Mike Burke, Nick Nelson, Greg Koonce, Manny DaCosta and Marty Melchior

1. Mike Burke, Nick Nelson, Greg Koonce, Manny DaCosta and Marty Melchior Applying Reconciliation Ecology Concepts To Salmonid Habitat Restoration And Enhancement

2. Motivations Share experiences in planning and implementing salmonid habitat enhancement in highly altered, yet natural settings that are critically important for conservation of salmonids. Use a pair of contemporary ecological paradigms to frame the associated nuances and complexities.

3. Outline Definitions Context Introduce Case Study Design Application Results – Habitat and Utilization

4. Definitions Novel Ecosystem(Seastedt et al. 2008): • Interactions between altered river systems and alien species are resulting in unprecedented combinations of species in habitat quite different from undisturbed habitat • ‘In managing novel ecosystems, the point is to not think outside the box, but to recognize that the box itself has shifted.’ Reconciliation Ecology(Rosenzweig 2003): • Practical approach to living with the new reality of these ecosystems for which recovery may be unattainable or even inadvisable • Manage these systems to provide desirable attributes, in particular to conserve biodiversity and critical species

5. Application Context Focused on Physical Habitat Improvement: • Interaction of the altered physical processes can be similarly unprecedented • Nearly all habitat restoration effort is a direct application of reconciliation ecology • WRT to stream processes and how they create, destroy and maintain habitat, it is essentially important to not only understand that the ‘box’ has moved, but also: • Is the box still moving? • In what direction and how fast? • What is left in the box to work with?

6. Case Study Dry Creek: • 230 mi2 watershed • 150 years of impacts lead stream far from its state at time of European contact • Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead trout • Critical resource for regional recovery of coho and steelhead • Abundant cold water in late summer over gravel substrate, rare for region (artifact of regulation) • Microcosm of overlapping alterations within a 14-mile reach of stream downstream of dam

7. Legacy of Alteration • 1850 - 1900: Deforestation and agricultural conversion • 1910 – 1975: Instream gravel mining • Led to systemic incision (20’-25’), slowed by end of period • Disconnection of lateral habitats and floodplain

8. Legacy of Alteration • 1980 - present: dam construction and regulation • Curtails sediment continuity and floods, elevates base flow • Veg encroachment, sequester alluvium, ‘channelization’, • Efficient at transporting available gravels

9. Current Function (what’s left and where’s it going) • Laterally and vertically stable, minimal disturbance • limited lateral habitat creation/revitalization – limited refugia • limited recruitment of substrate and LWD • ‘it’s stuck’ – not empowered or able to create new habitat

10. Current Function (what’s left and where’s it going) • Highly efficient at transporting available sediment with regulated hydrology • limited roughness, short substrate residence time • Deficit of riffle habitat • Poor quality pools: swift water, limited complexity and cover

11. Prescriptions • Disturbance!: • thin overbank vegetation to enable recruitment of legacy substrate and promote geomorphic change • energy dissipation

12. Prescriptions • Sediment Augmentation: • ‘seed’ riffles with sediment caliber that is better fit for regulated hydrology, • Energy breaks improve residence time for substrate

13. Prescriptions • Supplement LWD: • Provide cover and complexity, • Foster habitat development – scour and deposition • Enhance substrate residence time

14. Prescriptions • Rejuvenate lateral habitats and floodplains: • Backwaters, side channels, alcoves • Adjust to present base level and hydrology

15. Feedback (so far) • Intensive monitoring of fish utilization

16. Feedback (so far) • Intensive monitoring of fish utilization

17. Feedback (so far) • Intensive monitoring of fish utilization

18. Summary Points • Nearly all river systems are moderately to substantially altered from their pre-disturbance state, yet are essential for conservation of critical species. • The paradigms of the novel ecosystem and reconciliation ecology are useful for characterizing the realities of physical habitat enhancement planning and implementation. • In order to successfully achieve habitat enhancement objectives, it is necessary to reconcile the history of alteration, current physical function and future trajectory. • Often, intervention is required to nudge the physical system towards a trajectory that can sustain and replenish the habitat that is enhanced.

19. Applying Reconciliation Ecology Concepts To Salmonid Habitat Restoration And Enhancement Citations • Moyle, P.B., 2013. Novel Aquatic Ecosystems: The New Reality for Streams in California and Other Mediterranean Climate Regions. River Res. Applic., DOI 10.1002/rra.2709. • Rosenzweig, M.L. 2003. Win-win Ecology: How the Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise. Oxford University Press. Oxford. • Seastedt, T.R, Hobbs, R.J, Suding, K.N. 2008. Management of Novel Ecosystems: Are Novel Approaches Required? Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 6: 547-553 Acknowledgements • Sonoma County Water Agency, NMFS, CDFW