By Todd Manley
In a recent blog (see below), Erica Bishop with the Water Forum described the monitoring occurring this fall to determine if the habitat projects the Water Forum has been implementing for the past decade and a half are being effectively utilized by Chinook salmon for spawning and rearing activities. This monitoring is critical to ensure that the habitat projects have been engineered and constructed in a way that maximizes their habitat value. Over the next decade, hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested in salmon recovery projects as the Voluntary Agreements and other related programs are fulfilled in the Sacramento Valley. Monitoring is a part of every salmon recovery project and will be a critical part of the Voluntary Agreement science program to make sure that these projects are providing the intended habitat value. Or, if they are not, it will reveal this and allow project proponents to modify the project to provide the habitat that was expected, ensuring that the value of the investment is realized and we continue to work towards the recovery of salmon.
