Endangered Russian River coho salmon making combaack
Bob Norberg
Press Democrat
12/14/2011
Efforts to bring coho salmon back from the brink of extinction in the Russian River watershed finally may be working as researchers report a significant increase in the number of fish in the river, Salmon Creek and their tributaries.
“This year there were large numbers of fish where we never saw them before,” said Brittany Heck of the Gold Ridge Conservation District. “We did snorkeling in Salmon Creek and in some areas where we (once) saw 50, there were 250.”
The numbers are encouraging, but the fate of the coho, a beautiful silver fish with a hologram of green and red colors on its flank, is still far from certain off the California coast and in state waterways.
“We are moving in the right direction, we are definitely seeing signs of recovery, but we are a long way from the end goal,” said Ben White, manager of the coho breeding program at the Warm Springs hatchery northwest of Healdsburg.
The effort to save the coho, now a decade old, comes with a price tag in the millions of dollars to breed fish at the hatchery, create habitat in streams and creeks, and provide erosion control on more than 200 miles of rural roads.
The Sonoma County Water Agency alone has spend almost $2 million studying and drawing plans to create habitat on Dry Creek to help coho survive the high flows necessary from Lake Sonoma to provide a domestic water supply for 600,000 Sonoma and Marin residents.
The creek work itself is expected to cost $6 million to $7 million a mile to put in rock and timber to create pools and eddies for the coho.
Dave Manning, a senior environmental specialist for the water agency, said the outlay is necessary to maintain the fishery and still be able to supply water and other services.
