A small army of salmon-loving volunteers works to help keep coho and chum salmon populations at healthy levels.

The volunteers are organized by the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) to count salmon and spawning nests – called redds – annually. The data they collect is used for stock management. The group met for survey training at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) office at Point Hudson Oct. 27.

Katie McLean, education and outreach associate for NOSC, led the training.

“Our mission is to promote robust wild salmon stocks for families, fishers and our local economies, and that’s through furthering habitat restoration and educating our students and our public on the North Olympic Peninsula,” McLean said.

NOSC is focused on restoring salmon habitat in an area that stretches from Hood Canal to Neah Bay, McLean said, including Chimacum Creek, Salmon Creek, Morse Creek (near Port Angeles), Snow Creek (near Quilcene) and Discovery Bay.

NOSC’s region is just one of 14 such regions in the state.

As a nonprofit in its 27th year, “[NOSC relies] very heavily on volunteers still,” McLean said.

“And we’re super community-focused … we partner with willing landowners, government agencies such as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, tribes, schools and the public to make all of this possible,” McLean said.

SPAWNING NESTS

“These are what spawning coho look like,” McLean said of a photo of salmon projected onto a screen for training volunteers to view. “A lot of them, early on, are not these beautiful red colors yet, so don’t just expect all of them to be this color.”

The male coho has a hook mouth with large teeth, and a hump on its back. The female coho has a large belly.

“She has a shorter, rounded face as well as less of those hump features,” McLean said, adding that the base of the tail is often a giveaway for female coho. This area may be clear of scales and white in color because the female digs the redds with her tail.

Salmon are anadromous fish, McLean said, meaning they’re born in fresh water, then move to saltwater, returning to fresh water to breed.

“The eggs are laid in stream gravel between September through May. Each species comes up at a different time, so they’re not all rushing up at once,” McLean said.

The juvenile salmon migrate to estuaries to adjust to saltwater before moving into the strait or ocean. The salmon grow, move back to freshwater to spawn and die. The salmon carcasses add nutrients to the streams, McLean said.

“We’ve been collecting data on Chimacum Creek since 1998. And thanks to our volunteers, such as all of you and all of our past volunteers, we’re able to … collect all that data,” McLean said.

“And that helps to provide data on how salmon are reacting to things like climate change and habitat restoration as well as different human development projects that go on in the area. So, that helps us judge whether what we’re doing is effective or not,” McLean said.

The surveys can also help NOSC determine what impact, for example, a new housing development might have on salmon counts. Such developments can result in the removal of trees near stream banks. The trees are important to salmon because they absorb pollutants before those contaminants reach the creek; they also provide shade, which keeps water temperatures low.

REDD COUNTS

Redds counts are the most important part of a salmon survey. Coho spawn in pairs, so there is two coho per redd.

In addition to counts of live salmon, “We also collect [data on] dead fish. We count carcasses,” McLean said.

To form redds, the females use their tails to dig into the gravel and then deposit their eggs. Rocks in a redd appear shiny and cleaner than surrounding rock.

“The redds are always going to be at the end of riffles or in the riffles, so they’re not going to be in deep pools or in really silty areas. They’re always going to be in a riffle that’s gravelly,” McLean said.

Salmon surveyors flag a nearby tree branch to mark the location of the redd as they walk along the creeks, and then jot down pertinent information in a log book, such as what side of the bank the redd is on, what time the redd was found, water visibility, the species and more.

Each year, NOSC surveys coho every week during a three-month time period. A second survey is also conducted for chum salmon.

“Summer chum season just wrapped up. Coho season is just beginning,” said Olivia Vito, program assistant for NOSC.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Chris O’Connell, a scientist and field biologist for the state, works to collect field data about the salmon.

He said the wild salmon population is meeting escapement goals.

“Escapement just means how many fish have survived to spawn,” O’Connell said.

He said his work focuses primarily on the management of salmon in order to ensure the population is large enough to support future generations of salmon runs.

“Because fish are food,” O’Connell said, as well as a Pacific Northwest icon.

“I’d say … wild coho on the Strait of Juan de Fuca are recovering from a few years ago.”

O’Connell said that climate change, as a result of carbon pollution in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, is impacting the salmon.

Many regional rivers and creeks are fed from melting snow atop mountains in Olympic National Park.

The salmon have pretty strong site preferences, O’Connell said, and would likely not move to colder waters, but instead would “stick it out to the end.”

Culverts were also a problem for the fish, he added. Removal of the culverts could open hundreds of miles of spawning habitat, he said.