Climate Impacts on Salmon Management and Recovery in the Columbia River Basin

September 21, 2004
Portland, Oregon

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Background

The success of salmon management and recovery efforts in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) is shaped by many variables, including the effects of climate variability and change on the region's climate, hydrology, and salmonid species.

The Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington invited PNW resource managers and technical level staff from federal, state, tribal and local level resource management agencies, public/private utilities, and other interested parties to participate in a one day workshop on the impacts of climate variability and change on salmon mangement and recovery in the Columbia River basin. A breakdown of final participants by area of interest is provided in Figure 1.

The meeting focused on integrated climate/salmonid ecology and the connection to management and policy in:

• Short-term harvest, allocation, and hatchery production and operations decisions, and
• Long-term recovery planning activities.

Major objectives of the meeting included:

• Sharing what is known (and not known) about climate impacts on PNW climate, hydrology, and salmonid species,
• Identifying how information on climate impacts is being (or can be brought) into salmon management activities and decision-making processes, and
• Identifying research needs that could support the use of climate information in salmon management and policy development.

Click image to enlarge

The final agenda for the meeting is available here.

Guidance on planning the CIG's climate/salmon meeting was provided by numerous individuals around the region. A list of advisory committee members is available here.

Residence Inn by Marriott **
Downtown Portland at RiverPlace
2115 SW River Parkway
Portland, OR 97201
phone: 503-552-9500

CIG's climate and water resource forecast meeting for the 2005 water year

Participants were invited to attend the CIG's climate and water resource forecast meeting for the 2005 water year on September 22, 2004 at the Residence Inn in Portland. The fall forecast meeting provides an opportunity to hear how forecasted climate conditions for the winter 2004-2005 may affect regional climate and streamflow conditions in the Columbia River Basin and western Washington and Oregon in 2005. The meeting also provides a forum for sharing the latest research on climate impacts and climate forecasting in the PNW.

2005 Meeting for Coastal and Puget Sound/Georgia Basin Salmon

A meeting on climate impacts on salmon management and recovery in coastal watersheds and the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin is tentatively planned for February 2005. Please check back with the CIG for future updates on this meeting.