Salmon Habitat Restoration: Are We Putting the Right Projects in the Right Places?

Throughout the Pacific Northwest,habitat degradation has been cited as a factor contributing to the decline of Pacific Salmon. Many populations of anadromous salmonids are now listed under the Endangered Species Act. Thus, habitat restoration is widely used in hopes of increasing salmon populations with billions of dollars spent to date on restoration projects. Over 10 years after the majority of salmon ESA listings, we now have many datasets available to evaluate restoration project placement including project databases, habitat assessments, salmon recovery plans, and spatial habitat data. Here we use these available datasets to attempt to identify patterns in project placement by conducting a retrospective spatial analysis of restoration in relation to the ecological concerns restoration is intended to remedy. We use the Oregon Coast Coho ESU as a case study region to test our methods.