NWIFC Magazine

The NWIFC Quarterly magazine.

Read more about the article New NWIFC Magazine: Low snowpack concerns biologists
Quileute fisheries technician Jack Davis records coho redds on Elk Creek in the Quillayute River watershed. Low snowpack has fisheries managers concerned about conditions for fish, particularly if spring rains do not add to the water table. See related story on page 5. Photo: D. Preston

New NWIFC Magazine: Low snowpack concerns biologists

Our new magazine is available now. Among other stories, you can read about how tribes are preparing for this summer's low flow due to critically low snowpacks: “Snowpack helps retain…

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NWIFC Magazine: Glaciers, climate change and salmon

Anderson Glacier is the headwaters of the Quinault River. Larry Workman, QIN

The new NWIFC News features a story about the concerns of the Quinault Indian Nation about shrinking glaciers that feed two major coastal rivers. From the magazine:

The glaciers that feed the Queets and Quinault rivers are just fractions of their size today from a few decades ago. As they recede, they threaten salmon stocks important to the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN).

“These glaciers once provided large amounts of cold water year round that maintained higher summer flows,” said Tyler Jurasin, QIN operations section manager. Lower flows mean less habitat for spring/summer chinook runs in the Queets and Quinault rivers on the Olympic Peninsula, which already face many other threats to their survival.
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NWIFC Magazine: Seabird Deaths Highlight Need for More Ocean Research

In this 1979 photo, a Quinault Indian Nation tribal member walks the beach in heavy foam near Duck Creek, several miles north of Taholah. Larry Workman, QIN

The new NWIFC Magazine features the efforts of coastal tribes to track harmful algea blooms in the Pacific Ocean and their impact on wildlife and fish stocks.

From the magazine:

In only the second incident of its kind reported in scientific journals on the West Coast, thousands of seabirds died on the Washington coast as the result of the effects of a harmful algae bloom.

…

Tribal members and technical staff from the Hoh, Makah and Quileute tribes, and Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) were among those who helped record the magnitude of the problem. They counted and identified bird carcasses and gathered water samples for testing. Results were used by ocean researchers to assess
the event.
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