{"id":23906,"date":"2023-11-15T20:39:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T20:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/?p=23906"},"modified":"2023-11-15T20:39:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T20:39:07","slug":"in-three-oregon-watersheds-restoration-drives-coho-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2023\/11\/15\/in-three-oregon-watersheds-restoration-drives-coho-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"In Three Oregon Watersheds, Restoration Drives Coho Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Five years and 24 projects later, our first NOAA cooperative agreement is a wrap. It\u2019s just phase one of our grander plan for coho salmon.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Five years. Three watersheds. Twenty-four projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, the Wild Salmon Center officially wrapped up a five-year cooperative agreement with the NOAA Restoration Center<\/strong>\u2014the first of two, to date, designed to benefit Southern Oregon\/Northern California Coast coho salmon and Oregon Coast coho salmon, both listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement detailed an ambitious $2.5 million work plan for the WSC-managed <\/strong>Coast Coho Partnership<\/strong><\/a> to enhance coho habitat and improve fish passage in three Oregon watersheds: the Nehalem, Siuslaw, and Elk<\/strong>. Now, the shovels are down, and WSC and our CCP partners are celebrating the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Matt Swanson (right) of the Curry Watershed Partnership (a local member of the Coast Coho Partnership), laughs with a contractor (left) at the Cedar Creek project site on the Elk River. (PC: Brian Kelley @brianfilm<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe chose these 24 projects for their ability to have long-lasting positive effects for the coho and people that call these rivers home,\u201d says Dr. Tim Elder, WSC\u2019s Southwest Oregon Program Manager. \u201cNow our hope is that this targeted work further boosts the already promising signs we\u2019re seeing for coho in these watersheds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Coho spotted on the Nehalem River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Coho are a keystone species, meaning that when they thrive, so do a host of other species that share these ecosystems. In 2022, NOAA reported<\/a> that when compared with other West Coast salmonid species over the previous five years, <\/strong>Oregon Coast coho returns remained encouragingly strong. In the report, NOAA pointed to habitat restoration as a key part of why we\u2019re seeing this \u201c<\/strong>bright spot for salmon recovery<\/strong><\/a>.\u201d To sustain this progress, the agency called for more restoration work across the coastal Pacific Northwest<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re already working to make that happen. Since 2019, two more NOAA cooperative agreements are supporting even more high-value CCP projects in the Coos, Rogue, Siletz, Nehalem, and Elk: projects targeted through science-driven, watershed-specific strategic action plans<\/a> (SAPs). And we\u2019re looking to go even bigger. According to Dr. Elder, WSC and our partners have selected four additional watersheds (the Sixes River, New River\/Floras, Nestucca, and South Umpqua) as the focus of new SAPs, and identified an additional 21 target projects in the Rogue, Elk, Coos, Coquille, Siuslaw, Siletz, and Nehalem.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A local partner scopes out work at the Fivemile-Bell project site on the Siuslaw River. (PC: Brian Kelley @brianfilm<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThis first cooperative agreement enabled us to prove the concept\u2014that our restoration strategy really can move the needle for coho recovery,\u201d Dr. Elder says. \u201cWith coho populations stabilizing in many of the watersheds where we\u2019re working, now we\u2019re ready to scale our restoration vision up and down the Oregon Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, see three projects that show what the Coast Coho Partnership can accomplish for coho, thanks to support from NOAA Restoration Center, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and our local partners and crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY THE NUMBERS<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon restoration work completed under the 2017 NOAA cooperative agreement: <\/p>\n\n\n\n