NOAA NMFS, 2007

NOAA NMFS. 2007. Adaptive management for ESA-listed salmon and steelhead recovery: decision framework and monitoring guidance. NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Region and Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington.

Recovery planning for salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a lengthy, complex, and often costly process involving scientific and technical agencies, multiple local jurisdictions, and citizen groups. This guidance document from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is intended to help recovery planners and others working on salmon and steelhead recovery in the Pacific Northwest with two crucial tasks: gathering the right information and then using it effectively. The research, monitoring, and evaluation programs associated with recovery planning need to gather the information that will be most useful in tracking progress and assessing the status of the listed species. Planners and managers can then use the information to guide and refine recovery strategies and actions. This document offers conceptual-level guidance, not specific instructions, on these two basic functions. The objectives of this guidance are the following:
• To present a clear description of the information NMFS needs for its status
reviews of ESA-listed salmonid evolutionarily significant units (ESUs).
• To clarify the nature and importance of adaptive management for recovery
planning.
• To help recovery planners and managers think about their research, monitoring
and evaluation needs in relation to their goals and resources.
Since the guidance is conceptual, its use is expected to generate questions on exactly how implementation, in relation to recovery plan objectives, local biological conditions, and economic realities, will be accomplished. NMFS staff expect to work with local planners and technical professionals to address these questions as they arise. NMFS also expects to clarify and revise the guidance in response to the feedback and questions received, and/or to develop additional guidance.