Ecological investigations conducted at a landscape or watershed scale will be necessary for recovery of listed salmon.

Understanding landscape-scale relationships among salmon and their habitats is essential to habitat recovery planning. Analyses at these large scales (>103 km2) are needed because 1) there are multiple threats to salmon populations whose mechanisms operate over broad spatial scales 2) recovery planning decisions are often made for watersheds or basins, 3) remotely-sensed or modeled data is often available in situations where field data are unavailable and management decisions must be made now, and 4) an improved understanding of natural patterns of habitat variability over time and across space will help us to develop management plans that promote properly functioning ecosystems. Using existing and modeled data over large areas and principles of landscape ecology, the Landscape Ecology and Recovery Science Team can inform recovery planning needs such as the development of population and habitat viability criteria, predictions of habitat suitability or salmon distribution, the identification and prioritization of restoration and preservation sites, and the development of fish and habitat monitoring programs.

Team research focuses on three primary objectives:

• Quantifying the effects of landscape condition on water quality, habitat structure, communities, and ecosystems;
• Understanding the impact of non-native species on the landscape; and,
• Identifying appropriate uses of modeled and remotely sensed data.

Team members on a field trip at the 2004 annual meeting of the International Society for Landscape Ecology.

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