Salmonid Restoration Federation produced the 24th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference, “Rediscovering Urban Creeks and Creating Healthy Watersheds,” at the Santa Barbara Veteran’s Memorial Center February 22-25, 2006.
This premiere restoration conference offered 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 included 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 focused on environmental, biological, and policy issues that affect salmonid habitat restoration and recovery of native fish populations. Sessions included: Dam Removal; Project Monitoring for Watershed Management; Floodplain Management; Southern Steelhead Education, 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 featured Assembly Member Pedro Nava who addressed the California Ocean Protection Council. Brock Dolman of the WATER Institute addressed 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, discussed salmonid education and the legislative process. Lisa Thompson of UC Cooperative Extension spoke about southern steelhead recovery. Lastly, Geomorphologist David Montgomery gave a talk adapted from his book King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon.
The South Yuba River Citizens League and the Community Environmental Council also offered the Wild and Scenic film festival on Thursday, February 23. The poster session and reception were held on Friday evening and the conference culminated with a Cabaret, Awards Ceremony and Banquet on Saturday night.
Conference Highlights
