29th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference

Meredith Hardy of the Los Padres California Conservation Corps and the 2011 Restorationist of the Year award recipient, led a tour of Santa Rosa Creek restoration projects. (Photo: Brock Dolman)

Salmonid Restoration Federation hosted the 29th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference March 23-26, 2011 in San Luis Obispo, California. The theme of this year’s annual conference was “Restoring Salmonids— Holding the Line on Species Decline.” The Central Coast was an ideal location for the conference because of the various multi-stakeholder restoration projects in the region as well as the cooperative nature of agencies, parks, and landowners working to protect and restore steelhead.

Highlights of the conference included the Plenary session that featured Michael Pollock of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center of NOAA Fisheries, who function. Paul Jenkin from Surfrider Foundation and Matilija Coalition gave a multi-media presentation highlighting the integrated ecosystem- management approach to restoring the Ventura River. Thomas William from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center presented on Restoration of Habitat Capacity for Salmon Populations and Congresswoman Lois Capps urged participants to track federal legislation that affects watershed restoration and conservation jobs.

Grade control downstream of a fish passage project on San Luis Obispo Creek. The 14 ft water supply dam was partially removed. Stored sediments were excavated and used to fill the downstream channel to provide passage for steelhead. (Photo: Antonio Llanos)

The conference also featured workshops on topics including Fish Passage Design & Implementation, Stormwater Pollution Runoff & Water Quality, Invasive Species Management for Salmonids, and Sustainable Water Conservation. Field Tours included tours of the Morro Bay Watershed from Headwaters to Mouth, a San Luis Obispo and Arroyo Grande Creek Tour, a Sustainable Vineyards and Agricultural Tour, an Instream Structures Tour, and a tour focused on controlling road-related erosion and sediment delivery.

Participants in the Morro Bay tour visited multiple restoration sites that showcased restoration techniques including ranch road restoration, fish passage design, riparian fencing and native plant restoration, bioengineering techniques, instream structures, and floodplain restoration. (Photo: Jacob Pounds)

Concurrent sessions included: On-the-Ground Salmonid Restoration; Barrier Identification, Design Criteria, Implementation, and Project Monitoring to Recover Steelhead; Coho Salmon Recovery Efforts; Enhancing Instream Flows; Salmonid Strongholds: the Key to our Future; Climate Change and Salmonids; Population Status and Trend Monitoring; The Future for California Chinook Salmon—Fisheries, Restoration, Recovery; and the Role of Lagoons and Estuaries for Steelhead and Salmon.

The 2012 Conference will be held April 4-7 in Davis, CA. SRF will be posting the first call for abstracts in August. If you are interested in being a session, workshop, or field tour coordinator, please email srf @calsalmon.org.

Restorationist of the Year:
Meredith Hardy, Fish Habitat Specialist

California Conservation Corps
2000 – Present

• Years of Service to the CCC: 11
• About 35 Projects Permitted & Completed in 4 Counties
• Watershed Understood: 17
• Creeks Nurtured: 20
• Habitat Structures Constructed: 75
• Partners: Over 20
• Feet of Bank Stabilized: 4700
• Native Plants Installed: 5,270
• CA Red-legged Frogs Rescued: Numerous
• Hundreds of Corpsmembers Trained
• One Native Plant Nursery Rejuvenated and Thousands of Native Plants Propagated!

The above article originally appeared in the Summer 2011 newsletter.

Conference Sponsors

California Department of Fish and Game	U.S Fish and Wildlife Service	Pacific Gas & Electric
Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission	City of San Luis Obispo	California Department of Water Resources

Other Sponsors

Alnus Ecological

Balance Hydrologics, Inc.,

Cachuma Conservation Release Board

Cal Trout

California Conservation Corps

CalTrans

Central Coast Vineyard Team

McBain and Trush

Michael Love and Associates

Morro Bay National Estuary Program

NOAA Fisheries

Northern California Council of Federation of Fly-Fishers

Pacific Coast Fish, Wildlife, and Wetlands Restoration Association

Pacific Watershed Associates

Philip Williams and Associates

Prunuske Chatham

Restoration Design Group

Solano County Water Agency

Sonoma County Water Agency

Stillwater Sciences

The Bay Institute

The Nature Conservancy

Trees Foundation

Trout Unlimited

Winzler and Kelly