Cumulative Effects of Logging Linked to Coho Decline

by Rob DiPerna
Environmental Protection Information Center
January, 2013

[excerpt:]
Throughout the north and central California coast, Coho salmon are teetering on the brink of oblivion. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, 85-90 percent of remaining Coho population in the Central California Coast ESU occurs in watersheds with privately managed forestlands. The 2011 Central California Coast Coho Recovery Plan identifies timber harvest as an ongoing threat to the survival and viability of the species.

In 2009, the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection adopted permanent Forest Practice Rules to address the glaring deficiencies in its riparian buffers for streams and rivers bearing Coho and other listed salmonids. While these rules represent a significant step forward, the Board continues to ignore the real elephant in the room; cumulative impacts related to forest management activities.

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