is placed at the beginning because of its importance and because it might be overlooked at the end of nearly 2000 pages.

Over 600 pages of critical review comments on the OCSRI Conservation Plan have been received (see ^{Chapter 2). Assessing the overall adequacy of the Conservation Plan is a difficult task.}

Oregon asserts that no scientific protocol exists to clearly define how all the elements of the Conservation Plan might be evaluated in order to assess its overall adequacy. Thus, evaluation of the Consevation Plan's adequacy largely relies on the professional judgment of reviewers.

The premise of the OCSRI is that factors for decline are, and will continue to be, identified in a watershed, and that solutions to addressing those factors will be implemented through a local context involving watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, the OSU Cooperative Extension Service, landowners, local governments, conservation groups, and other grassroots stakeholders. Evaluation of the adequacy of individual elements, as well as the entire Plan, should theoretically be done on a watershed-by-water- shed, basin-by-basin, and ESU-by-ESU basis.

It is the judgment of the state that the Conservation Plan is sufficient, with a high degree of certainty, to achieve recovery of anadromous salmonids (particularly coho) in coastal river basins, especially the northern ESU. This judgment is based on the following main considerations:

1. Several sources of information suggest that, although coastal coho populations are not currently at desired levels, they remain sufficiently resilient to recover.

Coho salmon are present today in three essentially distinct brood-year lines in most coastal river basins, i.e., they have been extirpated from perhaps only the smallest basins in the northern ESU.

The overall number of coho returning to spawn in the northern ESU has exhibited a general increasing trend since 1990, currently numbering over 60,000 fish, while overall production (fishery mortality plus escapement) has not exhibited a trend.

The low contemporary production levels of coho in the northern ESU are consistent with a quantitative population dynamic model that predicts poor production potential during periods of adverse oceanographic conditions for coho salmon.

2. Major factors for decline are being actively addressed by existing programs.

Fishery mortality, identified as a major factor for decline for Oregon coastal coho, is now thought to have been excessive over two decades and probably was a major contributor to the decline of coho in the ESUs. Fishery harvest mortality is now being constrained to less than 15 percent, and future increases in fishery mortality are restricted and will be contingent on achieving increased escapement and demonstrating improved ocean survival.

Hatchery programs, identified as another factor for decline of coho in the ESUs, have been modified considerably by reducing the number of hatchery fish released, as well as reducing the number of release locations and minimizing the use of off-station releases and stock transfers.

Altered riparian and instream habitat, also identified as a major factor for decline, should stabilize or improve over time as a result of the many commitments made -- as part of the OCSRI -- by agencies and landowners.

The Northwest Forest Plan is expected to substantially improve watershed health and salmon production on federal land and in downstream areas. The aquatic conservation strategy and the commitment to monitoring provide a cornerstone to the OCSRI.

3. The Conservation Plan includes rationale and information to facilitate prioritization of conservation and restoration efforts.

Draft core area maps are a fundamental element in prioritization of efforts, but these maps do not dictate priorities. Rather, they provide biological information that is useful in decision making.

4. Explicit objectives and timelines are stated in the Conservation Plan.

To the greatest extent possible, quantitative objectives have been established along with timelines for achievement.

These objectives have been designed to address identified factors for decline and are linked to measures that are expected to achieve progress towards achieving the objectives. In instances where quantitative objectives have not been established, processes are proposed to establish such objectives in the future.

5. A comprehensive monitoring program is in place.

The monitoring program includes a coordinated effort of state and federal agencies, watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, industrial landowners, and other stakeholders.

The program being developed through the OCSRI will inform resource managers and the public whether the hoped-for benefits of individual and collective elements of the Plan are achieving the desired effect: restoring coastal salmon, steelhead, and trout populations to healthy conditions.

As currently implemented, the monitoring program's greatest strengths include assessing coho population trends, freshwater habitat characteristics, and water quality parameters.

The monitoring program is designed to facilitate ongoing improvement.

6. The Plan provides a high level of certainty that identified measures and actions will be implemented.

Efforts have been made to cite appropriate statutory authority or administrative rules that guide agency programs.

Detailed workplans have been prepared by state and federal agencies and watershed councils. These workplans will allow the National Marine Fisheries Service and others to determine whether the promised work is being accomplished.

A strategy to improve compliance with existing environmental protection laws has been implemented. The strategy includes obtaining data on rates of compliance with environmental protection laws, educating citizens, and prioritizing enforcement activities.

Many programs that support the Conservation Plan are implemented at this time under current funding. Additional funds have been requested from the Oregon Legislature.

7. The Plan is founded on an active and ongoing integration and coordination of all government agencies and stakeholders.

The Salmon Strategy Team (SST) will provide leadership to state agencies and will be accountable for implementing the Conservation Plan.

The OCSRI Implementation Team will respond to direction from the SST and will improve integration of state agency programs.

The Pacific Salmon Coordinating Committee will facilitate participation in the OCSRI by federal agencies. Individual federal agencies are responsible for integrating their activities in a manner consistent with the Conservation Plan.

State and federal agencies will provide technical and staff support for watershed councils and other stakeholder groups to conduct watershed assessments and devise remediation action plans.

8. The Plan includes an explicit process to evaluate progress, resolve institutional barriers, and make future changes to the manner in which the Plan is implemented.

An independent scientific assessment team will be established. This team will interact with the Implementation Team on a routine, ongoing basis to evaluate the effectiveness of the Conservation Plan, make recommendations for change, and provide an "external" evaluation of progress.

The assessment team will provide objective evaluations of the Plan's strengths and weaknesses and will make recommendations for future changes in the Plan to improve its performance.

An adaptive management workgroup will be established. This group will work with the Salmon Strategy Team, the Pacific Salmon Coordinating Committee, the Implementation Team, and the Independent Scientific Assessment Team, proposing testable hypotheses, evaluating results of the monitoring program, and recommending changes in the Conservation Plan.

As noted in Chapter 5, this is not the first salmon restoration effort in Oregon. Time will tell whether this Conservation Plan delivers on its promise.