Salmon

Here in the Nooksack River Basin we are lucky enough to have all 5 Pacific salmon species, as well as a few other salmonid species, calling our local watersheds home.  These fish are a keystone species here in the Pacific Northwest, and an important indicator of the health of our coastal ecosystems.  Salmon are extremely sensitive to changes in water quality, water quantity, and trophic webs. The more intact, diverse, and productive a freshwater ecosystem is, the healthier the salmon stocks will be. A decline in the ability of a stream or river to support the rearing of young salmon indicates a decline in the overall health of the ecosystem. Salmon carcasses provide rivers and streams with large amounts of marine-derived nutrients that feed aquatic insects, eagles, humans, and even the trees and shrubs growing along the banks. Timothy Egan wrote that, "the Pacific Northwest is any place a salmon can get to," and we are inclined to agree.

Now the salmon that once filled the rivers and streams of Whatcom County year after year are an endangered resources and an icon of environmental fragility here in the Pacific Northwest.  Over the past sixty years salmon populations in the Nooksack River Basin have declined dramatically and several salmonid species have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, including two native runs of spring Chinook salmon.  Salmon are the glue connecting and sustaining a vast web of creatures, large and small.  Though we no longer depend on salmon for our daily survival, we are still inextricably linked to them environmentally, economically, and culturally.

Click on the links below to learn more about the salmon in the Nooksack River.