Puget Sound Salmon

Trees floating behind dam contribute to salmon recovery

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ALDER – Over 100 trees that have fallen into the reservoir behind Alder Dam will be put to use constructing engineered logjams to create salmon habitat on Ohop Creek.

“Trees that wash into the lake from the river and get stuck behind the dam need to be removed before they become a nuisance,” said David Troutt, natural resources manager for the Nisqually Tribe, which is spearheading the effort to gather the logs. “We’re just taking them out and putting them to good use.” Juvenile salmon find both food and shelter within logjams. The structures also slow the flow of the creek, easing adult salmon migration.

“We know logjams benefit salmon because we’ve been monitoring other restoration projects. We really see a difference in the section of river with logjams and those without,” Troutt said. “There are a lot more salmon around the logjams.”
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State-tribal project marks century of saving salmon

The Seattle Times and the Marysville Globe reported on 100 years of hatchery cooperation.

The Seattle Times:

The Tulalip Tribes continued a century-old tradition last week of partnering with state hatcheries for the increased production of Puget Sound salmon.

Since 1907, tribal members have traveled to the Wallace River Hatchery near Gold Bar, working with employees of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to improve chinook- and coho-salmon numbers in the Snohomish River system.

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New Hatchery Tagging Trailer Helps Salmon

OLYMPIA (May 2, 2005) – A new automatic clipping and tagging trailer is assisting treaty tribes in western Washington in more efficiently marking and identifying hatchery salmon.

“Being able to tell hatchery and wild salmon apart is an important step in recovering weak salmon stocks,” said Michael Grayum, executive director of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. The NWIFC is a natural resource consortium that provides services to 20 member tribes in western Washington.

Clipping the adipose fin of a hatchery reared salmon allows them to be easily identified by fisheries managers. The adipose is a non-functional fin above the tail. The new trailer clips the fin without the fish being handled or anesthetized.

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All Habitat Is Critical

January 3, 2004

Habitat is the key to wild salmon recovery in western Washington.
That’s why the treaty tribes who have always called this region
home were surprised by the Bush Administration’s plan to reduce
by more than 80 percent the critical habitat needed to recover wild
salmon.

We know that harvest and hatcheries also are critical to recovering wild salmon stocks, of which three in western Washington have been listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species
Act. Tribes have stepped up to the challenge by reducing their harvests up to 80 percent over the past two decades. Together with our co-managers, the State of Washington, we are in the fifth year of a hatchery reform project that is helping to recover wild salmon while supporting sustainable fisheries.

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Nisqually Tribe Restores Yelm Creek Salmon Habitat

Almost ten years after a flood ravaged salmon habitat on Yelm Creek the Nisqually Tribe and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group are repairing some of the damage. “This entire area was underwater in 1996,” said Teresa Moon, project manager for the SPSSEG. “The flood changed a lot across the watershed, for good and for bad.” The tribe and the enhancement group are digging out a pond that was filled with sediment during the flood and opening salmon access to the upper creek by modifying a fish-blocking logjam in a steep canyon.

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Boldt Brought Management To State

March 31, 2004

This year marks the 30th anniversary of a court decision
that forever changed natural resource management in the
State of Washington – for the better.

Most Washingtonians know Federal Judge George Boldt
re-affirmed tribal treaty-reserved rights to half the salmon
in his famous 1974 decision, and that his ruling established
the tribes and state as co-managers of the salmon resource.
The Boldt Decision has been used to define Indian hunting
and fishing rights cases across the country, as well as to
determine aboriginal rights as far away as Australia.

But what most folks don’t know at all is that the Boldt Decision brought responsible salmon management to the State of Washington.

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Nisqually Tribe, Enhancement Group Explore Off-Channel Habitat

NISQUALLY (June 20, 2003) — A river is more than just a line on a map; every side channel, slough and tributary stream helps create a complex and living river. The Nisqually Indian Tribe and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group are surveying off-channel habitat in the Nisqually River basin to target areas for protection and restoration. The information gathered during these surveys will guide the tribe and enhancement group in decisions on future habitat projects.

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