History of Recovery Program

Pacific salmon and steelhead were once abundant throughout the Pacific coast of the United States.  Salmon and steelhead play an important role in our society for their historical, cultural and economic value. They are also ecological indicators of the overall health of our rivers and streams. Over the past decades populations of salmon and steelhead throughout the Pacific coast have declined to extremely low levels.  These declines  have led to the protection of some Pacific salmon and steelhead populations under the Endangered Species Act.  The recovery of salmon and steelhead is a high priority for local, tribal, state and federal interests, as well as the general public. 

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is required by the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), to develop recovery plans for the conservation and survival of Federally-listed species.  The recovery planning process is guided by the statutory language of section 4(f) of the ESA, NMFS policies (e.g., NMFS Interim Recovery Guidance October 2004, revised July 2006), case law and research on the efficacy of these plans for species recovery.  ESA Statute Policies

Recovery is defined as the use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered or threatened species to the point at which measures provided pursuant to the ESA are no longer necessary.  The ESA specifies that recovery plans must include:  (1) a description of management actions as may be necessary to achieve the plan’s goals for the conservation and survival of the species; (2) objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would result in the species being removed from the list; and (3) estimates of time and costs required to achieve the plan’s goal and the intermediate steps towards that goal. 

There are four recovery domains in California (click here for a pdf map of domains):

• Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC)

• North-Central California Coast (NCCC)

• California Central Valley

• South-Central California Coast.

In 2000, Technical Recovery Teams (TRTs) were formed for each of the four recovery domains.  The TRTs are chaired by a representative of NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center and include researchers, biologists and academics. In the case of the SONCC coho salmon ESU the TRT is co-chaired by a representative from the Southwest and Northwest Fisheries Science Centers.  For all salmon and steelhead species, the TRTs will provide to the recovery coordinators in early 2007:  historical population structure, population and ESU biological population and ESU/DPS viability criteria for delisting and research/monitoring needs.  Concurrent with the TRT work, the recovery coordinators are initiating the formal recovery plan development process by conducting outreach workshops, drafting chapters of the recovery plans and coordinating with partners. 

The principal components of a recovery plan include:  population and ESU/DPS viability, an analysis of threats to the species, site specific management actions and objective measurable criteria to ensure actions reduce or eliminate the identified threat to the viablility of populations and/or the ESU/DPSs.  The importance of a robust threats assessment is crucial to a recovery plan as it defines the type and nature of recovery actions and provides a basis for determining delisting criteria for ESA-listed species. The Nature Conservancy “Conservation Action Planning Workbook” is acknowledged in the NMFS Interim Endangered and Threatened Species Recovery Planning Guidance (NMFS July 2006)  as an approach that can be used for Federal recovery planning purposes.