Salmonid Restoration Federation

March 19-22, 2014 at the SB Veteran’s Hall

The Salmonid Restoration Federation, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the City of Santa Barbara will host the 32nd Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference in Santa Barbara, CA on March 19-22. The theme of this year’s conference is “Recovery Strategies for Coastal Salmonids” and the conference agenda highlights innovative strategies and implementation techniques to restore and recover salmonids. This conference agenda also explores large-scale issues affecting fisheries recovery including climate change and drought as well as the social aspects of how we steward water, plan for resiliency, and leverage limited resources.

In this era of global climate change we are witnessing the effects of extended drought on a landscape level. The field tours and workshops focus on community planning and solutions to increase fish passage and improve water management practices. Conference field tours will visit Ventura River Parkway and the legendary Matilija Dam, urban creek and fish passage projects in Santa Barbara, projects on the Gaviota Coast and Santa Ynez River, and representative anadromous fish habitat restoration projects in the Santa Clara River watershed. Workshops will examine innovative and successful restoration practices including reopening blocked fish passage, innovative stormwater and water conservation programs, steelhead and beaver interactions, and new resources for coastal monitoring.

This year’s conference agenda includes a Southern steelhead track that focuses on Southern steelhead life histories, habitat restoration techniques from estuaries to tributaries, and key recovery strategies. Other sessions include: Monitoring Restoration Effectiveness through Fish Habitat Relationships; Landscape Ecology of Salmonids; Living With and Without Dams; California’s Salmonid Restoration Economy; Urban Creek Restoration; and Historical Ecology of Salmonids.

The Plenary session focuses on elements of recovery and the landscape of restoration: water and climate extremes, recovery strategies, small and large-scale restoration actions, and what it all means for salmonid recovery. Keynote speakers include Professor Ed Keller from UC Santa Barbara who recently authored “Santa Barbara, Land of Dynamic Beauty — A Natural History”. Other speakers include Charlotte Ambrose (Central Coast Coho salmon Recovery Coordinator, NOAA Fisheries), Frances Malamud-Roam (co-author of The West Without Water), and George Pess, PhD (Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries).

“This annual conference serves as a venue to share newly adopted protocols, learn about pioneering restoration techniques, and engage in constructive discourse about fisheries recovery strategies. This conference has evolved into the premier salmon and steelhead restoration conference in California that brings together leading scientists, researchers, on-the-ground restoration practitioners, and planners,” stated Dana Stolzman, Executive Director of Salmonid Restoration Federation as well as the Agenda Coordinator for the annual conference.

Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) is a non-profit organization that promotes stewardship, sustainable management, and restoration of California’s salmon, steelhead, and trout populations and their habitat. SRF provides critical educational services for California’s community-based salmonid restoration organizations and agencies by producing an annual conference, field schools and workshops. SRF’s statewide conference on salmonid restoration provides an opportunity for field tours, technical workshops, panels, and a plenary session on the state of salmonid recovery.

To learn more about this conference, please visit http://www.calsalmon.org