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Finalreport Bis 442 Salmon
Finalreport Bis 442 Salmon
Topic: King County key locations on restoring and maintaining salmon habitat.
We are interested in identifying high priority areas for salmon restoration sites
within the boundaries of King County. Salmon are crucial for the Pacific Northwest,
economically and culturally, but most importantly they are a keystone species for our
ecosystems. Salmon are anadromous fish and during their life cycle, they transfer
energy from the Pacific Ocean to freshwater and land habitats (National Park Service).
Most of their biomass comes from the ocean, and they bring in marine derived nutrients,
migrating upstream to spawn. After spawning, Chinook salmon die and leave their large
biomass of organic matter to fertilize the forest ecosystems (Post). Dramatic declines of
salmon will result in deficiency of nutrients to support the ecosystem, in which has
Chinook Salmon population trends has declined tremendously in the past, shown
in Puget Sound Chinook Salmon 1989-2008. Since 1984, populations are down 60%
(Pacific Salmon Service). The decline of chinook salmon is associated with three main
factors: habitat threats, harvest rates, hatchery influence (EPA). In which our focus for
this research is habitat change, since population is growing, more land is being
developed and salmon habitat is being degraded. Specific water quality and
temperature conditions are vital to successful salmon spawning and fish rearing habitat.
very sensitive to environmental conditions and if these conditions differ greatly than
what salmon are evolved for then they may be subjected to what is known as pre-spawn
spawning sites, and it seems there are many factors that may be species specific as to
why pre-spawn mortality occurs, but it seems that temperature is what affects Chinook
salmon (Bowerman).
habitat and prioritize possible restoration areas. From the King County GIS portal we
used a couple factors to determine areas of high priority, these factors included land
use and stream use by salmon. Within these shapefiles, we assigned a score for each
land use type and each stream use type. The lowest score of one meant that the land
use was least developed whereas a three meant it was highly developed. For stream
use, a low score of one meant that the salmon in that particular stretch of stream are
most vulnerable to environmental factors, while a high score of 3 meant that salmon are
not as vulnerable. In our MCE calculation, we placed a higher weight on land use (0.75)
important to salmon health than the stage of their life cycle the fish are in.
Land use is important because it affects many aspects of streams and rivers that
streamflow, stream chemistry and composition, biota, etc. all of which are things that
affect salmon. Out of a total of twenty land use types, four were considered least
developed, eleven were moderately developed, and five were highly developed. The
land use types that were least developed were sensitive/critical areas, forest, historic
districts, and rural areas. The land use types that were considered moderately
developed were general mixed use areas, mixed use commercial/residential, mixed use
related, and undesignated. The land use types that were considered highly developed
For stream use, there were three categories, migration only, rearing and
migration, and spawning and rearing. These categories were scored a one, two, and
three, respectively. One meant that the stretch of stream was not as highly prioritized as
three, and we made spawning and rearing a three because that is the stage in life
where the organism is most fragile and largely dependent on environmental conditions
for survival.
Study Area:
We focused our research on the King County area. King County is unique in
Washington state for it houses both Seattle and Bellevue, two very large and urbanized
cities in the state. Hydrologically speaking, King County has both Lake Sammamish and
Lake Washington, both of which are connected to many streams and rivers that are
Figure 1 shows just how developed different areas in King County are, from highly
developed, moderately developed, or least developed, depending on land use type.
Figure 2:
Figure 2 shows the Chinook Distribution for the fall run in King County.
Figure 3:
Figure 3 shows where in the Chinook distribution the streams that are more important
for habitat restoration based on nearby land use.
Figure 4:
Figure 4 shows high and low priority salmon habitat restoration areas based on stream
use by salmon and surrounding land use.
Results Continued:
From figure 4, the highest priority salmon habitat restoration sites are located in
Woodinville, Redmond, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, and Lake Forest Park. These are areas
that are highly developed and are where Chinook salmon are found to spawn and rear.
Land use for these cities included mostly general commercial and
industrial/manufacturing areas
By using these locations, we can pinpoint the nearest neighboring King County Water
From these maps, there are not many miles of what we consider “high priority”
restoration areas, only about 5.1 miles in total but about 1,850 miles of medium to high
priority areas. It is still imperative to provide quality habitat for salmon throughout their
life cycle to provide them with the best chance for survival and population recovery.
While habitat restoration is important, it is crucial for the factor that caused restoration to
be necessary to be taken care of as well, in this case, highly developed land usage. As
long as land use and their environmentally unfriendly practices remain unchecked,
constant restoration will be needed, and this will prove inefficient over time.
Works Cited:
Prespawn Mortality of Female Chinook Salmon Increases with Water Temperature and
EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2016. Chinook Salmon. Salish Sea,
Pacific Salmon Commission. 2011. 2010 Annual Report of Catches and Escapements. Report
TCChinook (11)-2. Joint Chinook Technical Committee Report. Accessed May 30,
2018.. http://www.psc.org/publications/technical-reports/technical-committee-
reports/chinook/
Post, Anne. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Why Fish Need Trees and Trees Need Fish.
Rauscher, Ken. Riparian Sun Map Line. King County Dept of Natural Resources and Parks,
http://www5.kingcounty.gov/sdc/Metadata.aspx?Layer=ripariansunmaplines#Description
https://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/urban/html/overview.html