Salmon's quiet comeback?

THE STAKES ARE HIGH AND THE SOLUTIONS EXPECTED TO BE WIDE-RANGING AND DEEPLY FELT. SO WHY IS EVERYONE COOPERATING?

The Pacific Northwest exploded in 1990 when the federal government decided to protect the northern spotted owl. Lawsuits flew, loggers held protest rallies, newspapers filled with letters arguing for and against the action.

Over the last eight years, 24 runs of salmon and steelhead in rivers and streams across 157,000 square miles of the Pacific Northwest have been listed under the Endangered Species Act. That's nearly twice the 89,000 square miles covered by the spotted owl listing.

So far, the silence has been deafening.

The lack of public reaction to these listings is not brought by a lack of impact. The most recent action, a decision in March by the National Marine Fisheries Service to add nine runs of salmon and steelhead to the nation's list of threatened and endangered species, brought the Northwest region's urban and agricultural heart under the jurisdiction of the federal species act. And for the first time, those efforts include the city of Seattle and Oregon's densely settled and heavily farmed Willamette Valley.

Now 38 percent of the area of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California combined have protected salmon or steelhead in their waterways.

"In terms of geographic scope, this listing is as significant as any ESA action ever taken by this administration," says Terry Garcia, who as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce is in charge of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "It's the first time we have brought the ESA to such large urban areas."

Two things are behind the muted reaction to the most recent round of ESA listings. Protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat has become an accepted part of doing business in the Pacific Northwest. Part of that means protecting and planting erosion-slowing streamside trees and leaving woody debris in streams to slow water flow, catch sediment, and provide spawning grounds. And the federal government, rather than stepping in and imposing restrictions, is standing back this time and giving local communities the lead.

"There's a recognition that these things are with us," said Howard Sohn, owner of Sun Studs, Inc., a central Oregon timber company. "There's an acceptance of the inevitable."

There's also a recognition that the region's salmon are in trouble.

The Columbia River, once the world's greatest salmon waterway, supported an estimated 16 million salmon and steelhead in the early 1800s. Now only about a million of the fish return to the river each year, and 80 percent of those are born in hatcheries. Much has conspired to decimate the salmon of the Pacific Northwest.

Overfishing is the most obvious culprit. Devices such as fish wheels, which stripped rivers of all passing salmon, and gill nets, which intercepted entire waterways, were devastatingly effective. By the late 1800s, millions of fish were harvested each year.

But fishing now is sharply restricted - with commercial harvests banned in most waterways - and still the fish are not rebounding. There are many reasons for the decline; one major culprit is dams. Even with fish ladders to allow adults to get upstream, dams cause damage by thwarting downriver passage of juveniles and converting fast-flowing cool waterways into stagnant, warm pools. Logging and grazing hurt the tributaries where adults spawn and young salmon rear, both by removing streamside vegetation that cools waterways and by increasing erosion that leaves gravel beds buried in silt.

The area won't feel the full brunt of the new listings until at least June, when the National Marine Fisheries Service plans to release "4-d rules" detailing exactly which activities are prohibited under the ESA. After that, harming a threatened species or damaging its habitat will become a federal crime, punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.

When the new rules come, widespread ramifications are expected in the Northwest, where salmon and the culture surrounding it are as much a part of the landscape as old-growth forests and craggy, snow-topped mountains.

Expected changes include construction rules to keep riverbanks shaded and control erosion, heightened efforts by farmers to cut the amount of fertilizers and pesticides leaching into waterways, and stiffer forestry rules in woodlands that have become the last refuge of many salmon and steelhead species.

Urban residents will feel the pinch, too, officials say, with efforts to protect waterways leading to higher sewage-disposal fees and drinking water costs. Residential practices such as washing cars on streets will come under scrutiny for the first time.

The National Marine Fisheries Service hopes changes will come from states and local communities, not from the federal government. "In the old model, the federal government prescribed a solution and said, 'do it or else,'" says the Commerce Department's Garcia. "The new approach is one that emphasizes partnerships."

That approach is already seeing results:

* Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's January executive order makes the protection of all salmon runs a top priority for state agencies. Kitzhaber has convened a panel to review forestry rules on state and private lands.

* The city of Portland has completed an audit of all city practices to identify those harmful to city streams inhabited by protected fish. Among the changes underway: a halt to pesticide use along waterways in city parks and the replacement of a toxic herbicide to keep tree roots from entering sewer lines.

* In Washington Governor Gary Locke has proposed to the state legislature a $200 million salmon-recovery plan.

* Three Puget Sound counties - King, Pierce, and Snohomish - have joined in an effort to develop a salmon protection strategy, including stiffer construction rules.

