A New Boom for the Pacific Northwest Restoration Economy
Millions in new federal fish passage funding are set to flow to coastal salmon watersheds. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced $15.5 million in grants to support 25 restoration projects managed by Wild Salmon Center and key partners. The funds will reach watersheds from Oregon’s Rogue River to the Quillayute Basin in northwest Washington, helping us scale up critical salmon habitat restoration work while creating hundreds of jobs for the coastal restoration economy. Read on for details on what these awards will help us accomplish.
Are Cold Water and Diverse Strategies the Key to Chinook Success?
Amid troubling overall trends for wild North American Chinook salmon, a new study in Fish & Fisheries led by Wild Salmon Center Watershed Scientist Dr. Will Atlas finds some bright spots—and pathways to reverse declines. Dr. Atlas and a team of leading salmon researchers from NOAA Fisheries, Oceans and Fisheries Canada, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and Simon Fraser University analyzed abundance trends for 81 Chinook populations from California’s Sacramento River to the Fraser River in Canada. "Our research indicates that Chinook life history diversity has been key to the ability of some runs to thrive in the face of climate change,” Dr. Atlas says.
Why We All Need to Know What the Taimen Said
Who's that on the cover of this month's Fisheries Magazine? It's Wild Salmon Center Science Director Dr. Matt Sloat with a very Tugur-sized taimen. In his column "What the Taimen Said," Dr. Sloat offers a personal take on why we need to know more about this amazing, wide-ranging giant salmonid. "Though legends speak to the ferocity of these fish, their populations are increasingly fragile," Dr. Sloat writes. "For taimen to fulfill their role as Mongolian demigods and other cultural touchstones that powerfully bond humans to nature, their message needs to be heard broadly."
The Little Oregon Program That Pays Big for Farms and Fish
For a decade, an innovative Oregon program was a cornerstone of Tony Malmberg’s operations. Each summer, the state's split season instream leasing program rewarded the rancher for leasing his late-season water rights back to nearby Catherine Creek (a key salmon-bearing tributary of the Grand Ronde). But in 2021, Malmberg hit the program's 10-year eligibility cap. Now, there's another roadblock: after 22 years of growing popularity, the program is set to sunset entirely. This spring, will the Legislature pass HB 3164, and finally make this tool permanent for farmers, ranchers, and fish?
The mission of the Wild Salmon Center is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon ecosystems across the Pacific Rim.
Photo/video still credits (from top): restoration work in Oregon's Elk River system (Brian Kelley @brianfilm); leaping Chinook salmon (iStock); WSC Science Director Dr. Matt Sloat with a Siberian taimen on the Tugur River (Guido Rahr); Eastern Oregon rancher Tony Malmberg (The Freshwater Trust); Oregon stronghold (David Herasimtschuk)
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