In August and September, the Stillaguamish Tribe spawned adult chinook collected on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The tribe's hatchery supplementation program has provided a comprehensive and long-running…
The Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes have partnered with the state Department of Natural Resources and three private timber companies to map forestlands in the Stillaguamish and Skykomish basins.
LIDAR, which stands for Light Distance and Ranging, uses an airborne laser to survey topography.
“The laser pulses from the plane are reflected back to record billions of points of light that measure elevation,” said Derek Marks, Timber/Fish/Wildlife biologist for Tulalip.
Elevation data was collected on working forestlands and a large area of Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The result is a high-resolution model that enables natural resources managers to identify resources and potential risks, such as landslides.
“We can save many hours with high-resolution models,” Marks said. “We don’t have to walk the hillside; a forester would have to traverse the area to know where the streams are.”
Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are using elk scat to estimate the population of the Nooksack herd in the Acme, Wash., area. Tribal biologists partnered with Western…
Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are testing a new way to track the population of the Nooksack elk herd using the animals’ scat.
Tribal biologists have partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to determine the most efficient way to collect DNA from elk scat. Genetic material can be found in the intestinal mucus coating the pellets. This winter, biologists sampled fresh scat using toothpicks and cotton swabs, submitting the samples to a genetics lab to determine which method is most effective at providing an animal’s unique genotype.
“This is a non-invasive method that does not require collaring animals or helicopter time to survey them,” said Stillaguamish biologist Jennifer Sevigny. (more…)
The Stillaguamish Tribe is testing ways to use mushroom spawn to improve water quality in agricultural areas.
The process, called mycoremediation, allows contaminated water to filter through the fungus’ fibrous roots, which helps reduce fecal contaminants.
“Mycoremediation could help improve surface water management on farms by getting rid of fecal coliform without having to excavate or give up farming,” said Kate Konoski, the natural resources technician for the tribe who is conducting the study. “It’s low-impact, low-cost remediation.”
The lower Stillaguamish River watershed is dominated by agriculturally zoned land. Pollutants from farms include excess nutrients, fecal matter and pesticide contaminated runoff. Excess nutrient and fecal loads can reduce available oxygen, while metals and emerging contaminants can negatively affect salmon spawning. (more…)
The Daily Herald has a story about the Stillaguamish Tribe's nursery: Operated by the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, Banksavers evolved from educational and social efforts to engage tribal members in…
The Stillaguamish Tribe's Natural Resources Department began its annual broodstock collection today on the North Fork Stillaguamish River. The adult chinook salmon will be spawned at the tribe's hatchery, which…
The Stillaguamish Tribe’s natural resources department is monitoring fish use of the Port Susan estuary before and after a 150-acre restoration project. The tribe was contracted by The Nature Conservancy,…
The Stillaguamish Tribe’s captive juvenile fall chinook soon will have a new home. The tribe has converted an old trout farm into a hatchery facility at Brenner Creek on the South Fork Stillaguamish River.
The tribe expects the Brenner fish hatchery to be completed by the end of the year. The tribe has been rearing the fall juvenile chinook from brood years 2008, 2009 and 2010 at its Harvey Creek Hatchery.
Fall chinook, which mostly rear and spawn in the South Fork Stillaguamish, are genetically distinct from summer chinook, which primarily use the North Fork. A hatchery program has been in place in the North Fork for more than 20 years, with about 1,500 summer chinook returning each year.
Stillaguamish fall chinook by comparison have declined to fewer than 100 fish — so few that there aren’t enough adult chinook in the South Fork to capture and use for broodstock. (more…)
The mark of a successful restoration project is the presence of salmon in newly created habitat. This spring, Stillaguamish Natural Resources staff found hundreds of chum in Blue Slough, along…