Abstract:
The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, Technical Reports from the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) and numerous other documents identify an extensive array of research needed to recover depressed stocks of wild salmonids in Oregon. The limitation of such listings is that they do not prioritize the research needs, making them appear equally important. Given limited resources, a focus on the higher priority needs would increase the likelihood of success of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The 1999 Oregon Legislature's Joint Legislative Committee for Stream Restoration and Species Recovery and, independently, the Director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board requested that the IMST identify the higher priority research needed to help ensure salmonid recovery. This IMST Report identifies priority areas for research and puts them in broad priority groupings (highest, high, moderate, and low). The priority categories emphasize when specific research topics should be addressed, not if, since they are all important.
