A group of teenage “citizen scientists” have been helping the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe this spring by studying an urban creek that hasn’t been looked at in nearly 30 years. Students in the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center’s (NOPSC) natural resources class helped install a smolt trap on Tumwater Creek in early May. Students and […]
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is starting to see the effects of this year’s predicted low water flow in the Dungeness River Valley much sooner than anticipated. Tribal natural resources staff discovered this week that the mouth of Siebert Creek had been cut off by a sandbar – a typical problem with the creek during a […]
The Nature Conservancy is adding to the existing conservation efforts by the Hoh River Trust with the purchase that closed March 30 of the 3,184 acres. The deal continues the goal of creating a 32-mile conservation corridor along the Hoh River extending from Olympic National Park toward the sea that protects important habitat for salmon […]
Tim Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Nation, wrote the following in the Bellingham Herald today: With the largest native commercial fishing fleet in the United States, the Lummi Nation is able to contribute to the food supply of not only our nation, but the world. In 2013, 553 members of the Lummi Nation harvested […]
KING 5 sat down this week with Kim Sager-Fradkin, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s wildlife biologist, to discuss the latest wildlife project that is part of the restoration of the Elwha River. (more…)
Sonar is helping the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe get an accurate estimate of some species of salmon returning to the Elwha River. The Tribe has been counting the number of returning adult chinook salmon and steelhead using a sonar camera since 2008 with positive results. The camera is placed just below the water’s surface, sending […]
Shannon Miller and John Hagan keep a close eye on the phases of the moon so they can determine the best time of the month to collect samples of pinhead-sized translucent forage fish eggs. “We found that the moon phases may be a potential spawning cue,” Miller said. “There are more eggs around the new […]
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe worked with a local landowner in Sequim, WA to remove a 600-foot long roadway and two culverts and replace them with a bridge in Washington Harbor. The roadway and culverts were blocking tidal flow from flooding 37 acres of an estuary that was prime habitat for salmon. The results of the […]
Kneeling in a thicket of vegetation in the Skokomish estuary, Shannon Kirby combs her hands through the tall green grasses in front of her, calling out codes that identify them by size, type and abundance. The habitat biologist for the Skokomish Tribe is studying the native freshwater and saltwater vegetation that is taking over the […]
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe youth collected data for the U.S. Geological Survey by flying a kite over the Elwha River this summer. As part of a science-based summer camp focusing on the Elwha River restoration project, the kite was collecting data about the ever-changing Lake Aldwell delta. The red kite had a small digital camera […]
