Tag: Puyallup

Floods and Lack of Habitat Hurt Chinook, Good Weather Boosts Pinks

Fewer juvenile wild chinook migrated from the Puyallup River in 2007, likely because winter floods in the winter of 2006 washed away chinook redds – or nests – before the fish had a chance to emerge from the gravel. But, because of good weather this past winter, a record number of pink salmon are leaving the watershed.

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians counts outgoing salmon with a smolt trap in the lower Puyallup River, enabling them to estimate the productivity of the entire watershed. A smolt trap is a safe and effective way to capture and count juvenile salmon. Smolt refers to the term “smoltification,” a physiological process juvenile salmon undergo that allows them to migrate from fresh to salt water.

According to recently analyzed data, fewer than 10,000 wild chinook migrated from the Puyallup watershed last year, down from a peak of 60,000 fish in 2005. On the other hand, over 100,000 pink salmon have left the system so far this year.

Puyallup Tribe Tracking Water Temperatures

As rivers and creeks warm during the summer, conditions can become unbearable for salmon. That’s why the Puyallup Tribe of Indians is monitoring water temperatures throughout the Puyallup River watershed to protect salmon.

This summer the tribe established an extensive network of more than 50 thermisters – thumb-sized devices that record water temperature at 30 minute increments. “Water temperature is an important part of ensuring strong salmon populations,” said Char Naylor, water quality manager for the Puyallup Tribe. “If the water is too warm for salmon, even just by a few degrees, it can be lethal.” Fatigue and disease are two conditions that have been connected to salmon deaths in warm creeks and rivers.

New Techniques Mean More Chinook On The Puyallup River

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is using two cutting-edge techniques at their new Clarks Creek hatchery to boost fisheries on abundant hatchery chinook in the lower Puyallup River watershed while protecting a weak wild chinook run.

Tribal and state co-managers have reduced fisheries on abundant hatchery chinook to protect the wild fish. “The tribe’s new hatchery at Clarks Creek will produce more chinook returning to the lower river, away from where returning wild chinook congregate in the upper watershed, so both tribal and non-tribal fishermen should have better chinook fisheries in the upcoming year,” said Chris Phinney, harvest management biologist for the Puyallup Tribe. Last year, the tribe had no directed fishery on chinook.

Keeping An Eye On Water Quality In The Puyallup

Every month researchers from the Puyallup Tribe of Indians spend a few days traveling throughout the Puyallup River watershed to collect samples to gauge water quality throughout the basin.

“The data we glean from these samples tell the ongoing story of water quality in the Puyallup River watershed,” said Char Naylor, water quality manager for the tribe.

For almost 10 years the tribe’s ambient water quality project has been providing baseline water quality information in the watershed. “

Puyallup Tribe Protects Elk Winter Habitat

PACKWOOD (February 9, 2006) – Every winter a 1,200 head elk herd migrates from upper alpine areas around Mt. Rainier National Park and Mt. Adams to the Cowlitz River valley in search of food around the town of Packwood.

“Habitat in the upper alpine areas, such as the national park and the protected wilderness areas where this herd spends the summer, is the most protected and highest quality summer habitat available,” said Barbara Moeller, wildlife biologist for the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. “Habitat outside those areas is not necessarily protected and may not be as high quality from year to year because forest management limits available food.”