Coho Salmon

Read more about the article Thirty Cent Creek Reconnected to Sooes River
The connection of the Thirty Cent Creek to the Sooes River was blocked by the artificial pond created by past timber practices.

Thirty Cent Creek Reconnected to Sooes River

The connection of the Thirty Cent Creek to the Sooes River was blocked by the artificial pond created by past timber practices.
An important winter refuge for salmon and trout has been reconnected to Thirty Cent Creek, a tributary of the Sooes River on the Makah Tribe’s reservation.

“This project has been identified for some time and we were finally able to get the pieces to line up to make it happen,” said Ray Colby, water quality specialist for the Makah Tribe. Previously located on private commercial timberlands, the site is one of several acquired by the Makah Tribe as tribal fee lands. (more…)

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Port Gamble S’Klallam tries out new method for net pen fish transfer

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe has developed a new transfer method to move juvenile coho salmon from the state’s George Adams Hatchery to tribal net pens in Port Gamble Bay.

Fish were transferred from land to the net pen through this 1,300-foot-long pipe that was custom made for this project.

About 429,000 young fish were hauled by tanker truck from the hatchery and dumped into a 2,300-gallon tank on the shore of the tribe’s reservation. The fish flow out from the tank down a 1,300-foot-long 4-inch pipe leading to the 63,000 cubic-foot net pens. Each fish took an average of about eight minutes to make the swim.

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Port Gamble S’Klallam: Net Pens Still Going Strong After Three Decades

A February warm spell aided the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe in its annual net pen transfer operation that began nearly 30 years ago.

Hatchery technician Ben Ives Sr. adjusts the net on the net pen in Port Gamble Bay.

Tribal hatchery manager Tim Seachord and natural resources staff worked with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to bring 425,000 coho salmon smolts from the state’s George Adams Hatchery in Hoodsport to Port Gamble Bay.

Over the course of four days, the young fish were hauled from the hatchery to a tribal barge, then floated out to the tribe’s 63,000-cubic-foot net pens near Point Julia. The fish will remain in the pens until June before being released and will return to the area as adults. The tribe has been putting this operation into place since 1981. (more…)

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Little Creek in Hoh River Watershed on Track to Produce More Coho

Adult and juvenile coho will once again swim in the upper reaches of Chalaat Creek on the Hoh Tribe’s reservation for the first time in decades thanks to a fish passage improvement completed by the Hoh Tribe this fall.

Chalaat Creek is a tributary to the lower Hoh River. The 5-mile long creek meanders through mature second growth timber and forested wetland on the tribe’s reservation about 30 miles south of Forks. It empties into the Hoh River several thousand feet from the ocean.

“This is the first main tributary to the Hoh River that fish encounter coming in from the ocean,” said Steve Allison, habitat biologist for the Hoh Tribe. “These kinds of streams are historically significant coho producers and we think we’re going to see a noticeable increase in the numbers of young coho coming out of Chalaat Creek.”

The tribe, through a $218,000 Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund grant, replaced a failing, impassable culvert with a bridge and created a 330- foot section of stream channel to allow fish access to a pond with about 2.5 miles of additional habitat upstream. (more…)

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Lummi Nation stomping out knotweed in Bells Creek

frank-bob-stomps-knotweedRestoring native vegetation along the North Fork Nooksack River, the Lummi Nation faces an unlikely adversary: nature.

The tribe has planted a streamside buffer near Bells Creek, where invasive knotweed, elk and beavers threaten the survival of the freshly planted trees.

Last year, Lummi Natural Resources placed large pieces of wood in Bells Creek to create protected pools for spawning coho salmon, steelhead and bull trout. A history of removing wood and straightening the channel for flood control had left the creek devoid of quality salmon habitat.

The next step was to plant trees in the 2-acre buffer along the creek near its confluence with the North Fork Nooksack River and within 17 acres of existing hardwood stands nearby. Whatcom Land Trust owns the property. (more…)

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