NOAA Fisheries has announced its intent to develop recovery plans for 5 evolutionarily significant units of Pacific salmon and 5 distinct population units of steelhead trout in California that are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These include: Chinook salmon (Sacramento River Winter-run, Central Valley Spring-run, and California Coastal); coho salmon (Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast, and Central California Coast); and steelhead trout (Northern California Coast, Central California Coast, South-Central California Coast, Southern California Coast, and California Central Valley).

In order to develop recovery plans that address multiple species in an ecosystem context, recovery planning activities in California are organized into four "domains'' (Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast, North-Central California Coast, South-Central California Coast, and California Central Valley). Each domain will have one or more recovery plans that address all the listed salmon and/or steelhead within it. While each recovery plan will meet the requirements of the ESA, each is expected to be different because of differences in species, the amount and quality of information regarding the species and habitat conditions, and differences in ongoing and planned conservation efforts such as CalFed in the Central Valley, the State of California coho salmon recovery plan on the north coast, and many other local planning efforts and intiatives.

NOAA is requesting the public to submit relevant information that should be considered during the preparation of draft recovery plans. In particular, public comments should address: (a) criteria for delisting threatened and endangered species; (b) factors that are presently limiting or threaten to limit survival; (c) actions to address limiting factors and threats; (d) estimates of time and cost to implement recovery actions; and (e) research, monitoring, and evaluation needs. All information must be received by November 13. NOAA Fisheries plans to publish the draft recovery plans by June 2007 and provide an opportunity for public comment, with final recovery plans to be published by January 2008.

For more information, please read the announcement.