Making PALS on the Olympic Peninsula

On Washington’s ferny Dickey River, mid-August flows were unusually low. Normally, that would bother Wild Salmon Center Fish Habitat Specialists Betsy Krier and Nicole Rasmussen. But they saw one bright side. Low water would make it easier to do the work of the next several weeks: tearing out fish barriers, while strategically “messying” up creeks with post-assisted log structures (PALS) and beaver dam analogs. Because restoration work doesn’t have to be high-tech. Sometimes it just takes elbow grease…and an Arnold. More here on the work we're piloting with our partners across the Olympic Peninsula.

In Case You Missed It: Our 2022 Annual Report Is Here!

Trust us: it's not just about the jaw-dropping photos. Our 2022 Annual Report also celebrates a stunning year of victories for wild salmon and steelhead, along with where we're headed next. In Alaska, we defeated Pebble Mine; now we aim to protect the entire watershed. In Oregon, we won key protections on private forestlands. Next, we hope to extend those wins to state forests. Across the Pacific Northwest, we’re tapping unprecedented federal funding for wild fish. And around the North Pacific, we're leading the way in salmon conservation science. We invite you to behold our report in glorious full color.

On B.C.'s Central Coast, the Nuxalk First Nation Pilots a Selective Fishery Program

Right now on the Bella Coola River, the Nuxalk First Nation is running a pilot fishwheel project with help from Wild Salmon Center Senior Watershed Scientist Dr. Will Atlas. The wheel, a loaner, will inform the buildout of two permanent wheels in the next few years as the Nation develops a full fishwheel program for monitoring and selective harvest of Bella Coola salmon. “As they’re currently built, mixed-stock salmon fisheries like those off the U.S. and Canadian coasts are undermining the biodiversity Pacific salmon need to thrive,” Dr. Atlas says. (One recent example: B.C.'s chum fishery.) “Luckily, we have hundreds of examples, going back thousands of years, of better ways to fish.”

At Salmonfest, Defending a Wild West Su

This month, Wild Salmon Center staff joined the Defend the West Susitna team at Salmonfest 2023. We talked to hundreds of festivalgoers about a misguided plan to build a 100-mile industrial road through the salmon-rich West Su wilderness, including new efforts to repackage the project, likely to bypass environmental review. “All the specifications make clear this publicly funded road would be built for industrial mining trucks, and this attempted rebrand to ‘public’ doesn’t pass the smell test,” says WSC board member and former state senator Rick Halford. “We have huge infrastructure and other needs around the state that should be prioritized over speculative industrial roads to nowhere.” 

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The mission of the Wild Salmon Center is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon ecosystems across the Pacific Rim.

Photo/art credits (from top): Low-tech restoration in action on a West Fork Dickey River tributary (WSC); Bella Coola pilot fish wheel (Jason Moody, Nuxalk Fish & Wildlife); Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (Jason Ching @jasonsching); Wild Salmon Center staff tabling at Salmonfest 2023 (WSC); Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (Jason Ching @jasonsching).

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