Jared Huffman introduces legislation to preserve salmon strongholds

North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) reintroduced legislation Tuesday to identify, restore, and protect thriving salmon populations and critical habitat strongholds.

Habitat degradation, pollution, climate change, dams, and overharvesting have caused salmon populations to decline throughout the North Coast and across the nation. The Salmon Focused Investments in Sustainable Habitats, or FISH Act would ensure the survival of the healthiest remaining salmon populations by:

• “Identifying the core centers of salmon abundance, productivity, and diversity as Salmon Conservation Areas and identifying areas of particularly pristine quality as Salmon Strongholds.
• Building upon existing analysis such as that used in Essential Fish Habitat.
• Ensuring actions of the federal government do not undermine the abundance of these areas.
• Authorizing funding for a grant program focused on restoration and conservation of Salmon Conservation Areas and Salmon Strongholds.
• Supporting current federal programs already focused on restoring and maintaining healthy watersheds.”

“We introduced this legislation in the last Congress but we were not able to move it forward. I’m really hoping to take it further down the line this time,” Huffman told the Times-Standard. “The inspiration behind this bill is really the fact that we still have some salmon runs and watersheds that are in good shape while we’ve worked so hard to bring salmon back and keep them from going extinct in rivers and watersheds that have been hammered and practically destroyed. We really can’t lose sight of the places where we still have productive salmon runs and good habitat. It’s important that we protect them, too.”

One such stronghold on the North Coast is the Smith River.

“We haven’t built dams on the Smith, we have protected a lot of it and the watershed is really in good shape,” Huffman said. “It’s not without its challenges or issues in the estuary that need to be improved, but the Smith River by and large is a good example of the kind of place that would benefit from a bill like this.”

Regina Chichizola, co-director of Save California Salmon, urged local and state lawmakers to work with Huffman to identify watersheds that serve as salmon conservation areas and strongholds.

“Salmon are an integral part of the economy and cultural heritage of Northern California and if action is not taken we may lose them. Salmon also serve as an indicator of how healthy and clean our rivers are and millions of Californians rely on healthy rivers for their drinking water and recreational opportunities,” Chichizola told the Times-Standard. “We need to do everything we can to restore habitat and protect flows to these critical watersheds, many of which are on the North Coast.”

Another critical salmon stronghold is the Klamath River Basin. While there is pristine and intact habitat in some parts of the watershed that could be identified as a salmon conservation area, Huffman said “issues on the Klamath are a little different.”

“It’s a system that we did alter and degrade,” he said. “The fight along the Klamath involves using tools like the Endangered Species Act because the stocks have been driven to near extinction. What we’re trying to do with the Salmon FISH Act is to make sure we don’t let our last remaining salmon strongholds get into that kind of trouble.”

Craig Tucker, a natural resources consultant for the Karuk Tribe, agreed that preserving salmon strongholds is critical. “Identifying the last great places where salmon spawn and rear and having a strategy to protect those places is critical if we’re going to have wild salmon in the future. This is exactly the kind of aggressive measure we need to make sure the next generation can enjoy wild salmon.”

Like Huffman, Tucker noted there are hotspots throughout the Klamath Basin that are key to salmon survival.

“For example, the Salmon River tributary to the Klamath is one of the last places that wild spring Chinook still spawn in the Klamath Basin and that population needs to be protected,” he said. “On the Scott River, that’s one of the last places that wild coho salmon are spawning and rearing in the Klamath Basin, that place should be protected. The Shasta River is unique in that it has these perennial cold water springs that feed the Scott River and those springs are going to be resilient in the face of global warming.”

In the meantime, Tucker said the Karuk Tribe is building “off-channel habitat” to create wetland areas along the banks of the creeks and streams to the Klamath River to provide a place for juvenile coho salmon to rear in the winter.

“It’s like a safe place for juvenile salmon to grow and get big and strong to leave the river,” he explained. “These projects are amazing. You can build them in a few weeks and then in another few weeks, you can go out there and they’re full of the fish. It’s been a really exciting project.”

Another means of ensuring salmon survival is the removal of four dams along the lower Klamath River which is on track to begin at the beginning of 2023.

“I wake up every day and run to my cell phone to see if (the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission) has issued the draft environmental impact statement for Klamath dam removal. We’re expecting it to be issued by the end of February but it could come any day now,” he said. “When they release that document, it will really sort of signal the last leg of this journey to dam removal.”

Huffman said the Salmon FISH Act will now move to a markup in the coming weeks. “That means getting the bill in the final state and having votes at the full committee level to take it to the floor of the house,” he said.

A copy of the legislation can be found at huffman.house.gov.

Isabella Vanderheiden can be reached at 707-441-0504.