Salmon grant to focus on tributaries

Several Russian River creeks will be the initial focus of a
$696,000 grant awarded Monday by The National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation, according to Lisa Hulette, executive director of the
Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District.
The award is going to the Coho Water Resources Partnership, a
group working to restore, rehabilitate and improve stream flows and
water supplies in five Russian River tributaries crucial in the
ongoing effort to recover local populations of the endangered coho
salmon.
They include Dutch Bill, Grape, Green Valley, Mark West and Mill
Creeks in both west and northern Sonoma County.
With money from the grants, the recipients will work to find
areas that have the greatest opportunities for improved water
management, environmental solutions and ways to finance necessary
permits and in-stream work.
The long-term goals are to restore a more natural flow regime
during the dry season, increase the number of wild coho salmon, and
augment water storage capacity for a variety of land uses in each
watershed.
“We are all very excited about the potential to implement
creative and innovative solutions that will address the needs of
both fish and people,” said Hulette.
“We all have the common goal of getting more water back into the
creek for the fish, while at the same time recognizing that
agriculture is an important aspect of the local economy,” said
Hulette of the partnership program.
“This is not about holding one particular land use up as the
culprit for increased water demand, but looking at how we can
balance water need and water use from a very scientific
perspective,” she said, adding “it is the science that will lead
the program, not a single group’s agenda.”
The coalition of agencies and non-profits include the Gold Ridge
Resource Conservation District; the Occidental Arts and Ecology
Center’s WATER Institute; the Sotoyome Resource Conservation
District; Trout Unlimited, the University of California (UC)
Research and Extension Center’s Hopland GIS Lab, UC Cooperative
Extension, the Sonoma County Water Agency and the Oakland –based
Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration.
“We are committed to working with landowners on a voluntary
basis with the goal of creating a collaborative foundation from
which landowners and agencies will work together to create reliable
water supplies for future generations,” added Hulette.
“This project is especially interesting and relevant because it
brings together non-traditional partners to think of ways we can
address the issue of water security, rather than being at odds with
each other.”
The number of coho salmon in the Russian River watershed has
declined dramatically in recent years, according to biologists, and
although multiple factors have decimated coho numbers, resource
agencies cite low flows and water diversions can be especially
problematic in the Russian River tributaries.
“More than 95 percent of the target watersheds are held in
private ownership, and the guiding principal of this project is
that water for both human uses and coho salmon can be secured
through careful planning and water supply management,” said Kara
Heckert, Executive Director of the Sotoyome Resource Conservation
District which includes Healdsburg.
“I would like to mention that it is a very unique partnership
working to address a very critical issue that endangered fisheries
face in these targeted watersheds,” Heckert added. “This program
provides opportunities for all land uses (rural residential and
agricultural) to take steps to conserve water and work together on
a plan to manage their water resources.”
The foundation’s executive director, Jeff Trandahl, said his
group is on the right path to coho recovery by dealing with the
Russian River basin’s watershed.
“The severity of the coho population decline and the importance
of the Russian River to coast-wide recovery efforts made the
Foundation place special programmatic emphasis on the watershed.
Our coho recovery investments are backed by a comprehensive,
scientifically sound business plan that highlights the path to
recovery.”