Point Reyes Light - December 9, 2004
Biologists deplore Bush proposals' impact on West Marin fisheries
By Jim Kravets
West Marin salmon advocates are horrified by a Bush administration proposal to reduce designated salmon and steelhead habitat by 80 percent on the Pacific coast.
The administration’s proposal would limit salmon and steelhead habitat to areas where the fish already are found, disregarding large areas of potential habitats, even historic ones, that were previously protected.
"By only considering where salmon are now and not where they were," Todd Steiner, director of Forest Knolls-based Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) told The Light, "they’re dooming the species to eventual extinction or preserving them at the level of endangered or threatened. That’s the incredible negative of what the Bush administration proposed."
Would lose 80 percent of designated habitat
The proposal would exclude waterways above both Peter’s Dam near Lagunitas and Nicasio Dam from future federal protections. While these areas were historically rich salmon runs, human activity wiped them out, and the Bush administration’s proposal would preclude any protections from being reinstated.
Currently, some 20 populations of salmon and steelhead are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Included are coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, found in streams and creeks of the Lagunitas Creek watershed and Redwood Creek near Muir Beach. The Salmon in Marin waterways are listed as "threatened" under federal guidelines. The state Department of Fish and Game this year listed Marin’s coho salmon population as "endangered."
The Endangered Species Act requires the designation of "critical habitat" for species listed for protection. The act also requires that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) fully consider the economic impact of such habitat designations.
Lawsuit eliminated species protection
In 2002, a legal challenge brought by the National Association of Homebuilders was won in federal court. The ruling found that NOAA Fisheries had not adequately considered the economic impacts of the critical habitat designations. Following the ruling, federal protections were suspended.
A countersuit filed by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association and environmentalists, argued that the ruling would leave endangered species without designated habitat. A settlement was reached in which NOAA Fisheries ultimately agreed to file new habitat designations by Nov. 30.
Among the new conditions, NOAA Fisheries’ proposal only protects areas where fish populations are currently known to exist. In real terms this spells an 80 percent decrease of federal protections for endangered habitat from previous levels.
NOAA Fisheries said it will hold public hearings in January throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California, taking public feedback on its proposal. Following the hearings, the final habitat designations are scheduled to be completed by NOAA Fisheries in June.
Environmentalists point out that the new proposal excludes from "critical habitat" areas that NOAA Fisheries designated just four years ago as necessary to keep Pacific salmon and steelhead populations from extinction and to foster recovery for depleted populations.
The earlier designations relied on the U.S. Geological Survey’s maps of subbasins and included "all accessible river reaches within the current range of the listed species." According to NOAA Fisheries, the 2004 proposals use a much finer, more specific scale in designating critical habitat for salmon. The current proposal identifies stream reaches where listed salmon and steelhead have actually been observed or where biologists with local area expertise presume them to occur.
"The new designations are designed to identify the most beneficial biological habitat for salmon," Bob Lohn, NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest regional administrator said, "while also defining the scope of the costs associated with designating certain areas."
SPAWN’s Director Steiner takes heart that the real teeth of the Endangered Species Act are in the species-list itself, not in the way habitat is formally designated (or undesignated).
"It’s the listing that’s really important," he said. "Most of the protection comes from being on the list." Steiner is hopeful that a recent review of coho status may upgrade the Marin populations from "threatened" to "endangered."
Biologists ‘gone fishin’ in local watersheds
NOAA Fisheries’ announcement came as SPAWN and Marin Municipal Water District biologists conduct an annual salmon survey. Biologists look in streambeds for "redds," depressions in gravel streambeds made by adult females while laying eggs during the spawning process.
Coho salmon have three-year life cycles. Winter rains allow adult fish to swim from the ocean up swollen streams where they spawn in protected pools. When the eggs hatch, salmon "fry" then spend about a year and a half in the freshwater streams before entering the ocean. A year and a half later, they’ll return to their natal streams and begin the process again.
Marin Municipal biologists and volunteers count redds in Lagunitas Creek from White House Pool in Point Reyes Station to Woodacre. SPAWN’s cadre of biologists and volunteers count redds in the tributaries above the Ink Wells, including San Geronimo Creek, Devil’s Gulch, and Larson, Oroyo, and Montezuma Creeks.
Last week, in an effort to aid the upstream migration, Marin Municipal released freshwater pulses or "freshets" from Peters Dam to coincide with recent rains.
"MMWD tries to time the release with a big storm," watershed biologist Paola Bouley of SPAWN said. "That way they get more bang for the buck."
One point of consensus among biologists is that the Lagunitas Creek watershed is critical to the survival of the California coho population. "Our watershed has the largest population left in the state," Steiner said. "Right in our backyard we have 10 to 20 percent of the total coho in the state of California."
In the 1940s, Steiner estimates, coho numbers were over 5,000 in the Lagunitas watershed. Before SPAWN and other environmental groups began conservation efforts about six years ago, the human impacts of construction and damming reduced the numbers to about 200 fish.
Survey methods improving
Last year, the water district and SPAWN counted about 350 salmon in the watershed. Steiner is cautiously optimistic about the modest improvement. "I think it’s way too early to know if there’s any kind of comeback. The count has stabilized over the last couple of years, but 350 fish are not anything to get excited about. The species remains perilously balanced on the edge of extinction."
Other factors, Steiner adds, may be influencing counts. "These days we’re all looking better and harder for evidence of the fish. So part of the increase is the result of better study."
Steiner notes that the fishes’ well-being when they leave the watershed remains an unknown element. "What we do [in the watershed] represents only half of their three-year life-cycle. What happens in the oceans, that we don’t have any control over. The ocean’s are a big black box."
SPAWN leads naturalist-guided creek walks to view spawning salmon. The tours are led twice daily on weekends through Jan. 16. Those wanting more information or to reserve a space can call 488-0370 ext. 101.
The Salmon Protection And Watershed Network is also seeking adult volunteers for both spawning surveys and water quality monitoring in the Lagunitas Creek watershed. Those wanting more information can call 488-0370 extension 102 or email <paola@spawnusa.org>.