Another reason for the lack of opposition is widespread recognition of how badly salmon are doing. "There's no point in us fighting these listings," says Roy Hemmingway, Kitzhaber's salmon and energy advisor. "The fish keep on declining."

Salmon recovery efforts in Oregon are led by 87 separate watershed councils, volunteer organizations that bring together timber companies, farmers, conservationists, and state and local officials to develop stream restoration plans. Jacqueline Dingfelder, former director of the Tualitin River Watershed Council, believes the new listings will help the councils.

"This is only going to elevate the level of awareness," she says. "It should engage people who aren't already at the table."

It's too soon to know whether these homegrown solutions will work. Conservationists are withholding judgment until they see what's enacted at the local level.

"People are watching this closely, that's all I'll say," says Dan Rohlf, an instructor at Lewis & Clark's Northwestern School of Law and the director of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center.

Don Francis, co-director of Willamette Riverkeeper, an advocacy organization, is more blunt: "If the state doesn't do this adequately, the lawsuits will fly.'

Still, regulated industries say they're encouraged by the cooperative approach adopted by the fisheries service. John Chandler, top lobbyist for the Oregon Building Industry Association, Oregon's largest construction trade group, calls actions so far "reassuring."

"We have more faith that the state and local governments will be more sensitive to people's lives than the feds would be," Chandler says, adding that the lack of protest about the coming listings stems from an ignorance of inevitable restrictions.

Also pleased is Jim James, regional timber manager for Willamette Industries, Oregon's largest timberland owner. "We were unprepared for the owl," he says. "Since then we matured so we can address these kinds of issues. And the fact that the states and cities are being given a chance makes this much easier."

State and local conservation plans backed by a federal listing will give salmon and steelhead the best chance for recovery, says Bill Bakke, a Portland flyfisherman who has founded his own conservation group, the Native Fish Society.

State and local plans, Bakke said, encourage people to get involved with salmon recovery. And the backstop of a federal listing should mean salmon recovery efforts won't fade quickly.

"If the state loses its courage, or we get a governor who doesn't care as much about fish, an Endangered Species Act listing means we've got the federal government to fall back on," Bakke says.

"A listing doesn't mean there's a certainty that we can recover salmon," he says. "But it's an acknowledgment that these fish are in trouble. At least now there's an opportunity to save them."

RELATED ARTICLE: BY THE NUMBERS

AMERICAN FORESTS is a partner in efforts to restore salmon to the Pacific Northwest through its Global ReLeaf Forests program. The program provides financial and technical assistance to community groups, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations that seek to plant trees to restore damaged areas. Through Global ReLeaf Forest tree-plantings AMERICAN FORESTS is helping restore critical riparian habitat in streams and rivers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Trees are vital to salmon restoration for cooling and cleaning spawning waters and reducing erosion in streams where salmon thrive. Every dollar contributed to our Pacific Northwest Global ReLeaf Forests projects plants a tree.

IN OREGON:

* The Applegate Watershed Restoration project is planting 23,000 hardwoods and conifers on up to 35 acres. This planting will reforest areas devastated by January 1997 flooding and improve habitat for coho and chinook salmon.

* The Illinois River Watershed project in the southwestern part of the state will plant more than 15,000 hardwoods and conifers along the banks of the Illinois River. Those efforts will stabilize the streambank, improve habitat for coho and steelhead, create wildlife habitat, and sequester carbon.

IN WASHINGTON:

* The ongoing Nooksack Salmon Enhancement project will plant 13,700 trees on 20 acres to improve streambanks in several watersheds and ultimately improve salmon numbers in lowland streams. Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association's projects are typically planted on private property with landowners' involvement. That's often tough going because the association is trying to accomodate landowners' wishes while restoring a viable riparian corridor.

* The South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group is planting 10,000 seedlings along riparian corridors in south Puget Sound. These publicly and privately owned buffer areas will be protected from future logging by statute and Timber, Fish and Wildlife agreements between the state, industry, and tribes.

* Planting 13,000 native trees and shrubs along a half-mile stretch of the Sammamish River will help improve the only annual migration route for up to 70,000 salmon.

IN CALIFORNIA:

* The federal Bureau of Land Management is planting 15,000 Douglas-fir over about 20 acres of the King Range National Conversation Area near Arcata. The trees will stabilize topsoil and enhance habitat for salmon and wildlife.

When you contribute to AMERICAN FORESTS' Global ReLeaf Forests program, you can help efforts to restore salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Every dollar plants a tree in one of the above sites. Plant trees on-line at www.americanforests.org, by phone at 800/545-TREE, or by mail: PO Box 2000, Washington, DC 20013.

Jonathan Brinckman covers the environment and natural resources for The Oregonian in Portland.