SEATTLE — In one of the broadest moves ever undertaken to halt the decline of Pacific salmon runs, the federal government will move today to protect chinook salmon stocks along portions of the West Coast from California's Central Valley to the Canadian border.
The proposals mark the first time the government has moved to extend the full power of the controversial Endangered Species Act in a major metropolitan region, where Seattle and dozens of surrounding cities would face a mandate to protect salmon runs throughout Puget Sound, home to two-thirds of Washington's 5.5 million people.
In an urban area where dwindling salmon streams push through major industrial zones and rapidly developing suburbs, Washington officials face the prospect of restoring wild fish to the rivers or undergoing a federal clampdown on virtually every big development project in the region.
Every major watershed in Washington could be affected by the proposals, which suggest extending endangered or threatened status to select populations among some two dozen salmon stocks evaluated in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
In California, the proposed listings will include endangered status for at least one salmon stock in the Central Valley, the spring chinook run, said Brian Gorman of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is expected to detail the proposed listings today. The salmon are found in the Sacramento and American rivers.
"In terms of significance, on a scale of one to 10, it's about a nine, because it's so big. The geographic area encompassed by these proposals goes from Central California to the British Columbia border," NMFS regional director Will Stelle said in an interview. "It is the 800-pound gorilla of these coast-wide status reviews."
Today's designations will include some, but not all, of the chinook stocks reviewed--the last in a series of evaluations of salmon stocks conducted over several years throughout the western United States. State and local governments have a year to respond with protection plans before the federal government makes a final determination on Endangered Species Act protection.
"These proposals are based on initial scientific findings. Over the next year, we'll be looking closely at all information before making our final listing decisions," said Bill Hogarth, regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Long Beach.
