An enormous corps of volunteers will be needed to accomplish this work. And they will need technical and financial assistance to participate in meaningful ways. Perhaps the most important tool is actually an idea-the idea of adaptive management. Adaptive management recognizes that we are often ignorant. Therefore, we need to continuously adapt what we are doing, based on the new information that the advances of science reveal to us.
Adaptive management is a fundamental principle in our state salmon strategy.
We recognize that careful monitoring and information gathering is essential as we strive to recover wild salmon and to improve the condition of the habitat on which they rely. Incorporating the principle of adaptive management in all salmon recovery efforts has stimulated greater efforts to gather, share and use data about salmon much more efficiently and purposefully. The state is committed to making decisions using information based on what scientists have determined is necessary for fish to thrive. There are many scientists within state government, including biologists, hydrologists, geologists, geneticists, and ecologists. This body of scientific expertise is vital to our salmon restoration efforts.