California Trout, on behalf of the Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Coalition (SSRC), submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to list coho salmon north of San Francisco as an endangered species. Coho salmon share habitat with steelhead but are more sensitive to habitat changes, including impacts on temperature and large woody debris. Protections provided to coho salmon as a result of the listing will directly benefit steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout, as well as, the coho's close relative, the chinook salmon.

While steelhead populations north of San Francisco are depressed from historic levels, a California Endangered Species Act (CESA) listing is not warranted. Protection of coho under CESA, however, will positively impact steelhead throughout most of their range in Northern California.

The petition, submitted in July 2000, cited dramatic declines in habitat as the major factor in reduced coho populations. The CESA process required the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to develop a status review for coho and report its findings to the Commission.

In August 2002, The DFG concluded in its review that coho from San Francisco Bay north to Punta Gorda (approximately 35 miles south of Eureka) warranted an endangered listing. They also concluded that coho from Punta Gorda north to the Oregon border should be listed as threatened. The Commission directed DFG to prepare a recovery strategy.

The 700-page recovery strategy with more than 750 recommendations and 1,000 recovery tasks was completed in November, 2003. And final Commission approval of the listing came in August, 2004 at a hearing in Bridgeport, CA.

CESA protection requires state agencies to review any potential activities that could impact coho salmon adversely. The agencies are required to determine whether or not coho would be harmed by any proposed activity, as well as, recommend actions to minimize any potential adverse impacts to coho. The listing also provides consistency between state and federal protection for coho salmon (they are already federally protected). State agencies are also compelled to act in unison with the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect coho and to develop recovery strategies.