Fish 



STATUS OF RECOVERY PROGRAM 



SACRAMENTO RIVER WINTER-RUN CHINOOK SALMON - DRAFT 



Plan Stage: Pending 



SPECIES COVERED 



CHINOOK SALMON (SACRAMENTO RIVER WINTER-RUN) 



RECOVERY PLAN STATUS 



The Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon was listed as threatened on an emergency 

 basis on August 4. 1989, and was listed as threatened on November 30, 1990. In response to a 

 petition received in June 1991, NMFS reclassified this species as endangered in January 1994. A 

 recovery team has been appointed to prepare a recovery plan. 



RECOVERY ACTIONS 



Most of the recovery actions for the winter-run chinook salmon involve consultations under 

 section 7 of the ESA with Federal agencies that either control the diversion of water in the river 

 or permit activities by other water users. This species depends on an adequate flow of water at a 

 specific temperature in the Sacramento River where drought conditions have existed for the past 

 7 years. 



NMFS is a member of the Bureau of Reclamation's Temperature Advisory Committee, and is 

 working with the Bureau on temperature management strategies to attract winter-run as far up the 

 Sacramento River as possible and increase the amount of spawning in the reach of the river that 

 the Bureau can manage with available water. NMFS is also working with the State of California 

 by reviewing impacts of state actions on winter-run chinook. 



In 1988. NMFS. the State of California, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of 

 Reclamation signed a cooperative agreement to restore Sacramento River winter-run chinook. 

 The Ten-Point Winter-Run Restoration Plan includes actions such as raising the gates at the 

 Bureau's Red Bluff Diversion Dam from December 1 through April 1 to allow free passage of 

 adult winter-run chinook to suitable spawning habitat and maintaining water 

 temperatures at levels below lethal limits in the reach of river above Red Bluff Dam that is used 

 for spawning. A biological opinion issued in 1993 to the Bureau of Reclamation on the 

 operation of its Central Valley Project, and the State Water Project controls activities in most of 

 the species' important habitats. 



In June 1991. NMFS issued a biological opinion to the Army Corps of Engineers stating that 

 issuance of a permit to the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) would likely jeopardize the 

 continued existence of the Sacramento River winter-run chinook because GCID did not plan to 



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