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Pursh-Pursh River, part of the Vostochnii Refuge

Pursh-Pursh River, part of the Vostochnii Refuge

Programs

Sakhalin River Restoration PartnershipSakhalin Salmon Initiative

This project focuses on increasing local skills and capacity for whole watershed restoration. This will be accomplished using demonstration projects on local rivers to showcase the planning and implementation of a variety of restoration treatments.

Healthy watersheds provide a variety of ecological benefits important to human health and well-being. These include a dependable supply of clean water, sustainable populations of native fish, wildlife and plant species, regulation of flood flows through stream-adjacent riparian areas, and a wide range of recreational activities. When watershed conditions are degraded, their ability to provide many of these benefits can be significantly reduced. Past heavy logging and agricultural activities have considerably altered the landscape, creating the need for restoration work.

healthy watershed

Many years of experience in various international settings have shown that it is possible to use a variety of tools to speed the restoration and recovery of degraded watersheds. This is best accomplished through comprehensive planning, active community involvement, and a diversity of technical and operational skills.

As part of the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative, the Sakhalin Salmon Restoration Partnership (SSRP) is a community-based partnership to improve the restoration, protection, and management of salmon and the watersheds that support them. International partners (the USDA Forest Service and Siuslaw Institute, among others) are sharing their knowledge with local partners in an effort to adapt watershed restoration methodologies employed in the Pacific Northwest for use on Sakhalin.

Timeline

Completed

  • June, 2005: American and Russian partners carry out initial field reconnaissance on streams in the Bay of Aniva area and consultations with local, state and federal agencies and local communities.
  • November, 2005: Five partners from Sakhalin visit restoration sites in the Pacific Northwest, USA.
  • February, 2006: The following project protocols are delivered to Sakhalin-area partners: stream survey, culvert survey, road condition assessment form.
  • July, 2006: Site visit of American specialists to Sakhalin: watershed restoration seminar conducted in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
  • June, 2007: Preliminary watershed restoration plan prepared for the Dzhimdan River in the Nogliki Region as part of Sakhalin Energy Investment Corporation's Sustainable Development Program. American specialists collaborate through the SSI.
  • Summer, 2007: First Sakhalin culvert replacement occurs in the Aniva Region.

The Future

  • April, 2008: Watershed council exchange to Oregon. Representatives of Sakhalin municipalities become acquainted with watershed restoration efforts led by Oregon councils.
  • All year, 2008: Feasibility scoping conducted on Dzhimdan project, international partners provide technical advice to Sakhalin watershed councils interested in performing small restoration projects, SSI partners pursue effort to gain Federal Fisheries Agency certification of watershed restoration methodologies.
  • February, 2006: Demonstration restoration projects undertaken at Salmon Park site.