Last month, BEF’s Watershed Program travelled to Coos Bay, home of BEF’s sixth and newest Model Watershed Partnership. Thanks to Green Tag customers, BEF has dedicated ten successive years of funding and technical assistance to support the Coos Watershed Association’s long-term, adaptive restoration strategy.

To kick off the Partnership, our President, Angus Duncan, delivered the keynote speech at the Coos Watershed Association’s annual meeting, on the topic of climate change and watershed restoration. Not only is climate change expected to increase ambient air temperatures and raise sea levels, but the changes in the quantity and timing of rainfall are anticipated to drastically change many Northwest rivers. He also pointed out that this isn’t the first time salmon have experienced shifting weather patterns, wowing the crowd with descripions of the prehistoric, 6-foot long, saber-toothed salmon (see painting by artist, Ray Troll above).

Angus couldn’t have picked a better location to highlight the hopes and challenges of restoring rivers in the face of global warming. In one of the Coos Watershed Association’s riparian planting projects, they measured a 10-degree F decrease in stream temperatures over a seven year period (click here to read their report). THIS IS AMAZING! By the end of the century, most climate change models predict a 3.1-degree F increase in air temperatures — but the Coos Watershed Association’s Willanch Creek Project demonstrates that there’s hope of cooling streams by shading them with streamside trees and shrubs, to the degree that we still may be able to keep the water cold enough for native trout and salmon.   

For more info on river restoration and climate change, check out the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group. Also, the National Wildlife Federation has two great reports out, the second was published just a few weeks ago: Fish Out Of Water and A Great Wave Rising.