The Sequim Gazette reported that more than 1,700 chinook salmon were found in the Elwha River, between the Glines Canyon Dam and Strait of Juan de Fuca, during a one-day survey of the river in September by tribal, state and federal biologists.
From the story:
Results from the survey indicate this year’s Chinook return is one of the strongest since 1992 and reveal that the salmon are readily moving into stretches of the river formerly blocked by the Elwha Dam.
During the one-day survey, the biologists counted 1,741 adult Chinook and mapped 763 redds between the remnant of Glines Canyon Dam and the river mouth. Out of the total number counted, approximately seventy-five percent, (1,287 of the adult Chinook and 592 of the redds,) were observed upstream of the former Elwha Dam site. The total count included adult Chinook and redds observed in Indian Creek, Little River, and Hughes Creek, a tributary that remained unoccupied last year.
