City of Salem ESA Response Plan

Mission Statement

Develop a unified response to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of winter steelhead and spring chinook salmon through an integrated, interdepartmental effort to assess the affect of City activities on salmon habitat and to recommend actions for complying with the ESA and working toward salmon recovery.

Purpose

To adopt a strategic plan for use by City departments which describes and evaluates impacts of City activities on the threatened salmon, defines strategies for ensuring compliance with the Endangered Species Act, and recommends actions to assist salmon recovery.

Objectives

1. Through a City-wide employee survey and research performed by ESA Response Team members, compile information defining City activities which have potential to affect ESA-listed salmon.
   
2. Determine which salmon habitat conditions could be affected by activities and whether the potential affect is positive, negative, neutral, or not clear (may require additional research).
   
3. Describe the laws and policies governing each action.
   
4. Describe activities which benefit, or are neutral in their affect upon, salmon habitat and explain whether any further action is necessary.
   
5. For those activities with a potential negative affect, determine the City's ability to modify the activity and describe proposed management practices that neutralize or minimize the affects.
   
6. Work with National Marine Fisheries Service staff to receive their advice and guidance throughout development of the Response Plan.
   
7. Develop a strategic plan for achieving compliance with the ESA including:

   A) Timeline for implementing salmon-friendly management practices which do not have a budgetary impact;

   B) Action plan for prioritizing and implementing salmon-friendly management practices which require budgetary approval;

   C) Strategies for seeking formal approval from the National Marine Fisheries Service for City activities which can not be modified to avoid the potential for "take" of listed salmon. Examples include: Section 4(d) Limit, Section 10 incidental take permit (habitat conservation plan), or Section 7 consultation (for activities with a federal nexus).

8. Recommend actions which could go beyond compliance with ESA regulations and help recover the threatened salmon; i.e., upper Willamette winter steelhead and spring chinook salmon.