A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 7, 2008
3. Watersheds
Building ban proposed in
San Francisco Chronicle – 2/7/08
By Jane Kay, staff writer
The numbers of endangered coho salmon returning to spawn this winter in west
People were disappointed this season as they lined up at the
Only 175 redds - the river nests of at least two coho salmon - were counted in the creeks this season. That's down from the 728 redds counted in 2004-05, one of the more healthy runs in recent years.
On Wednesday,
Development can alter streambeds by eliminating floodplains and vegetation that the salmon need to survive.
The county's Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the building moratorium at a meeting Tuesday. The environmental group has been urging the supervisors to put stricter coho salmon protections in a countywide growth plan.
"We've been on opposing sides for years, and now we've decided to try a collaborative approach which would work for the fish as well as the community," said Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who represents west Marin.
"There will be folks who will be significantly inconvenienced by the moratorium and others who won't like it. But we agree that to protect the species for the long-term warrants a short timeout," Kinsey said.
The fact that the salmon "commingle with inhabited communities is amazing," he said. "It's a pinnacle experience in nature to see them. We don't want to be known as the generation that ended that phenomenon."
In San Rafael, Klif Knoles, general manager of Marin Builders Association, said his 1,000-company trade association would "like some time for public comment" on the agreement.
The San Geronimo Valley, 3 1/2 miles long by 1 mile wide, is a rural region of 5,000 people laced with creeks and streams. Since the 1960s, summer cabins have turned into year-round residences. About one to two houses are built there a year, county officials say. Property owners have already had to show county officials that their development wasn't harming the coho, one of the last runs left in
The coho salmon - which is considered endangered by state officials and is a threatened species according to the federal government - has lost 90 percent of its population over the past decades. The fish use Lagunitas, San Geronimo, Devils Gulch, Olema, Pine Gulch and Redwood creeks.
Threats include development, dams that block migration, pollution and warming ocean conditions that diminish food supply, scientists say.
Development destroys the floodplains that slow the flow of rushing rivers and offer sanctuary for the little salmon during a rain storm, explained Paola Bouley, a watershed biologist with SPAWN. The fish need fallen trees for cover as well as streamside trees such as alders, maples and willows. Bankside oaks and redwoods cool the water for the coho, Bouley said.
In 2005-06, a huge rainstorm washed out the juvenile salmon growing in the creek, the same fish that would have been returning this year to spawn, Bouley said.
"We don't expect them to be alive. They only get one shot. They're on a rigid three-year cycle, and don't have any flexibility." #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/07/BAJSUTL7D.DTL&hw=water&sn=016&sc=253
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