Goals

Pilot Project

As a pilot project, CHEER proposes a plan to clean up and restore the Pajaro Watershed ecosystem, repopulating it with salmon and steelhead.  The plan will involve a series of steps and will engage the community in its own change at every phase-assessment, cleanup, restoration and preservation.  Lessons learned during the pilot project will help us to build and refine a workable template for approaching future projects.

Expansion

With salmon populations on the decline in watersheds all over the world, CHEER will have many opportunities to go national and global.  Maine, California, Washington, Oregon, Canada, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Ireland, Japan and Nova Scotia (where salmon are extinct in 33 out of 35 rivers) are just some of the states and countries facing degradation of their salmon populations.  After the pilot project is underway, a member of the CHEER team will be assigned the task of locating and researching possible future projects that are in fitting with the CHEER mission.  We will target locations where salmon populations are severely endangered or extinct and where groups with whom we might partner are already in existence.

Objectives

1. Clean up watersheds that once teamed with wild salmon but where salmon are now severely endangered or extinct due to environmental problems
2. Restore salmon and steelhead populations to renewed watersheds
3. Involve the community in each step of the process to improve chances of attaining and preserving project results
4. Find ways for people to profit by cooperation with CHEER’s objectives
5. Provide for CHEER’s financial sustainability

Why watersheds?

A number of convincing reasons exist for restoring and subsequently preserving watershed ecosystems.  They are essential contributors to the economies of coastal regions all over the world.  When the health of a watershed is imperiled and its natural resources destroyed, many lose the source of their livelihood.  In the last several decades, a number of factors have contributed to the degradation of watershed ecosystems including urban development, damming and contaminated runoff from farms and industry.

Since members of the Salmonidae family including salmon and steelhead trout use all portions of a watershed system and since their survival is dependent on the presence of clean water their health is an indicator of the health of the entire ecosystem.   Sharp declines in Salmonidae populations over the past 50 years reflect serious environmental problems that require attention.  If we are able to clean up watersheds, restore salmon populations and subsequently sustain their health and numbers, this will be a symbol of success for CHEER, for the environment, for communities and for local economies alike.

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