2000 Annual Western Division AFS Meeting
Telluride Convention Center
Telluride, Colorado
July 16-20, 2000

Salmonid Restoration via Natural Colonization: Lessons from Nature and Experiments

Wednesday Afternoon - July 19 - West Ballroom

Eric Knudsen; USGS/BRD

We humans have a natural tendency to think we can fix anything that appears broken (or we decide to give up) and that has generally been the case when it comes to salmonid restoration or enhancement. While there are certainly cases where human intervention has improved or replaced natural salmonid production, there are far more examples, especially for Pacific anadromous salmonids, where projects to introduce, enhance, or restore populations have failed. The failures result from a number of causes. But taken together, the general lack of success in restoring depleted populations can largely be attributed to our inability to account for natural colonization processes in light of all too common and rapid habitat changes. That is, salmon and trout have evolved and adapted quite specifically to their habitats. Now that many of the habitats have changed, and the population attributes have been altered through heavy harvest, the genetically driven adaptive processes determining fitness of the animals to their habitats means that recovery will require time. The most successful restoration may come from a gradual recolonization approach, or at least from lessons about natural processes of salmonid colonization and rebuilding.

This session will explore the concepts of natural salmonid population expansion, including speed at which new populations become established, stray rates, homing variation, genetic relationships of new and source populations, likelihood of reestablishment in altered habitats, and the importance of sufficient spawners in recolonizing underutilized habitats. Topics will come from both observations on natural, unaltered populations as well as from experimental manipulations. This symposium will transfer information among experts and hopefully lead to recommendations for improving salmonid restoration. While the symposium cannot be expected to change human patience, the presenters will help identify actions that should be taken, or others to be prevented, which will be more attuned to natural processes, thereby increasing the likelihood of success.

2:00 – 2:20 pm

Colonization and development of stream communities across a 200-year gradient following glacial recession in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska; Alexander M. Milner, E. Eric Knudsen - Presenter, Chad Soiseth, Anne L. Robertson, Don Schell, Ian T. Phillips, and Katrina Magnusson

2:20 – 2:40 pm

Relations among populations of salmonids: Potentials for recolonization; Gordon Reeves - Presenter, Christian E. Zimmerman and Kitty E. Griswold

2:40 – 3:00 pm

Homing fidelity and natural colonization of steelhead in the Cedar River, WA: Using DNA to test the limits; Paul McElhany - Presenter and Mary Ruckelshaus

3:00 – 3:20 pm

Natural production of anadromous salmonids in three western Washington watersheds formerly inaccessible to migratory fish; Dave Seiler

3:20 – 3:40 pm

Break

3:40 – 4:00 pm

Salmon colonization of two watersheds in southeast Alaska after fish pass construction; Brenda Wright - Presenter and Mason Bryant

4:00 – 4:20 pm

Elwha River Salmon Restoration: Hatchery versus Natural Re-Colonization; Bob Wunderlich – Presenter and Brian Winter

4:20 – 4:40 pm

TBA

4:40 – 5:00 pm

TBA