Biological Opinions - Bureau of Reclamation

River Basin Fisheries Task Force (Task Force) was established by the Klamath River Basin
Fishery Resources Restoration Act of 1986 (Klamath Act) to provide recommendations to the
Secretary of the Interior on the formulation, establishment, and implementation of a 20-year
program to restore anadromous fish populations in the Klamath River Basin to optimal levels.
The 16-member Task Force included representatives from the fishing community, county, state
and federal agencies, and tribes. A Technical Work Group of the Task Force provided technical
and scientific input. In 1991, the Task Force developed the Long Range Plan for the Klamath
River Basin Conservation Area Fishery Restoration Program to help direct fishery restoration
programs and projects throughout the Klamath River.
In addition to creating a fishery restoration plan for the river basin restoration program, the Task
Force also encouraged local watershed groups to develop restoration plans for each of the five
sub-basins of the lower Klamath River Basin. These groups included the Shasta River
Coordinated Resource Management Planning Group (Shasta sub-basin), Scott River Watershed
Council (Scott sub-basin), Salmon River Restoration Council (Salmon sub-basin), Karuk Tribe
and Mid-Klamath Watershed Council (mid-Klamath sub-basin), and the Yurok Tribe (lower-
Klamath sub-basin). Since 1991, over $1.3 million has been given to these groups to develop the
sub-basin plans and conduct restoration activities. Funds from the Klamath Act are often
leveraged to develop broader restoration programs and projects in conjunction with other funding
sources, including CDFW restoration grants. As an example, nearly $1.9 million of CDFW
restoration funding was spent on a variety of Klamath River Basin restoration projects during the
2002 to 2006 period. While the Klamath River Basin Conservation Area Restoration Program
ended in 2006, federal funds were authorized for fiscal year 2007, and the USFWS continues to
administer funds in the near term consistent with the goals of the program.
In August, 2004, the California State Fish and Wildlife Commission listed coho salmon north of
San Francisco Bay under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). CDFW created both a
multi-stakeholder coho recovery team to address rangewide recovery issues, and a sub-working
group to develop coho salmon recovery strategies associated specifically with agricultural
management within the Scott and Shasta rivers to return coho salmon to a level of viability so
that they can be delisted.
In 2002, NMFS began ESA recovery planning for the SONCC and Oregon Coast coho salmon
ESU through a scientific technical team created and chaired by the Northwest and Southwest
Regional Fishery Science Centers, referred to as the Oregon and Northern California Coast coho
salmon technical recovery team. As a part of the larger technical recovery team, a SONCC
working group is focusing on coho salmon populations within the SONCC coho salmon ESU,
which includes all populations within the Klamath River basin. NMFS prepared a draft recovery
plan for the SONCC coho salmon ESU (77 FR 476; January 5, 2012), and requested public
comments on the draft recovery plan until May 4, 2012 (77 FR 7134; February 10, 2012).
NMFS administers several grant programs to further restoration efforts in the Klamath River
Basin. Since 2000, NMFS has issued grants to the States of California and Oregon, and Klamath
River Basin tribes (Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa Valley and Klamath) through the Pacific Coast Salmon
Restoration Fund (PCSRF) for the purposes of restoring coastal salmonid habitat. California
integrates the PCSRF funds with their salmon restoration funds and issues grants for habitat
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