In this eNewsletter you will find:

• Salmon River Dives and Spring-run Chinook Symposium
• Central Coast Field School10th Annual Coho Confab in the Mattole25th Annual Salmon Restoration Conference RecapSRF Board ballot due on April 30Please send SRF your Conference FeedbackSRF Benefit with Casey Neill Band
• 4th Annual California Water Symposium May 5

Salmon River Dives and Spring-run Chinook Symposium

• July 24-28 Salmon River Dives: training, dives, and workshops
• July 27-28 in Orleans, Spring-run Chinook Watershed Symposium
• July 29 Jammin for the Salmon, Salmon River

The Salmon River Spring Chinook and Summer Steelhead Dive is a cooperative event that produces population trend data dating back to 1980. The Salmon River Spring Chinook run is the largest remaining naturally spawning population of the once predominant run in the Klamath basin, which historically spawned above the dams in the basin. The Salmon River Surveys are a focal point in the effort to protect and restore Klamath spring Chinook, bringing together communities, stakeholders, tribes, academia and agencies in a cooperative approach to recovery. Do underwater networking while counting some of the last of the Klamath springers. Workshops and Presentations to be announced. Camping and lodging are available.

The Salmon River Restoration Council and cooperators are excited to dovetail the SRF Spring Chinook Watershed Symposium with the Salmon River Spring Chinook and Summer Steelhead Dives. Participants in the Symposium will learn about and share in recovery efforts for spring Chinook in their natural environment.

Central Coast Field School
August 14-16, 2007 in Arroyo Grande, CA
SRF and Central Coast Salmon Enhancement will offer a course addressing culvert and road drainage practices to protect and benefit steelhead and water quality in the central coast region with Pacific Watershed Associates. This course will include several sessions in the field and will focus on 1) Proper ditch relief and stream crossing culvert installation as well as installation of critical rolling dips or measures to eliminate stream diversions. Classroom and field methods twill highlight appropriate culvert sizing for peak stream flows, sediment and woody debris in transport. The class will include approaches for addressing potential road fill and landing failures, as well as spoil disposal techniques and illustrate a variety of road bed and ditch drainage approaches. Participants will learn how to properly excavate a stream crossing fill to minimize post excavation erosion and sediment delivery to streams, and how to reduce roadbed width on excessively wide segments of road.

10th Annual Coho Confab in the Mattole
August 17-19, 2007
The 10th Annual Coho Confab is sponsored by Salmonid Restoration Federation, Trees Foundation, Sanctuary Forest, Mattole Restoration Council, and the Mattole Salmon Group. This year's Confab will feature macro-invertebrate sampling, headwaters to mouth restoration tours, underwater fish identification, water conservation techniques, bioengineering projects, hands-on opportunities, networking, great music and food.

Fee: $100-125 includes all food and lodging. Limited scholarships and work trade positions are available.

25th Annual Salmon Restoration Conference was Huge Success
Over 500 watershed enthusiasts migrated to the North Coast to attend the 25th Annual Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference in Santa Rosa, California. This silver anniversary conference was entitled, “Celebrating a Generation of Salmonid Restoration and Recovery,” and highlighted the evolving restoration field and global issues that are affecting salmonid recovery. The conference included full-day workshops on dam removal and FERC relicensing, fish passage barrier removal tools, and estuary and lagoon restoration. Field tours visited sustainable grazing sites in southern Sonoma and western Marin counties, Sonoma vineyards with salmon-friendly agricultural practices, rivermouth to ridgeline in the Dutch Bill Creek watershed, steelhead habitat restoration projects on Upper Sonoma Creek, bioengineering and in-stream restoration projects, and the headwaters to Mouth of Austin Creek watershed as well as a short tour of urban creek restoration projects in the Prince Memorial Greenway.

Concurrent sessions focused on environmental, biological, and policy issues that affect Salmonid habitat restoration and recovery of native fish populations including water diversions and the associated water quality and quantity issues on the North Coast, Coho Recovery efforts in California, the economic, cultural and recovery impacts of fisheries closures, coastal watershed planning and restoration, salmonid and watershed environmental education, Salmonid recovery downstream of large reservoirs, measuring watershed condition and management performance, fluvial geomorphology, assessing Best Management Practicies, and regional land use planning and implementation strategies in aquatic conservation.

The plenary session featured prominent keynote speakers including UC Davis Fisheries Professor Peter Moyle who addressed “Climate Change and the state of California salmonid recovery efforts,” Nat Scholz from NOAA Fisheries who discussed coho recovery in the light of toxicity in urban streams, Freeman House, author of Totem Salmon who addressed grassroots watershed efforts in the face of global warming, and Brock Dolman who provided a global perspective on watershed restoration. Seth Zuckerman, editor of Salmon Nation, facilitated the Plenary.

Other highlights of the conference included the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, SRF’s annual meeting, a poster session and reception, and a cabaret, a Copper River salmon banquet, and a lively dance party with Latin-dance band Sambada.

The 2008 conference will be in the San Joaquin Valley.