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Nutrient
Enhancement
The natural process of salmon spawning (during which the adult
salmon die) is critical to our ecosystems. An astoundingly wide
variety of creatures rely on the flesh of dead adult salmon to
survive, including newly spawned juvenile salmon. Because many
of the streams in which salmon spawn and rear are inherently
nutrient poor, the Nutrient Enhancement projects are critical to
the survival of juvenile salmon and recovery of salmon
populations
The goal of our Nutrient Enhancement projects are to maximize
the availability of marine-derived nutrients (MDN) in the
Columbia region, including Kalama, Toutle River System, Coweeman
River, Lower Lewis, East Fork Lewis
and Washougal River sub-basins. The need for Nutrient
Enhancement using salmon carcasses has been well-established by
numerous scientific studies that highlight the importance of
nutrient input to the aquatic ecosystem. Salmon carcasses are
the ideal delivery system for MDN, as they decay slowly, provide
a direct carbon transfer to juvenile salmon rearing.
In conjunction with several partners including WDFW,
Clark-Skamania Fly Fishers, Lower Columbia FlyFishers, Fish First and the Kalama
Sportsman's Club, several thousand salmon carcasses per year
will be placed into the Washougal, West Fork Washougal, North
Fork Lewis, East Fork Lewis and Kalama River watersheds.
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