Bonneville Environmental Foundation Expands Watershed Restoration to Save Salmon Runs

Innovative 10-year river restoration project with Oregon’s Coos Watershed Association marks the sixth, 10-year commitment to fund science-based watershed restoration in the Pacific Northwest.

Portland, Ore. – (April 24, 2008) – The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) www.b-e-f.org, today announced an innovative agreement with the Coos Watershed Association (CoosWA), www.cooswatershed.org to support a 10-year Model Watershed restoration and monitoring program to restore salmon runs in the rivers and streams that flow into Oregon’s Coos Bay.  

BEF pledged $260,000 to support the group’s long-term restoration strategy, and also committed to provide the services of an independent scientific advisory team over the next decade.

“One to two year grants do not encourage holistic, watershed-wide restoration approaches, and often hinder local efforts to implement increasingly adaptive and effective watershed restoration strategies,” said Todd Reeve, BEF’s vice president of watershed programs.

BEF’s long-term funding is critical because it provides CoosWA the ability to test and evaluate their restoration strategies over the long-term.  In time, this will allow them to both sustain a constant effort and to continually adapt and improve their projects to restore salmon runs and rivers.

“These long-term commitments to accountable river restoration offer hope for salmon and trout populations to survive and for the landscape to continue to support strong economies on the coast,” said Jon Souder, executive director of the Coos Watershed Association.

BEF chose the Coos Watershed Association because of its strong base of community participation and its established track record of using science to prioritize its restoration projects and to evaluate its successes.

Coos Watershed Association Facts:

• In partnership with Oregon State University, the CoosWA is intensively studying the effects of tide gates on fish species and the ecology of small tributary streams.

• When they weren’t out fishing, ten fishermen were employed by the CoosWA in 2007 to restore fish habitat and monitor salmon stocks in rivers and streams in the Coos Bay Watershed.

• Salmon and trout are extremely sensitive to high water temperatures, which affect the amount of oxygen available underwater. A riparian reforestation project planted by the CoosWA on Willanch Creek was shown to have drastically cooled the summertime stream water. From 1997 to 2007, the stream showed a 12-degree (Fahrenheit) drop in the maximum 7-day average summer water temperature.

• Located in Oregon’s coastal temperate rainforest, the Coos Bay Watershed comprises 610 square miles (390,000 acres) of floodplain valleys, forested uplands, estuarine wetlands, and urban areas. The Coos River alone provides from half to three-quarters of the wild coastal Coho salmon in the Mid-South Coast gene conservation area.
  
  
• Links to photos are available here: http://www.b-e-f.org/news/photos.shtm

In an effort to demonstrate an increasingly responsible and effective restoration methodology, BEF has committed to provide over $1.4 million to support six model watershed programs in the Pacific Northwest since 2003. These watershed programs are located in three Pacific Northwest states: Oregon: Upper Deschutes River, Crooked River; Washington: Entiat River, Chinook River and Idaho: Lower Kootenai River and Benewah Creek.

In addition to the Coos Watershed Association, BEF expects to commit to two more model watersheds in 2008. More information about the innovative 10-year Model Watershed approach can be found online at http://www.b-e-f.org/watersheds/index.shtm.

About the Coos Watershed Association
The Coos Watershed Association (CoosWA) consists of landowners, government and non-government employees, and other stakeholders in the Coos Bay area. The goal of the CoosWA is to provide a framework to coordinate and implement proven management practices, and test promising new management practices, designed to promote environmental integrity and economic stability for communities of the Coos watershed.” More information is available at www.cooswatershed.org.

About the Bonneville Environmental Foundation 
The nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation was established in 1998. Through revenues generated from the sales of green power products, BEF supports its dual mission of restoring watershed ecosystems and supporting renewable energy.  BEF’s Model Watershed Partnerships comprise 10-year commitments that provide funding for monitoring, evaluation, and scientific oversight. BEF’s long-term approach ensures that Model Watershed Partners apply scientific methodology and continuously track progress and improve strategies based on measured results.  More information is available at www.b-e-f.org.