The six species
Five Pacific salmon, plus steelhead.
Each fish returns on its own schedule and carries its own field marks. The notes below are drawn from your current species pages. Every card links to a full profile with photos of each life stage, and the Where to See Salmon page covers when and where to watch each species come back.
Chinook
Also called king salmon
Chinook are the largest of the Pacific salmon. The Nooksack supports both a spring and a fall run, and Puget Sound Chinook are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Chum
Also called dog salmon
Chum are the second largest salmon species. They spawn from October through January in the Nooksack and in creeks like Terrell, Squalicum, and Whatcom.
Coho
Also called silver salmon
Coho are the most widely distributed salmon in Whatcom County. Their young spend a full year in freshwater before migrating to sea.
Pink
Also called humpy salmon
Pink are the smallest of the five species, the most abundant species in Washington. In Puget Sound, they return in odd-numbered years.
Sockeye
Also called red salmon
Sockeye turn bright red when they return to spawn. Small numbers of river-spawning sockeye return to the North, Middle, and South Forks of the Nooksack.
Steelhead
Ocean-going rainbow trout
Steelhead are anadromous rainbow trout, migrating between freshwater and the ocean. Unlike salmon, steelhead can survive spawning, and some return to spawn a second time.
Why the Nooksack matters
One of only a few rivers in Washington with all five.
Very few rivers in the state still support all five Pacific salmon species. The Nooksack is one of only a handful of rivers in Washington where all five return. That range, from spring Chinook holding in deep pools to pinks arriving every other fall, is a sign of how important the watershed is, and how much is worth protecting.
Salmon depend on cold, clean water and an open path to the gravel where they hatched, so healthy returns are one of the clearest signs that a watershed is in good shape. That is a large part of why so much of NSEA’s work centers on these fish and the creeks they come home to.
The salmon life cycle
From gravel to ocean and back again.
Every salmon follows the same path, though the timing changes from species to species. Each stage depends on healthy water, and a problem at any step can keep salmon from coming home.
- EggsAdults dig nests, called redds, in gravel and lay their eggs, which incubate over the winter. Cold, clean, oxygen-rich water flowing through the gravel keeps the eggs alive.
- FryYoung salmon hatch and emerge from the gravel. Some species head for the estuary within weeks, while coho, steelhead, and some Chinook populations may rear in freshwater for a year or more.
- OceanSalmon migrate to sea and spend one to five years feeding and growing, depending on the species, before turning back toward the river where they hatched.
- ReturnAdults find their way back to their natal spawning grounds (the stretch of stream where they hatched), spawn, and complete the cycle for the next generation.
Video courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
What salmon need
Cold, clean, and clear water.
Salmon need cold, clean, and clear water, and an open path to reach the spawning grounds where they hatched. A healthy creek provides all of it.
Native trees and shrubs
Native trees and shrubs along a creek shade the water, hold the streambanks in place, and filter pollutants out of runoff. That shade and filtering is what keeps water cold, clean, and clear.
Large woody debris
Large woody debris (LWD), the downed trees and large limbs that fall into a stream, gives salmon places to rest and hide and shapes the pools and gravel beds they spawn in.
Macroinvertebrates
Leaves that drop into the water feed macroinvertebrates (the aquatic insects salmon eat), which young fry rely on after they hatch. Which insects are present also tells us how clean the water is.
Salmon also have to be able to move. Fish passage barriers like undersized culverts can cut salmon off from miles of good habitat upstream. Removing those barriers and reconnecting streams is a core part of NSEA’s restoration work.
How NSEA helps
We rebuild the habitat salmon need.
Since 1991, NSEA has worked across Whatcom County to give salmon back the water they need. Our professional crew installs large woody debris and reshapes stream channels, volunteers at work parties plant native trees and shrubs, and they are maintained as they grow.
Together we have removed 173 fish passage barriers, opened 147.83 miles of stream, and planted more than 504,000 native trees and shrubs. There is still much work to be done, and every season adds to it.
See it for yourself
Watch salmon come home this fall.
A page like this can only tell you so much, and there is nothing like watching salmon spawn in a creek in person. Every fall you can see returning salmon in creeks right around Whatcom County, and NSEA hosts Salmon Sighting events at a few streams each season.
The Where to See Salmon page maps the public viewing sites around the county and shows you what spawning looks like once you find the fish.
Get closer to the salmon
Come learn the creeks with us!
There is a way in for everyone, whether that is watching the return, planting trees, or counting fish. Questions about salmon and habitat go to Sarah Brown, our Stewardship Program Manager, at sbrown@n-sea.org.