After 18 years with the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, Rebecca Benjamin has stepped down as its executive director. Effective July 22, she became director of the  Washington Conservation Corps, an AmeriCorps program that mentors young adults, 18-25, and veterans, as they work to restore critical habitat, build trails, and respond to local and national disasters.

Benjamin spoke with The Leader about the more significant changes she witnessed over the course of her nearly two decades of salmon habitat restoration efforts.

NOSC started as an organization called Wild Olympic Salmon, which collected summer chum eggs from Salmon Creek after a large storm washed out the Irondale Road culvert in the early 1990s. The road fill and sediment had buried spawning grounds, wiping out an entire run of the already declining chum population in Chimacum Creek.

From those humble beginnings, Benjamin noted that the Hood Canal summer chum is now the first of 28 salmon populations to be considered for removal from the Endangered Species List.

Instrumental in achieving such aims has been an assortment of competitively awarded state and federal funds, for which NOSC has written a succession of grant applications.

Among the more significant projects with which NOSC was involved, according to Benjamin, was the bridge built in 2020 to replace the earthen causeway that had previously connected Marrowstone and Indian islands since the 1940s, but had also prevented salmon from accessing Kilisut Harbor from the south.

Benjamin explained how the harbor waters between the two islands were ideally suited to serve as a forage fish spawning habitat, complete with overhanging vegetation to shade fish eggs from heat in low tides, as well as protect spawning adult fish from predators.

Benjamin cited the contributions of a number of partner organizations, including the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, whose members touted research showing that salmon were “piling up” at the south end of Kilisut Harbor “because they couldn’t get to this perfect nursery for their preferred prey.”

Benjamin likewise expressed her gratitude to both the U.S. Navy and the Washington State Department of Transportation for acting to restore what had been the natural balance before the 1940s, but also to install a bridge that meets modern seismic requirements, making it more resilient than the artificially constructed causeway.

Benjamin expressed optimism that the regional ecosystem can be broadened to the mutual benefit of not only the local salmon species, but also the human community. She credited the personal engagement of individuals with enabling many of the successes that NOSC has achieved.

Benjamin cited the strong involvement of East Jefferson County residents and organizations in particular, and pointed out that a relatively small area within Discovery Bay is one of the few potential restoration areas that has yet to be fully addressed. It was first mapped out in the early 2000s

As for her new job with the Washington Conservation Corps, Benjamin said it had been “near and dear to my heart” since she served in its ranks during the late 1990s. She deemed it vital to NOSC’s riparian and education programs.

“It shaped my career,” said Benjamin, who credited the WCC with getting her into fisheries enhancement work, which in turn led to her coming to NOSC 18 years ago.

Benjamin noted that young people work their way through 285 AmeriCorps member positions each year that are supported by the WCC, and she looks forward to seeing them become environmental stewards, just as she pledged to learn and grow as she meets the challenges of her new role.

“I always love new challenges,” Benjamin said.

In addition to praising NOSC’s mission, staff, board and volunteers, Benjamin offered plaudits to NOSC’s incoming interim executive director, Sarah Doyle, who joined in 2009 as a WCC member.

“A transition like this needs a knowledgeable person to ensure program and project continuity, fiscal stability, and continued connection with the community,” said Benjamin, who commended Doyle’s “excellent work ethic and eagerness to learn,” as well as “her thoughtful, compassionate leadership.”

Doyle and NOSC Board Chair Kathryn Neal lamented the loss of Benjamin in turn, even as they agreed that NOSC was well-positioned to continue its salmon habitat restoration and educational programs.