The Salmonid Restoration Federation will hold the 24th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference, “Rediscovering Urban Creeks and Creating Healthy Watersheds,” at the Santa Barbara Veterans Memorial Center February 22-25. This premiere restoration conference offers full-day workshops including Water Conservation, Fisheries and Wildlife Friendly Agriculture: A Workshop on Sustainability, Removing Coastal California’s Fish Passage Barriers: From Prioritization to Implementation, and Reestablishing Salmonids in Cities: The Next Generation of Urban Stream Restoration Projects. Field tours include visits to the Ventura River and Matilija Dam, Native Chumash restoration sites, Urban Creek projects, and fish passage sites on the Santa Clara River as well as tours to urban creek restoration projects and to a local vineyard and ranch that have restored steelhead habitat.

Concurrent sessions focus on environmental, biological, and policy issues that affect salmonid habitat restoration and recovery of native fish populations. Sessions include Dam Removal, Project Monitoring for Watershed Management, Floodplain Management, Salmonid Education, Southern Steelhead Research and recovery, Habitat Mapping for Southern Steelhead, Environmental Justice and the Restoration Movement, and “The Local Perspective: Science, Structure, Streams and Steelhead in Santa Barbara County.”

The plenary session will feature Assembly Member Pedro Nava who will address the California Ocean Protection Council. Brock Dolman of the WATER Institute will address issues of human development patterns on watershed resiliency, biodiversity, and endangered salmonids. Julia McIver, Principal Consultant to the State Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, will discuss Salmonid Education and the Legislative Process. Lisa Thompson of UC Cooperative Extension will address Southern Steelhead Recovery. And Geomorphologist David Montgomery will give a talk adapted from his book King of Fish, The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon.

This year SRF, South Yuba River Citizens League and the Community Environmental Council will also offer a watershed, river and fisheries film festival on Thursday, February 23. The poster session and reception will be held on Friday evening and the conference will culminate with a Cabaret, Awards Ceremony, and Banquet on Saturday night.